Mathura Museum describes his statue as "Agnipani Yaksha",[3] but Sonya Rhie Quintanilla simply identifies the statue as that of the Vedic God Agni.[2]
A Yaksha
Manibhadra or Mudgarpani.[4] The Yakshas are a broad class of nature-spirits, usually benevolent, but sometimes mischievous or capricious, connected with water, fertility, trees, the forest, treasure and wilderness,[5][6] and were the object of popular worship.[7] Many of them were later incorporated into Buddhism, Jainism or Hinduism.[4]
Sculptures
Some of the earliest works of art of the Mathura school of art are the Yakshas, monumental sculptures of earth divinities that have been dated to the 2nd-1st century BCE. Yakshas became the focus of the creation of colossal cultic images, typically around 2 meters or more in height, which are considered as probably the first Indian anthropomorphic productions in stone.[8][4] Although few ancient Yaksha statues remain in good condition, the vigor of the style has been applauded, and expresses essentially Indian qualities.[8] They are often pot-bellied, two-armed and fierce-looking.[4] The Yashas are often depicted with weapons or attributes, such as the Yaksha Mudgarpani.[citation needed]
Agnipani ("Fire-holder") Yaksha from Bharana Kalan
A statue of Agnipani ("Fire-holder") Yaksha from
aureole" with incised tongues of flames behind his turbanned head, and he hold a water flask in the left hand, some fragments of which remain.[9][1] His right hand may have been held out in "Abhaya mudra", as also seen in other statues of Agni.[9]
The inscription in Brahmi script on the base of the statue is in very bad condition, but has been partly deciphered. Some parallels with the contemporary Mudgarpani statue, probably manufactured and dedicated by the same person, also helped interpretation:
Agnipani pedestal inscription (right side).
Right side:
(a)[m](a)ty[e]na pratihāre-
[na]....jayaghoṣena
[bh](aga)[v](a)to ā[gn]isa pra[t]i[m](ā)
Left side:
[ka]ritā p[rī]yaṃtāṃ[a]ga[ya]
"An image of the Holy One Agni was caused to be made by Jayghosa, the minister in charge of the gate-keepers (?)
It is often suggested that the style of the colossal Yaksha statuary had an important influence on the creation of later divine images and human figures in India.
Yashinis, often associated with trees and children, and whose voluptuous figures became omnipresent in Indian art.[4] A relief is also known from the Mathura Museum, which shown the Mudgarpani with the same attributes.[12]
In the production of colossal Yaksha statues carved in the round, which can be found in several locations in northern India, the art of Mathura is considered as the most advanced in quality and quantity during this period.[14]
^"The folk art typifies an older plastic tradition in clay and wood which was now put in stone, as seen in the massive Yaksha statuary which are also of exceptional value as models of subsequent divine images and human figures." in Agrawala, Vasudeva Sharana (1965). Indian Art: A history of Indian art from the earliest times up to the third century A. D. Prithivi Prakashan. p. 84.
Aureole with tongues of flames (back view)
A Kushan Empire-era Agni statue
