Durga Slaying Mahisha
Northern India, Pahari kingdoms · c. 1700–1710 · Cleveland Museum of Art
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Durga is the name of the goddess who personifies the sum total of the powers of all the male gods combined. When she vanquishes the fierce buffalo demon named Mahisha, she is described as having many arms, each holding a different weapon: bow and arrow, trident, discus, shield, sword, mace, and the conch shell that sounds the start of battle. The horizontal lines on her arms are sectarian markings. At the moment depicted in this painting, she has succeeded in beheading the buffalo demon and shooting arrows into his true form that climbs from its neck. Artists in the foothills of the western Himalayas, where this work was made, depicted Durga’s mount as a tiger—lions and tigers had synonymous meaning throughout India as emblems of shakti, or divine creative energy.
The museum’s own description, in English. Licence: CC0
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Details
- Maker
- Northern India, Pahari kingdoms
- Date
- c. 1700–1710
- Medium
- Gum tempera and gold on paper
- Dimensions
- Overall: 15.5 x 21.2 cm (6 1/8 x 8 3/8 in.)
- Place of origin
- Northern India
- Held by
- Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland · Not on view
- Credit line
- Mr. and Mrs. William H. Marlatt Fund
Image: Cleveland Museum of Art, CC0