Sanghol: Yaksini

INDIA, Punjab, Sanghol

This baluster was one of the many discovered buried at the corner of the temple ruin of Sanghol. The balusters are covered with reliefs in the Mathura style of the Kushan period (circa 1st–3rd century). Twenty-five of the 117 individual pieces recovered there depict female figures in high relief. Experts believe that this baluster originated from Mathura and was later transported to Punjab.
The figure stands on a rectangular base decorated with a makara, a hybrid water beast. A flute is held in one hand while a vase is balanced in the other. The upper body is bared but highly ornamented. The skirt is all but transparent apart from the strategically placed sash and the hemline about the ankles. A thin stole hangs down from the left shoulder in the fashion for females during the late Satavahana period (circa 200 BCE–250 CE). The yaksini designs had, by this time, moved away from the rigid upright style to a more dynamic stance made popular at Sanchi. A curtain reveals a peeping human head above the yaksini. A lotus pattern is engraved on the back of the baluster.