Section of a doorframe

This is a section of the left side of a doorframe from a Hindu temple. At the lower end, which would have rested on the floor, are four figures. The second from the left is a door guardian, recognizable by a club with a barrel-like head. This guardian also carries a trident and has the hairdress of an ascetic. These last two features are shared with the Hindu deity Shiva, and suggest that the temple from which this fragment came was dedicated to Shiva.
The fourth figure from the left, the goddess of the Ganga (Ganges) River, can be identified by the water creature she stands on. The doorways of temples were commonly flanked by a pair of river goddesses.
The vertical bands above the large figures are elaborately decorated. From the left, they show:
• Mythical creatures with the heads of lions, elephants, and other animals, and with little riders on their backs.
• Auspicious couples engaging in amorous and erotic play.
• A curving and recurving vine with animals and dwarfish human figures.
• Foliage and a string of diamond-shaped ornaments emerging from a “vase of plenty.”