Unknown
The Hindu Goddess Kaumaricirca 800-850

On view:

Geffen Galleries

Pink sandstone sculpture of a multi-armed female deity in a dynamic dancing stance, with an elaborate halo, attended by a smaller figure and a bird

Red sandstone relief sculpture of a female figure with curly hair and a circular halo, shown in a dynamic tribhanga pose, wearing a beaded belt and draped lower garment, with a smaller attendant figure and a bird at the base.

Sandstone relief sculpture, close-up of a female figure with elaborately curled hair, downcast eyes, and beaded necklace, set against a circular halo; warm reddish-brown stone with weathered surface texture.

Sandstone sculpture of a four-armed female deity, upper body shown against a circular prabhamandala with petal carving. Figure holds a spear and shield, with elaborate curled hair, jewelry, and decorative belt; warm reddish-tan stone with weathered surface.

Sandstone sculptural fragment of a large female figure in a dynamic bent-knee pose, wearing incised draped garments and a beaded belt, with a smaller attendant figure holding an infant at right and a crouching animal form at lower left.

Artist or Maker: Unknown
Title: The Hindu Goddess Kaumari
Place Made: India, Madhya Pradesh or Rajasthan
Date Made: circa 800-850
Medium: Red sandstone
Dimensions: 28 x 15 x 6 in. (71.12 x 38.1 x 15.24 cm)
Credit Line: From the Nasli and Alice Heeramaneck Collection, Museum Associates Purchase
Accession Number: M.82.42.3
Classification: Sculpture
Collecting Area: South and Southeast Asian Art
Curatorial Notes: Kaumari is the wife or personification of the creative force (shakti) of Kumara, the youthful Hindu god of war who is also called Skanda or Karttikeya in northern India. Accordingly, she shares Kumara’s peacock mount and his primary attribute of the spear, which is carried here in her lower left hand. Her upper left hand is held in the gesture of discourse (vitarka mudra). Her two right hands are now lost. The goddess is dancing one of the 108 dance steps and hand postures, specifically a sidestep movement (parshvakranta chari), of the Natyashastra, a treatise on classical Indian dance dating from circa 200 CE. She is graced with a lotus nimbus. A female attendant holding a flower is on her left.

Kaumari is one of the Seven Mother Goddesses (Sapta Matrikas) often shown as a group flanked by Shiva and Ganesha on the lintels of northern Indian Hindu temples (see M.90.157). Here, she is represented as an independent stele that was most likely originally erected along with her divine counterparts in a temple’s ancillary shrine. The Vaishnavi, spouse of Vishnu, from this same set is now in the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond (68.8.12).
Selected Bibliography: Pal, Pratapaditya. Indian Sculpture, vol.2. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art; University of California Press, 1988.
Rosenfield, John. The Arts of India and Nepal: The Nasli and Alice Heeramaneck Collection. Boston: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1966.
Kramrisch, Stella. Manifestations of Shiva. Philadelphia: Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1981.
El Universo de la India: Obras Maestras del Museo de Arte del Condado de Los Angeles. Santiago: Centro Cultural Palacio La Moneda, 2012.

Unknown
The Hindu Goddess Kaumaricirca 800-850

On view:

Geffen Galleries

Artist or Maker: Unknown
Title: The Hindu Goddess Kaumari
Place Made: India, Madhya Pradesh or Rajasthan
Date Made: circa 800-850
Medium: Red sandstone
Dimensions: 28 x 15 x 6 in. (71.12 x 38.1 x 15.24 cm)
Credit Line: From the Nasli and Alice Heeramaneck Collection, Museum Associates Purchase
Accession Number: M.82.42.3
Classification: Sculpture
Collecting Area: South and Southeast Asian Art
Curatorial Notes: Kaumari is the wife or personification of the creative force (shakti) of Kumara, the youthful Hindu god of war who is also called Skanda or Karttikeya in northern India. Accordingly, she shares Kumara’s peacock mount and his primary attribute of the spear, which is carried here in her lower left hand. Her upper left hand is held in the gesture of discourse (vitarka mudra). Her two right hands are now lost. The goddess is dancing one of the 108 dance steps and hand postures, specifically a sidestep movement (parshvakranta chari), of the Natyashastra, a treatise on classical Indian dance dating from circa 200 CE. She is graced with a lotus nimbus. A female attendant holding a flower is on her left.

Kaumari is one of the Seven Mother Goddesses (Sapta Matrikas) often shown as a group flanked by Shiva and Ganesha on the lintels of northern Indian Hindu temples (see M.90.157). Here, she is represented as an independent stele that was most likely originally erected along with her divine counterparts in a temple’s ancillary shrine. The Vaishnavi, spouse of Vishnu, from this same set is now in the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond (68.8.12).
Selected Bibliography: Pal, Pratapaditya. Indian Sculpture, vol.2. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art; University of California Press, 1988.
Rosenfield, John. The Arts of India and Nepal: The Nasli and Alice Heeramaneck Collection. Boston: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1966.
Kramrisch, Stella. Manifestations of Shiva. Philadelphia: Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1981.
El Universo de la India: Obras Maestras del Museo de Arte del Condado de Los Angeles. Santiago: Centro Cultural Palacio La Moneda, 2012.