Browse Items in The female as religious devotee (15 total)

Description: The female as religious devotee: Women, both supernatural and human, carrying offerings to or worshipping at shrines, form a popular theme in early Sri Lankan sculpture and painting.

Contributor: Co-Author: Seneviratna, Harsha

Collection: Women in Sri Lankan Sculpture and Painting

Description: Carved on the uppermost panel of a stele at the eastern vahalkada of the Kantaka cetiya at Mihintale, Sri Lanka, is this relief of a nagi and naga in human form. The sculpture, which is in a very bad state of preservation, depicts the nagi with a single cobra hood walking behind the naga carrying some form of offering. Unlike in the Abhayagiri and Jetavana vahalkada sculptures, in this particular example, the male and female are about the same height.

Contributor: Co-Author: Seneviratna, Harsha

Collection: Women in Sri Lankan Sculpture and Painting

Description: A woman of elite status accompanied by a child and a maid carrying offerings form the subject of this limestone sculpture which now lies on the pavement of the Ruvanvalisaya at Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka. The carving probably belonged to one of the vahalkadas here which can be dated to the early centuries of the Christian era.

Contributor: Co-Author: Seneviratna, Harsha

Collection: Women in Sri Lankan Sculpture and Painting

Description: This stone relief of a nagi goddess is known to have occupied a small niche on a stele, at one of the vahalkadas of the Jetavanarama dagoba, attributed to the early centuries of the Christian era. She is accompanied by a female dwarf with offerings. This picture is taken from a photograph available in the Department of Archaeology, Sri Lanka.

Contributor: Co-Author: Seneviratna, Harsha

Collection: Women in Sri Lankan Sculpture and Painting

Description: During recent excavations near the Jetavanarama stupa (Sri Lanka) was discovered this fragmentary sculpture of a woman with hands joined together in worship. Possibly a work of the early Anuradhapura period, it is presently housed in the site museum at the Jetavanarama Cultural Triangle Project in Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka.

Contributor: Co-Author: Seneviratna, Harsha

Collection: Women in Sri Lankan Sculpture and Painting

Description: Interpreted mostly as divine females and at times as royal queens, the women painted on the rock caves at Sigiriya, Sri Lanka, seem to be cast in the role of religious devotees. The figures are cut off at a point a little below the waist and they carry flower offerings.

Contributor: Co-Author: Seneviratna, Harsha

Collection: Women in Sri Lankan Sculpture and Painting

Description: The Sigiriya women carrying flowers seem to be moving in the same direction, perhaps a Buddhist temple.

Contributor: Co-Author: Seneviratna, Harsha

Collection: Women in Sri Lankan Sculpture and Painting

Description: The paintings of women carrying flowers, probably for worship, at Sigiriya, Sri Lanka, belong to the period of Kasyapa I, in the 5th century A.D.

Contributor: Co-Author: Seneviratna, Harsha

Collection: Women in Sri Lankan Sculpture and Painting

Description: Terra-cotta models of the Sigiriya women were sculpted in subsequent times. They were probably meant to be souvenirs for visitors to Sigiriya, Sri Lanka. This torso was found during excavations associated with the Cultural Triangle Project at Sigiriya, and can be seen at the Project Museum.

Contributor: Co-Author: Seneviratna, Harsha

Collection: Women in Sri Lankan Sculpture and Painting

Description: This slide is made from a photograph available at the Department of Archaeology in Colombo. Seen at Gonagala, Ampara, Sri Lanka. It is a section of a cave painting where a female devotee stands in a dance posture. She is worshiping a male figure, no doubt a deity. The painting has been attributed to the 8th century A. D. by scholars.

Contributor: Co-Author: Seneviratna, Harsha

Collection: Women in Sri Lankan Sculpture and Painting