Mathura region, Kushan period
Late second to fourth century CE
Sandstone; 18.3 x 11.4 x 4.13 cm
(7-3/16 x 4-1/2 x 1-5/8 in.)
Gift of Ruth and Sherman Lee in honor
of Clara and Gilbert Yager, 99.13.1
Provenance: Acquired 6 July 1999.

This small standing male belongs to an early type of Vishnu figure from the area of Mathura.1 The mottled red sandstone is characteristic of Mathuran sculpture from the Kushan period, a time of vigorous experimentation in figural imagery in this region.2 He shares the assertive pose, stocky features, and bodily proportions displayed by other standing male Kushan figures including yakshas and bodhisattvas from the late second century CE (Figs. 30, 31).

The Ackland’s Standing Vishnu wears a tall crown ornamented with what appears to be a leonine motif, a long garland extending down to his knees, a necklace, and a lower garment tied at his waist. The four arms mark his supra-human capacity for action, in this case directed to the protection of humanity. He raises his lower right arm in the fear-dispelling gesture (abhayamudra), while his upper right hand grasps a large mace (gada). In his lower left hand, he holds a conch (shankha) that would have been blown to signal battle. The missing upper left hand probably held the disc (chakra). These implements of war suggest the warrior hero’s strength and power.

This combination of gestures and weapons are also displayed by Vasudeva-Krishna, who is later understood as an incarnation of Vishnu, and becomes one of the most beloved Hindu gods in India.3 Representations of the Vrishni clan triad from the Mathura region include Vasudeva-Krishna, displaying the same weapons and gestures, accompanied by his elder brother Balarama-Samkarsana and sister Ekanamsha.4 Together, the elements comprising this figure-type have been interpreted as marking the process of transformation of great hero (vira) to god.5 JS

1 This piece has been published previously in Stanislaw Czuma, Kushan Sculpture: Images of Early India (Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art in Cooperation with Indiana University Press, 1985), 133–34.
2 On the problems of dating works of art in the Kushan period, see Czuma, “Introduction,” 1–41. On the complex interactions at the site of Mathura, see the recent work of Chandreyi Basu, “Redefining the Nature of Cultural Regions in Early India: Mathura and the Meaning of ‘Kusana’ Art’ : 1st to 3rd Centuries AD.” (Ph.D. dissertation, University of Pennsylvania, 2001).
3 See the discussion about the identification of Vasudeva-Krishna images as a typology in the pre-Kushan and Kushan period in Doris Meth Srinivasan, Many Heads, Arms and Eyes: Origin, Meaning and Form of Multiplicity in Indian Art (Leiden, New York and Cologne, Germany: Brill, 1997), chapter 18.
4 See Srinivasan, plate 16.5.
5 Srinivasan, 246-7.