A section from a door frame

Befitting their original location, which was probably at the entrance to the main sanctum of a Hindu temple, these door-frame sections were carved with various auspicious images. At the lower inner corner of each section is a personified snake, identified by a hood rising behind its head. Snakes were associated with, among other things, life-giving waters. Each of the snakes turns inward with a gesture of devotion toward the deity within the temple. The lower portions of both door sections are now missing but would have depicted the goddesses Ganga (Ganges) and Yamuna, who represent India’s holiest rivers.

Water-related imagery was believed to have a purifying effect on the worshipers who passed through temple doorways. It was also a visual representation of the links between deities and humans, and between the heavens and the earth. The river goddesses, for instance, descend to earth from the heavens, and from their fertile waters all of life emerges. As if to emphasize this symbolism, numerous loving couples—representative of fertility and divine union—rise along each doorjamb. The lintel that must once have been located above this door section would have been carved with images of deities and heavenly realms.