The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 13, 2025

Bodhisattva of Compassion as Lokeshvara the Sky Flyer (Khasarpana)

late 1000s

Eastern India, Bihar, Pala dynasty, reign of Ramapala

(reign 1078/79–at least 1130)
Kaolin with traces of pigment
Overall: 7.7 cm (3 1/16 in.)
The Severance and Greta Millikin Purchase Fund 1991.155
Location: Not on view

Did You Know?

When colored, Lokeshvara was white, Tara at his right knee was green, and Bhrikuti at his left knee was gold.

Description

Exquisite Buddhist votive sculptures carved from soft ivorylike stone were made for personal devotional use during the 11th and 12th centuries in particular.

This form of Avalokiteshvara, the powerful bodhisattva of compassion, sits with one foot down in the posture of royal ease, the Buddha Amitabha in his crown. This special form of the bodhisattva of compassion brings relief to hungry ghosts. A hungry ghost with a distended belly praises him in the lower left corner of this plaque, to the left of the tiny regal figure with a manuscript tucked in his left arm.

Green Tara is at Avalokiteshvara's proper right, holding a lotus, and the four-armed goddess Bhrikuti holds a rosary and water bottle at his left.
  • ?–1991
    (David Tremayne, Ltd., London, UK, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
    1991–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Turner, Evan H. "Selected 1991 Acquisitions." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 79, no. 2 (February 1992): 63–83. Reproduced: p. 66; Mentioned: p. 83 www.jstor.org
    Czuma, Stanislaw J. “Some Tibetan and Tibet-Related Acquisitions of the Cleveland Museum of Art.” Oriental Art, Winter 1992/3, vol. XXXVIII no. 4, pp. 231–242. Reproduced: fig. 4, p. 235
    "Permanent Collection Installations.” Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine vol. 63, no. 1 (2023): 18–19. Reproduced: p. 18.
  • Text and Image in Southern Asia. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 26, 2022-March 5, 2023).
  • {{cite web|title=Bodhisattva of Compassion as Lokeshvara the Sky Flyer (Khasarpana)|url=false|author=|year=late 1000s|access-date=13 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1991.155