Bhuvanesvari: Page from a Newari sketchbook

Newars were among the earliest people to settle the Kathmandu Valley of Nepal. Many took up the occupation of artists,using  iconographical drawings to guide their  production of religious imagery. This page comes from a now-dispersed  manual that contained images of various Hindu deities.

The goddess depicted on this page is Bhuvaneshvari, whose name translates as "Lady of the Earth." She sits cross-legged on the lotus flower that symbolizes spontaneous generation,spontaneous in this case indicating "mental" or "imaginative."

A leaf-shaped halo surrounds her head, which itself bears a five-pointed crown. In her upper right  hand, she carries an elephant goad,a device called an ankusha. In her lower right, she holds a lasso called a pasha. Such weapons appear in the hands of many Himalayan deities and symbolize various powers to defeat psychological obstacles.