On my visit to the National Museum on Saturday for the evening opening of the contemporary art exhibition, I noticed a particularly colourful sandstone sculpture of Buddha Muchalinda, perhaps better known as the Buddha being protected by the hood of Naga heads, which appeared to be temporarily sat outside the off-limits stone conservation workshop, perhaps pending some attention. The museum’s inventory lists the statue as dating back to the Bayon period, which is late 12th century or early 13th, but with an unknown provenance, and standing at 162 centimeters (over five feet) in height. It’s one of about fifty intact Buddha on Naga sandstone examples that the museum’s inventory holds, though most are kept in reserve due to the lack of display space. This example was colourful as its painted yellow with patches of blue/green seeping through on Buddha’s head and on the three snake coils on which he sits. A statue of Buddha protected by the Naga was the main cult image of the Bayon temple at Angkor and King Jayavarman VII identified himself with it, as befits an image that is specifically Khmer in nature.
In this example, the Buddha is depicted as a monk, without any jewelry decoration, which had become common in earlier eras. His face is long, the ridged eyebrows meet in the middle and the eyes are half-closed. There is a slight smile on his face, while his pierced earlobes are long and his hair, edged on the forehead with a thin band, is coiled in large flat curls, often associated with snails that protected the Buddha’s head, and a small usnisa, a cranial bump denoting wisdom. He is wearing a thin robe on his well-proportioned upper body which encircles the base of his neck, while the lower portion is defined around his waist and at the ankles. His arms are relaxed with the hands one atop the other, palms upwards, in his lap in the Dhyana-mudra gesture. The outspread hood of the Naga, which sheltered the meditating Buddha, has protruding heads facing upwards with wide eyes and teeth on display, and a spiral on their cheeks, while the uppermost and largest head has a closed mouth. The scales of the serpent are intricately carved, alongwith a series of circular motifs just below each separate head. Muchalinda, the king of the serpents, played his part in protecting the enlightened Buddha from a violent rainstorm by coiling his body under Buddha and then forming his heads into a protective hood and shelter from the storm. Usually the heads total seven but our example has nine. A nice surprise on my visit to the museum.Credit By :Andy Brouwer
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