This small sandstone panel is part of a high-relief frieze that comes from a Hindu temple at Cootub Minar in India. Dr Robert Wilson, a traveller who was making a tour of Asia in the period between 1819-22, visited the sculpted column erected over the preceptor, Khoaje, by Shumasadeen, one of the Ghazi family. The column also commemorated the triumph of Islam over the Brahminical faith, as it was placed over the remains of a Hindu temple. Wilson picked up the sculptural panel from the ruins of the temple, but did not like to exhibit it subsequently because of the subject matter. He wrote that he considered it 'beastly'. The sculpture is an erotic carving. There are nine figures in total, in six niches flanked by pillars. The single female figures, face on, alternate with the pairs, each female and male in profile and in erotic poses, although the pair at the end are so damaged that it is difficult to make out the second figure. The carving of the figures is simple, with fine details of jewellery and hair. Often the figure's leg that is towards the wall is not shaped. 2ND VIEW: This is a detail from a panel of an erotic carving from a Hindu temple. It is one of the alternating niches, in which is a male and a female in an erotic pose. The carving of the figures is simple, but there is fine detailing of the hair and jewelley. The other niches with two figures show a great similarity in the positioning of the figures, so that the limbs make a repeating pattern, even though the detail is different. This type of carving is well known from Hindu temples. The panel appears to have a repeating pattern, suggesting that it is part of a frieze, and that the subject matter is part of a recognised iconography.