Nagarjunakunda: Mandapa pillar with carvings illustrating dwarf Yaksha, Scythian and Roman figures

Certain subordinate figures long used in minor decoration of stupas and shrines are given more pronounced positions in the overall system of decoration in sacred buildings during the Kushan period, For example, the little atlante images: small figures supporting other larger figures: at Bharhut and Sanchi were taken over by the Mathuran artists and used as the comical prototypes for Kubera, the god of wealth and prosperity, Kubera is, then, a glorified guhyaka, a dwarf Yaksha once only serving as the supporting element for more important figures, A guhyaka is illustrated in our slide, but not as the god Kubera, Now the dwart has another role to play in the decorational system, he often appears in a small panel, such as that in the slide, beneath a prominent male or female figure on the pillars of stupas, He forms thus the basement of the pillar and is still in an indirect way acting as the supportive element for the more important figures above him, -- Ikahvaku, 2nd Century A.D. New Delhi, Central Asian Antiquities Museum