Image title: Figure 131. Dance of the Celestial Beings

Figure 131:—Bottom panel of the Prasenajit pillar depicting the dance of apsaras (celestial danseuses) in heaven, Bharhut, Bharhut Gallery, Indian Museum, Kolkata. (Courtesy: Vidya Dehejia, Discourse in Early Buddhist Art, Visual Narratives of India. Fig. 35).

Gallery information:

The art of Bharhut, dominated by sculptural reliefs narrating a popular facet of Buddhism in the form of the immense Jataka literature, represent the emergence of visual narrative art in India.—Bharhut represents the earliest evidence of narrative art which display many story telling techniques.