Bodhisattva in Tuṣita heaven; Buddhas and devotees

A harmikā showing a buddha and devotees on three sides, and a bodhisattva in Tuṣita heaven on the fourth. All the scenes are comprised between corner pilasters of the Gandharan-Corinthian type with a short flute on the shaft. The base consists of a plain fillet. There is a large square hole cutting vertically in the harmikā. Tool marks can be seen on bottom face, and on the sided of the central hole. On the top surface, in one of the corners, there is an incised complex mark or drawing. On the first side there is a scene depicting the bodhisattva in Tuṣita heaven. Tuṣita is the abode of the deities and bodhisattvas. The buddha-to-be Maitreya resides here, as other bodhisattvas do before they are reborn in the human realm as buddhas. Śākyamuni also resided in Tuṣita before his last existence. At the centre of the scene, a bodhisattva sits in padmāsana with the right hand in abhayamudra, the left is lost. He wears paridhāna and uttarīya exposing the torso and covering the left shoulder. The bodhisattva has a short flat necklace, a long necklace, bracelets and earrings, his hair is arranged in loops around the face with a central ribbon of hair on top of the head. He has a plain nimbus around his head. On each of his side there is a seated male figure wearing paridhāna and uttarīya, with the hands joined in their laps. They both wear large turbans with fantail and diadem. Behind them, in the hollows between the figures, two more figures emerge from the background; on the right is probably a female figure holding an oblong unidentified object in her left. To the opposite side of the Bodhisattva’s head there is a male whisk bearer. He wears paridhāna and uttatīya, a long necklace and large globular earrings. The hair is pulled up in parallel vertical strokes. The other three sides of the harmika depict an identical central buddha seated in padmāsana on a low moulded seat. The right hand is up in abhayamudra, the left holds a hem of the saṃghati. On only one side still remains the head of buddha showing large eyes and a moustache. The hair with vertical strands converging at centre with a separate uṣṇīṣa. He has a plain nimbus and the umbrella shaped crown of a tree above his head. In this same scene, on each side of the buddha there are two devotees in three quarter profile with hands joined in veneration, they all wear paridhāna and uttarīya and on one of them is still visible the head with earrings and a turban. On the last two sides of the harmika buddha is flanked by only one devotee per side.