- Title
- Durga Slaying the Buffalo Demon
- Date Made
- 18th century
- Medium
- Drawn and painted resist, mordants and dyes on plain-weave cotton
- Dimensions
- 69 1/2 x 54 in. (176.53 x 137.16 cm)
- Accession Number
- M.2004.43
- Collecting Area
- South and Southeast Asian Art
- Curatorial Notes
The Hindu goddess Durga ("She Who is Difficult to Go Against") represents the widely venerated warrior aspect of Devi (the Great Goddess). In this rare Nepalese iconographic form, she may be called by her local name of Bhagavati or Shri Durgachanda Bhagavati. Durga is depicted triumphantly slaying the water buffalo demon Mahisha. In an unusual Nepalese tantric form of the goddess, she is seen here with five heads and twenty arms holding various symbolic attributes. She is flanked by striding vulture attendants (gridhras) identified by their avian headdresses. In the sky above the goddess are the gods Shiva on his bull mount, Vishnu on his half-avian mount Garuda, and the personified Sun and Moon. The upper register has Ganesha on the left followed by deities and an ascetic. The lower register has adoring devotees, perhaps donor figures, with deities and an ascetic.
This image is painted on cotton with dyes and mordants (dye fixatives) in a distinctive technique called kalamkari (Persian: pen-craftsmanship). The technique originated in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. Kalamkari textiles were subsequently produced in several centers in India and exported as luxury items to Southeast Asia and Europe. A small number of kalamkari were made combining both Nepalese and Indian design elements, but this is the only known kalamkari that is exclusively Nepalese.