This is a fine old, beautifully weathered wooden guardian figure from the Jajarkot area of West Nepal. Such guardian figures were placed at shamanic shrines, springs, bridges and cross roads where they represent apotheosized ancestors and assumed the duty of fending off malevolent entities and other dangers, which tend to congregate in such areas. This one seems to clearly have once been a "Pala" or guardian figure. It appears that the arms, now lost, may once have held a rifle. That would be typical of guardian figures of this form and stature and would have almost certainly have been the case. Those with more than a passing familiarity with tribal art will note the similarity of these Nepalese primitive wooden figures to similar pieces from the Indonesian Archipelago (especially, in this case, the Hampatong figures of the Dayak people) some areas of Oceania, and a strong semblance to the Ifugao Bulul and Luzon Anito figures of the Philippines. These types of cross cultural parallels among peoples separated by vast geographic distances are very interesting. It brings to mind the concept of subconscious archetypes that are an innate psychological component of humanity, and which therefore reveal themselves with only minor variation amongst groups separated in both time and space. I think this is why so many of us are attracted to tribal / primitive art - it strikes a very deep chord within our being. We connect with our common humanity, and sense something closer to essence - uncorrupted by generations of urban domestication and an overdeveloped material environment - the "affliction of comfort" so many of us in the west are stricken with. We catch a glimpse of our own reflection, but an untamed and raw likeness, that refreshes and invigorates us.