Sthavara supporting the Triratna

This finely executed work represents the earth goddess Sthavara supporting the Triratna. The face, with its gentle expression, shows a slight smile, the hair is held in a bun and encircled by a diadem or a headband. Dressed in a flowing sari, moulding her form, she wears large earrings and numerous bracelets. Adopting an Atlantean position, she graciously supports two flowers with her hands, which support a third. These flowers, symbolising the Wheel of the Law, are remarkable. Each one consists of a seven-petalled flower inscribed in a ring and thus forming a wheel. This ring is itself the heart of a flower, the corolla of which consists of curious mushroom-shaped petals.

Colour photograph of the moulding made in 1934 from the original and exhibited in the Guimet Museum.