Durga Attacking the Buffalo, Lion, Human, and Elephant Forms of Mahishasura, Folio from a Devimahatmya (Glory of the Goddess)

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Durga Attacking the Buffalo, Lion, Human, and Elephant Forms of Mahishasura, Folio from a Devimahatmya (Glory of the Goddess)

India, Himachal Pradesh, Guler, circa 1770-1780
Drawings; watercolors
Opaque watercolor and gold on paper
Image: 6 5/8 x 10 1/2 in. (16.83 x 26.67 cm); Sheet: 7 7/8 x 11 in. (20 x 27.94 cm)
Purchased with funds provided by Christian Humann (M.74.14)
South and Southeast Asian Art
Not currently on public view

Curator Notes

Dating from circa 550 CE, the Devimahatmya (Glory of the Goddess) is a devotional text of 700 Sanskrit verses that extol the Goddess (Devi) as the supreme power and creator of the universe....
Dating from circa 550 CE, the Devimahatmya (Glory of the Goddess) is a devotional text of 700 Sanskrit verses that extol the Goddess (Devi) as the supreme power and creator of the universe. The verses were interpolations to the earlier Markandeya Purana dating from circa 250 CE and then extracted as a stand-alone text. The Devimahatmya describes the Goddess in her various aspects triumphing over the demons Madhu and Kaitabha, Mahishasura, Dhumralochana, Chanda and Munda, Raktabija, and Shumbha and Nishumbha. This folio illustrates the penultimate episodes in Chapter 3, “The Slaying of Mahishasura.” It conflates into a single image Mahishasura’s sequential manifestations as a buffalo, lion, warrior with a sword, and elephant, each of which was easily defeated by the Goddess (Devimahatmya 3:24-32). After the Goddess cut off the trunk of the elephant, Mahishasura resumed his buffalo form and was slain by the Goddess. Additional folios from this dispersed series are in the Brooklyn Museum (84.205 and 85.220.2) and Pierpont Morgan Library, New York (MS M.1060.7).
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Bibliography

  • Larson, Gerald et al.  In Her Image:  The Great Goddess in Indian Asia and the Madonna in Christian Culture.  Santa Barbara:  UCSB Art Museum, University of California, 1980.
  • Pal, Pratapaditya.  Elephants and Ivories in South Asia.  Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1981.