More from Bombay

The garden of the Museum is very nicely kept, as indeed most of the city. On your right you can see the booth of 'check-ticket-again-and-apply-metal-detector-again-and-look-mean' guy.


This exquisite Chandela Mahiṣāsuramardinī is unusual (at least for me), because it does not have the trident nicely plugged into the buffalo as is seen on other images. Although this was not made clear in the exhibition, the bit on the picture below seems to be the lower part of the same statue (note the absence of the triśūla).


This is more like it. Yet, this is an old image as well, since the little man-demon is not peeping out of the buffalo (experts tell me that's important). A touch of comedy here (maybe unintentional): Caṇḍī's lion is biting the, well, you get the picture.


As a bonus:

Virūpa incognito in Bombay

The Prince of Wales Museum of Western India (now Chatrapati Shivaji "Vastusaṃgrahālaya") in Bombay (now Mumbai) has a small but rather exquisite collection of Nepalese and Tibetan art. Sadly, the identification tags of many exhibited items are off the mark. Above is one example. I am no expert, but this jovial fellow with his hands raised (to stop the sun, or so they say) seems - to me at least - more of a Virūpa than a Kṛṣṇapāda.

That said, the place is still worth a visit if you are in town. Flash a student card at the entrance and you get in for 10 rupees as opposed to 200 for simple phirangs or 15 for locals. Photography costs 200 moneys and flash is not allowed by order. After all, sudden bursts of light could damage stones irreparably.