kings arrayed in gorgeous dress and armour with their feet resting on crouching demons. Their conception reaches far back in the Buddhist mythology of India and their iconographic representation can be traced from Graeco-Buddhist art right through Central-Asian frescoes to the Far East.
On the painted pages of a paper album all four of them are depicted, Vaisravana or Kuvera, ruling the North, with his emblems, the halberd and a small model of a shrine; Virupaksha, regent of the South, with the sword; Dhritarashtra, of the East, with bow and arrows; Virudhaka, of the West, with the mace.
Certain variations in the features and costume allow us to distinguish between a quasi Central-Asian and a Chinese type of representation adopted for these warrior kings. In one of the numerous banners of Virupaksha (Fig. 99), Regent of the South, we may note the fierce expression of the face, the straight eyes, the long-waisted slim body of the probably older type derived from Central Asia. The rich armour and dress is shared also by the Chinese type, which shows softer features with characteristically oblique eyes.
In a fine example of this type (Fig. 99) the sweeping curve of the pose, the freedom imparted to the drawing by the treatment of the flowing drapery, the hand raised with fingers spread, are all expressive of qualities peculiar to Chinese artistic feeling. I can allude only in passing to the abundance of material for the study of ancient defensive armour which these pictures supply.
Vaisravana, the Protector of the Northern Region, takes foremost place among the Lokapalas of our paintings. This is fully accounted for by the early Indian notion which identifies him with Kubera, the Hindu god of wealth. He
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