Browse Items in Nagas (cobras) and naginis (female cobras) as guardians (13 total)

Description: This guardstone at the Dematamal Vihare in Okkampitiya in the Moneragala district, Sri Lanka, shows a cobra couple with arms round each other. It reflects the growing importance of the female in naga-nagini guardstones in the middle Anuradhapura period (ca. 5th-7th century A.D.).

Contributor: Co-Author: Seneviratna, Harsha

Collection: Women in Sri Lankan Sculpture and Painting

Description: Carved on the balustrades on either side of the Lankatilaka Vihare at Polonnaruva, Sri Lanka, are two naga and nagini (male and female cobras in human form) guardians from the 12th century A.D. The nagini is on the inner side of the left balustrade as you enter. Her head is framed by the same number of hoods as the naga on the opposite side indicating the naga and nagini were both considered equally important functionally in their role as guardian. With the nagini are attendant female dwarfs, one a nagini and the other bearing a flywhisk. They give her added status.

Contributor: Co-Author: Seneviratna, Harsha

Collection: Women in Sri Lankan Sculpture and Painting

Description: Two pairs of naga-nagini couples (male and female cobras in human form) are the joint guardians at the bottom of the door jambs at the entrance to a ruined building in the premises of the Government Agent’s Residency at Kurunegala, Sri Lanka. The naga and nagini are of almost equal height indicating an improved status for the female in this stone sculpture, probably dating from the 14th century.

Contributor: Co-Author: Seneviratna, Harsha

Collection: Women in Sri Lankan Sculpture and Painting