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c. 875

Celestial Women in Niches

Artist/maker unknown

From the ninth century onward, sculptures of semidivine women (called surasundaris, alasakanyas, or apsarasas) came to flank the central wall niches that held important deities on the temple exterior. These stone women gracefully honored the god depicted in the niches just as the human female dancers in the employ of the temple honored the god rendered within the sanctum.

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Artist/maker unknown, Celestial Women in Niches, c. 875 | Philadelphia Art Museum