Objects Found in the Pagodas and the Buddhist Worlds of Nanzhao and Dali

During repairs to the Three Pagodas in 1978, workers found a silver gilt and beaded Garuda figure inside the summit base of Qianxun Pagoda. The object is only 18.5 centimetres high and weighs 125 grams, yet its details carry a large religious and artistic story: a crested head, outspread wings, flame-shaped aureole and feet set on a lotus base. It is now held by the Yunnan Provincial Museum.

The discovery took place within a much larger assemblage. Dali’s municipal heritage account says more than 680 objects associated with the Nanzhao and Dali Kingdom periods came to light during the 1978–81 repair campaign. The Garuda is one named object from that context, not a summary of everything found. Its small scale makes it a particularly useful entry point into the material worlds preserved inside the towers.

The bird was not made in one casting. A Yunnan museum specialist described its head, wings, body, tail and feet as separately cast components, later engraved, joined by soldering and covered with gilding. The aureole behind the figure once held five crystal beads. The specialist noted that the object was preserved in its excavated state, without adding ornaments that were no longer present when it was found.

That construction helps explain why the bird appears both compact and intricate. Feathers cover its body; the head carries a crown; the wings suggest movement. Silver, gilding and crystal turn a small ritual object into a concentrated display of craft. The museum account also points to a crown form found in Song-period jade carving, opening a comparison between Dali and artistic traditions farther east.

In Buddhist traditions, Garuda is a powerful bird-being associated with the protective group known as the Eight Classes of Devas and Nāgas. The Yunnan culture ministry’s article records a local story that the bird devours dragons and could protect Dali from floods. It also quotes a museum specialist who offers another interpretation: the figure may have served as the mount of a universal ruler in Buddhist cosmology.

The two readings belong to the history of interpretation, not to a label that can be settled by the object alone. The bird’s placement high in the pagoda connects it to religious ideas and the tower’s architecture. Its survival now depends on a museum collection, where conservation and display make the workmanship visible to new audiences. A single object can carry several histories at once: a ritual image, a record of metalworking and a modern museum presence.