BURMA, Burmese bronze Buddha with green patina symbolizing Ratna Sambhav seated exhibiting the varada mudra, his left hand resting on his knee with the open palm presented frontally and the right hand holding the alms bowl known as bhikṣāpātra भिक्षापात्र H :54 cm, W : 36 cm Provenance: Old private collection from Geneva Note: He represents the cosmic element of Vedana (feeling) and the embodiment of slander, he is yellow and always looks south, his left hand rests on his knee and presents his palm and his right hand exposes the varada mudra or makes the sign of offering a gift. Its female counterpart is Mamaki. The story of the alms bowl: The first meal the Buddha had after attaining enlightenment was offered to him by the two merchants Trapusha and Bhallika. This food offering could only be received in an alms bowl, but the Buddha did not yet own one. The four god-kings of the orbs soon rushed to offer him a golden bowl each. Too precious, these four golden bowls could not be accepted. The god-kings of the orbs resigned themselves to offering four stone bowls. The Buddha received all four and miraculously became one.