Nature Goddess

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Nature Goddess

India, Uttar Pradesh, Mathura, 1st century
Sculpture
Mottled red sandstone
63 x 23 x 12 1/2 in. (160.02 x 58.42 x 31.75 cm)
From the Nasli and Alice Heeramaneck Collection, purchased with funds provided by Mr. and Mrs. Allan C. Balch (M.86.21)
South and Southeast Asian Art
Not currently on public view

Curator Notes

This larger-than-life figure of a nature goddess (yakshi) was likely originally erected in an outdoor shrine and circumambulated by devotees....
This larger-than-life figure of a nature goddess (yakshi) was likely originally erected in an outdoor shrine and circumambulated by devotees. They are particularly associated with sacred trees, particularly the Ashoka tree (Saraca asoca), and also serve as tutelary deities associated with Kubera, the god of wealth. The goddess stands erect with her clenched left hand on her hip. Her now-missing right hand was probably held in the gesture of reassurance (abhaya mudra). She is full breasted and wears a lower garment secured by an ornate hip belt (katibandha). She stands up against an Ashoka tree (visible on the rear), which reinforces her close connection to nature. See also M.78.9.16. Comparable, albeit considerably smaller, Mathura yakshis are in the Cleveland Museum of Art (1968.104) and the Walters Art Museum, Baltimore (25.247).
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Bibliography

  • Srinivasan, Doris Meth. Listening to Icons. Vol. 1. New Delhi: Aryan Books International, 2016.
  • Newman, Richard.  The Stone Sculpture of India: a Study of the Materials Used by Indian Sculptors from ca. 2nd Century B.C. to the 16th Century.  Cambridge, MA:  Center for Conservation and Technical Studies, Harvard University Art Museums, 1984.
  • Srinivasan, Doris Meth. Listening to Icons. Vol. 1. New Delhi: Aryan Books International, 2016.
  • Newman, Richard.  The Stone Sculpture of India: a Study of the Materials Used by Indian Sculptors from ca. 2nd Century B.C. to the 16th Century.  Cambridge, MA:  Center for Conservation and Technical Studies, Harvard University Art Museums, 1984.
  • Pal, Pratapaditya; Dehejia, Vidya; Slusser, Mary Shepherd; Fisher, Robert E.; Brown, Robert L. Arts of Asia 15 (6): 68-125 (November- December 1985).
  • Pal, Pratapaditya. Indian Sculpture, vol.1. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art; University of California Press, 1986.
  • Asher, Frederick M.  Art of India:  Prehistory to the Present.  London:  Encyclopædia Brittanica, Inc., 2003.
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