Description

This sculpture shows a Tibetan Buddhist portrayal of Garuda- the golden-horned eagle who is the king of birds. Here he is shown with the upper torso and arms of a human, with certain features of a bird. One also normally finds Garuda with the head and beak of a bird, large wings, ostrich-like legs and clawed feet with talons. He is normally crowned with a serpentine jewel belonging to the King of the Serpents, Vasuki, with eight serpents as ornaments on his torso. This motif indicates Garuda's natural enmity with snakes, and his dominance over them- as one sees in stories like the Kaliya-damana episode of the Mahabharata.