Durga Slaying Mahisha

Description

According to the text dedicated to the exploits of the great goddess Devi in her various forms, there was a time in the mythic past when a buffalo demon was ravaging the world. Storm clouds swirl above and dust below him. The goddess in her warrior aspect in which she is named Durga rides a chariot pulled by two leonine tigers with blue skies and flowering trees above her. The two are about to clash in a bloody battle that will take place on the gently sloping hillside evocative of the western Himalayan foothills where this painting was made.

Provenance

A. Coomaraswamy; Margaret F. Marcus, Cleveland, OH; A. Coomaraswamy; Margaret F. Marcus, Cleveland, OH.

Durga Slaying Mahisha

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c. 1830

Accession Number

1955.667

Medium

Gum tempera and gold on paper

Dimensions

Image: 15.8 x 25.3 cm (6 1/4 x 9 15/16 in.); Overall: 17.7 x 27.5 cm (6 15/16 x 10 13/16 in.)

Classification

Painting

Museum

The Cleveland Museum of Art

Cleveland, United States

Credit Line

Edward L. Whittemore Fund