An exquisite ninth-century Indian sculpture, on long-term loan to BAMPFA through the generosity of an anonymous Bay Area collector, is currently on view in Gallery D. The pink sandstone River Goddess originally would have flanked a shrine doorway at a Hindu temple. Such goddesses typically personified one of the two great rivers of North India‹the Ganges and the Jamuna. The goddess holds a vase overflowing with leaves and crowned by a coconut, emblematic of the agricultural abundance and ritual purification identified with these rivers.
