Manasa, the Snake Goddess

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The goddess Manasa is seated in royal ease, displaying large circular ear-plug ornaments with engraved hamsa motifs, a torque, pearl necklace, and wears a patterned diaphanous waist cloth (dhoti); her armbands assume the form of an entwining snake. She is crowned with a three-pointed diadem and her hair, gathered in a bun, is offset to her left. Behind her head radiates the seven-headed canopy of the serpent naga, and in her lowered left hand she holds the body of a rearing snake. She gestures varadamudra with her right. Flanking Manasa at upper left is the engraved figure of a seated Hindu rishi, his hands raised in veneration, and upper right the figure of a male deity also seated in royal ease, most likely identified as Shiva by his piled-up hair (jatumukuta). Beneath the rishi appears four lines of an engraved inscription

Asian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Met's collection of Asian art—more than 35,000 objects, ranging in date from the third millennium B.C. to the twenty-first century—is one of the largest and most comprehensive in the world. Each of the many civilizations of Asia is represented by outstanding works, providing an unrivaled experience of the artistic traditions of nearly half the world.

Metropolitan Museum of Art