Vajrapani (Thunderbolt Bearer) was one of the most important bodhisattvas in the Tantric Buddhist pantheon. Highly adorned, he sits crossed-legged with his right foot resting on his left thigh on a lotus throne with a parasol overhead. He holds a lotus flower in his left hand and a spherical object in his right. Bronze images such as this one may have been used singly or in larger groups arranged in a mandala (a sacred geometric arrangement representing the universe) in temples.
