A Dvarapala is a guardian figure often found in pairs at the gates of temples or tombs, where with bulging eyes and horrific grins and armed with sword and spear, they ward off evil spirits from the sacred precincts of the Buddha Hall. They are sometimes shown stamping on the demons of ignorance and illusion.

Cf. the similar head exhibited by Eskenazi and illustrated in Ancient Chinese Sculpture, Catalogue, June- July 1978; and those illustrated by T.Akiyama and S.Matsubara in Arts of China II: Buddhist Cave Temples, p.155, pl.144; and in Lung-men shih-ku, (Stone Caves of Longmen), pl.128 and 129, for the figures to which this type of head belonged