Anointing of Kumara
India; Gupta Period
5th c.
sandstone
Height: 62.5 cm (24 5/8 ins)

A relief carving depicting the anointing of Kumara to the appointment of ‘divine general’. His name means son, adolescent or youth, and he is ‘the everlasting young son of Siva’. This figure, also known as Skanda and Karttikeya, is associated with warfare and holds a spear in his left hand, while two figures standing on lotus flowers pour the anointing oil onto his head. He is seated on his mount, the peacock, which pecks at a fruit in his right hand. Two musicians play in niches at his feet.

The back of the stone is also carved with a relief depicting a female figure standing in samapada, holding a lotus flower, with a diminutive musician and female attendant at her feet, and two flying garland bearers either side of her head. On the side of the stone is a small female attendant holding a water pot, suggesting that this block may have been part of a door jamb.

Comparable:
Gottfried Williams, Joanna; The Art of Gupta India; Empire and Province, Princeton University Press, 1982, fig 76.