invertebrates

[mkapstei at UCHICAGO.EDU]

The image of the girl with the scorpion on her thigh
is known from Khajuraho and has been discussed at
some length in articles by Devangana Desai and Michael
Rabe (in the Journal of Tantric Studies), 
who consider it to be a sort of rebus for
the name Khajuraho itself (scorpion = kharjuura).

The zodiac signs, as I recall, are often met with 
as pillar decorations at early Buddhist sites -- there is
a series at Bodh Gaya, for instance, and, I believe, Sanchi.

Matthew T. Kapstein
Numata Visiting Professor of Buddhist Studies
The University of Chicago Divinity School

Directeur d'études
Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, Paris