38 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 80 



EXPLANATION OF PLATP:S 

 Plate i 



1. The Yaksa Kunika (the Parkham image now in the Mathura Museum) : 



height 8' 8". Photo by Johnston and Hoffmann. 



The date and identification of this figure have been matters of great con- 

 troversy.^ All that can be safely said is that the inscription is in charac- 

 ters generally corresponding to those of the Asokan and Piprahwa vase 

 inscriptions. Almost the only significant part of the text in the reading 

 of which all students agree is the name Kunika. This name has since 

 been found on the so-called statue of Manasa Devi at Mathura,^ which 

 is named in the inscription as that of a YaksinT, sister of Kunika. These 

 data appear to confirm the view long held, that the Parkham image 

 (so-called from the place of its discovery) represents a Yaksa and dates 

 from the Maurya period. When first discovered, the Parkham image 

 was being worshipped by the villagers as a Devata, the Baroda fragment 

 (HIIA, fig. 15) as a Yakheya. See also Chanda, R., in Mem. A. S. I., 

 vol. 30. 



The Parkham image is of great importance as the oldest known Indian 

 stone sculpture in the round ; it establishes a formulae which can be fol- 

 lowed through many succeeding centuries. A female statue from Besna- 

 gar, now in the Indian Museum, Calcutta, height 7' 7", and perhaps repre- 

 senting a Yaksi, is also contemporary (see HIIA, fig. 8), so too, or but 

 little later, is a colossal female caurl-bearer from Didarganj near Patna 

 (HIIA, fig. 17). There is, or was, another Yaksa (or king) figure at 

 Deoriya, near Allahabad (see reproduction in my Origin of the Buddha 

 Image, Art Bulletin, 1927, Pt. 4, fig. 47) ; here it can be seen clearly that 

 the left hand is placed on the hip ; further, the figure wears a turban, and 

 is sheltered by an umbrella. The Deoriya figure must be of about the 

 same (Maurya) date as the Parkham image. 



2. The Yaksa Bhagavata Manibhadra, set up by a guild of Manibhadrabhaktas, 



at Pawaya, Gwaliar State, now in the Gwaliar Museum, First century 

 B. C. Photograph by the author. 



Plate 2 



I, 2. The Yaksa Nandi, and another Yaksa or king; perhaps the Yaksi Nandi 

 of Nandinagara, or the pair may be the Yaksas Nandi and Vardhana of 

 Nandivardhana. Patna, second century B. C, now in the Museum at 

 Patna. A. S. photographs. 



^ Mr. Jayaswal (J. B. O. R. S., V, 1919) attempted to prove that the inscrip- 

 tion included the name of King Kunika Ajatasatru, and he identified and dated 

 it accordingly about 618 B. C. (according to others this Saisunaga king died 

 about 459 B. C). Fatal objections to Mr. Jayaswal's views are raised by 

 Chanda, Four Ancient Yaksa statues, in the Journal of the Dept. of Letters, 

 Calcutta University, Vol. IV, 1921, where other references will be found. 



^ For the figure of " Manasa Devi," probably also of Maurya date, see Ann. 

 Rep. Arch. Snrv. India, 1920-21, pi. XVIII, and ibid., 1922-23, p. 165. 



