2-739-424 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Roundel with Mermaids and Lotus, c. 100 BC. This ivory disk was possibly part of a massive earring around which lobes were stretched so that they rest on the shoulders. Eight figures that are half woman and half fish hold hands in a ring around a series of concentric circles containing floral imagery. Their hands and tails make the repeated form of an auspicious trident-shaped symbol, often depicted with fish tails in combination with a lotus flower. The full-breasted forms, the tails, and the lotus flowers evoke the imagery of life-giving waters. A circle of eight female figures later comes to refer to the maidens of the eight directions of the sky ( ashtadikpalikas ).