Lamp with Devotees Nepal, 1821 brass, 8 7/8 inches (22.5 cm) high Guthrie-Goodwin Collection 1948.4

This five-cupped lamp would have been used in the religious puja rituals in a Nepali temple or family shrine, when offerings are placed before the image of a deity. The inscription on the base of the lamp identifies the donor as Daanadatra. Idealized images of his deceased father, his mother, and stepmother are shown in prayer below the cups of the lamp. The presence of human figures is rather unusual as most puja lamps bear the image of just a single deity.


To Tibet & Nepal