Apsaras Paintings

Sigiriya Rock

Our final example shows a damsel of similar type but different details to one previously seen: appearing in profile and wearing an elaborate headdress, she contemplates a lotus bud1, held delicately upright between her right thumb and index finger. Her left hand holds a bouquet of lotus flowers.


1This gesture appears everywhere in Indian art; its prototype is the Great Shiva at Elephanta.