Young Blonde Girl With A Golden Mask Reveals A Grey Sleeveless Shirt And Stockings

- India/Sri Lanka/Indo-China/Indonesia
Masked characters, usually divinities, are a central feature of Indian dramatic forms, many based on depicting the epics Mahabharata and Ramayana. Countries that have had strong Indian cultural influences – Cambodia, Burma, Indonesia (esp. Java and Bali), Thailand, and Vietnam – have developed the Indian forms, combined with local myths, and developed their own characteristic styles.
The masks are usually highly exaggerated and formalised, and share an aesthetic with the carved images of monstrous heads that dominate the facades of Hindu and Buddhist temples. These faces or Kirtimukhas, 'Visages of Glory', are intended to ward off evil and are associated with the animal world as well as the divine. During ceremonies these visages are given active form in the great mask dramas of the South and South-eastern Asian region.