Indian Art: A History of Indian Art from the Earliest Times up to the Third Century A.D. c9.s3.9

c9.s3.9

1. Winged Lions (*Sapaksha-Siṃha*)—The earliest reference in the Vālmīki Rāmāyaṇa places them on the Somagiri mountain, on the junction of the Indus with the sea (*Sindhu-Sāgara Saṅgama*) which marks the end of the western direction. Probably the author was writing against the background of the traditional art-motifs of Iran and Mesopotamia where such lions were depicted in colossal size and of which stories were brought by mariners and traders. At Sāñchī we have figures of winged lions on the western gateway and also we find them at Mathura and Amarāvatī with turbaned human faces, with beards and wings [Fig. 24].