1916.9.285
Name and identification of character
A demon called kala kutaya (Sin.), or kala-kuta raksha (Sin.).
Context
A demon character in a solo dance in stage two
Material
Wood, vel-kaduru (Sin.) (Nux vomica).
Iconography
The headdress and the two circular ear-discs are adorned with cobras. The mouth is shaped like an animal's snout. The cobra-hoods on the head are carved in two tiers, one expanded hood at the top shadow three cobras in the lower tier. Two of the three cobras issue from the nostrils, the third rises from the ridge of the nose. The eyes protrude. The mouth is half-open. Two eye-teeth hang down from the corners of the mouth. A lapping tongue. The face and the cobras are painted in dull grey, which befits the nature of a kala-kuta raksha (Sin.) (kala means black or dark and kuta means summit).
2000 09 27
Dr. M. H. Goonatilleka