Dancer's Headpiece in the form of the Hindu Goddess Kali

Enlarge My gallery Comment Tag Share Download Image*
https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/collections.lacma.org-images/remote_images/ma-324725-O3.jpg?7T3rzsCIQpSRDtkWqOTBT9Fka7p5jsfh
View comments
No comments have been posted yet.
Add a comment
Please log in to add comments.
Enter your LACMA Collections username.
Enter the password that accompanies your username.
New to our collections website? Sign up to create an account and start saving your favorites. Please note that this account is not the same as the MyLACMA account you may have for ticketing and membership transactions.
Download powerpoint quality jpeg Download publication quality tiff
Current tags
This item has not been tagged yet.
Please log in to add tags.
Enter your LACMA Collections username.
Enter the password that accompanies your username.
New to our collections website? Sign up to create an account and start saving your favorites. Please note that this account is not the same as the MyLACMA account you may have for ticketing and membership transactions.
* Nearly 20,000 images of artworks the museum believes to be in the public domain are available to download on this site. Other images may be protected by copyright and other intellectual property rights. By using any of these images you agree to LACMA's Terms of Use.

Dancer's Headpiece in the form of the Hindu Goddess Kali

India, Kerala, late 15th century
Sculpture
Wood with paint
41 x 34 x 4 in. (104.14 x 86.36 x 10.16 cm)
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Harry Lenart (M.77.60)
South and Southeast Asian Art
Not currently on public view

Curator Notes

This wooden headpiece was worn by a male devotee impersonating the destructive Hindu goddess Kali during the performance of a Malayalam dance drama entitled Daksha Yagam (The Fire-Sacrifice of Daksha)...
This wooden headpiece was worn by a male devotee impersonating the destructive Hindu goddess Kali during the performance of a Malayalam dance drama entitled Daksha Yagam (The Fire-Sacrifice of Daksha). Based on the tale as told in the 8th-century Skanda Purana, the sage Daksha excludes his youngest daughter Sati and son-in-law Shiva from a ritual fire-sacrifice (yajna) that he offers to all the other gods. Insulted by her father, Sati self-immolates on the pyre. Furious, Shiva manifested as his fearful form of Virabhadra to avenge the grave offense and beheaded Daksha. Through the exhortations of Brahma, Shiva eventually forgave Daksha and restored him to life, albeit with the head of a goat. The dramatic form of this headpiece is characteristic of those used in the Kathakali (story-play) dance drama of Kerala, which is performed using oversize headdresses traditionally made of Gmelina arborea wood.
More...

Bibliography

  • Pal, Pratapaditya. The Divine Presence: Asian Sculptures from the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Harry Lenart. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1978.

  • Kramrisch, Stella.  Manifestations of Shiva.  Philadelphia:  Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1981.

  • Pal, Pratapaditya. The Divine Presence: Asian Sculptures from the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Harry Lenart. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1978.

  • Kramrisch, Stella.  Manifestations of Shiva.  Philadelphia:  Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1981.
  • Pal, Pratapaditya. Indian Sculpture, vol.2. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art; University of California Press, 1988.
More...