Varahi

Description

This Hindu goddess has the body of a young mother and the head of a female boar, which is the meaning of the Sanskrit word varahi, with the third eye of true knowledge. This sculpture was one of a set of seven goddesses associated with worship of the Hindu god Shiva or the mother goddess. The objects in three of her four hands reference the countercultural tantric Hindu practices of drinking revolting liquids from a bowl made from a skull. The fish implies the consumption of illicit food, and the snake pertains to the noose that keeps one bound in fear that leads to inevitable death. In tantric Hindu rituals, this goddess would aid the practitioners in overcoming their fears that keep them attached to ordinary life in the world, instead of reaching the liberated state of union with the creator.

Provenance

(Ulrich von Schroeder [b. 1943], Zürich, Switzerland, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art) (?–1978); The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (1978–)

Varahi

[]

c. 1300s

Accession Number

1978.70

Medium

bronze

Dimensions

Overall: 21 cm (8 1/4 in.)

Classification

Sculpture

Museum

The Cleveland Museum of Art

Cleveland, United States

Credit Line

Andrew R. and Martha Holden Jennings Fund