This figure, cast in bronze sits in virasana, with main hands in prayer and adoration (namaskara mudra). He wears a clinging skirt-wrap and a robe folded and draped over both shoulders. The high tiara has nine images of Buddhas in niches, with the Buddha Amitabha at the centre. The 34 hands (38 originally) bear attributes including a rosary (mala), lotus (padma), sword (Khadga), skull cap (kapala), bell (ghantra), cakra (wheel), temple (caitya), book (pustaka), wood-apple (bilvafala), begging bowl (patra), shield (khetaka), vase with elixir of immortality (kalasa), skull, lasso (pasa), moon (candra), and an image of Buddha Amitabha. It is a rare tantric form of Avalokitesvara, Bodisattva of Compassion. He is usually depicted as a standing figure with two arms known as Acuoyue Guanyin or Ajaya Avolokiteshvara (‘All Victorious Guanyin’). Legend has it that he was originally an Indian monk who visited Yunnan around the 7th century as an incarnation of Guanyin. The Dali Kingdom became a centre for tantric Buddhism during the 10th to 13th centuries.
