Jain goddess Sarasvati.
This image of Sarasvati, goddess of music and learning, was carved in 1153. The four-armed goddess holds stylized lotuses (symbols of purity) in both upper hands; one lower hand, now broken, would have held a manuscript, the other was probably lowered in the wish-granting gesture. The inscription on its pedestal notes that when the original image, created one hundred years earlier, suffered irreparable damage, an officer named Parashurama commissioned a sculptor named Jagadeva to create this replacement. Since few artists from ancient India are known by name, this image serves as a valuable document.