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Women in Sri Lankan Sculpture and Painting
Dublin Core
Title
Cobra-guardians
Subject
Cobras in art
Stone--bas-reliefs--Lankatilaka Vihare--Polonnaruwa--Sri Lanka
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.
Creator
Sirima Kiribamune
Source
Lankatilaka Vihare, Polonnaruva, Sri Lanka
Date
12th century A.D.
Period of study: 1986-1987
Version: 01/12/2012
Contributor
Co-Author: Seneviratna, Harsha
Technical Officer: Wijesinghe, Lalith
Technical Assistant: Jayasundare, Subhashini
Photographer: Madanayake, I.S.
International Center for Ethnic Studies, Kandy, Sri Lanka
Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation
American Institute for Sri Lankan Studies, Colombo
Rights
All rights reserved by International Center for Ethnic Studies, Sri Lanka.
Relation
Forms part of Photographic documentation of Women as depicted in early Sri Lankan sculpture and painting / Slide in present collection
Format
JPEG 2000
Language
eng
Type
image
Identifier
PDWESLSP.S.38
Coverage
ce
Collection
Citation
Sirima Kiribamune, "Cobra-guardians," online in Digital Library for International Research Archive, Item #12535, http://www.dlir.org/archive/items/show/12535 (accessed March 29, 2024).