Abstract:
Ten gilt-bronze sculptures, some of which were supposed to be representing Mahayana
deities, discovered from Padidora. Mawanella in the district of Kegallc in the year 2006
were studied, The objective of the study is to re-examine and re-define the iconographical
attributes of the findings. Those sculptures were previously identified by a team of
archaeologists from the Department of Archaeology as representing Avalokithesvara
Natha, the most popular deity in Mahayana Buddhism. The present study is based on
canonical and literary references from Silpa Texts, SadhanaMala and Nispannayogavali
and others, I was able to identify five statues as representing Samadhi Buddha, one
Maitreya Bodhisattva, one Sudhana Kumara and two Tara of which the last four
representing the most popular deities of the Mahayana pantheon of Sri Lanka
