Loriyan Tangai: Life of the Buddha - Birth of Prince Siddhartha

PAKISTAN, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Peshawar

The sculpture was unearthed from a temple site in Loriyan Tangai, Peshawar. Queen Maya, distinguished by ornate jewelry, stands to the right. As she supports herself with one hand grasping a branch of the asoka tree, Prince Siddhartha is born from her right side. He already has a nimbus and usnisa, and is holding his hands in the anjali (reverence) mudra as Sakra steps forward with a cloth to catch him. The prince is seen again at the bottom in the birth mudra, pointing to the heavens with one hand and the earth with the other as a sign of his great destiny. Brahma is behind Sakra and above them is a heavenly being whistling through his fingers. A whisk, used by Indian royalty, is suspended next to him; it represents heavenly recognition of Siddhartha’s noble status.