- Title
- Three Mother Goddesses (Matrikas): Mahalakshmi Flanked by Chamunda (proper right) and Kaumari (proper left)
- Date Made
- Dated 1679
- Period
- 17th century
- Medium
- Mineral pigments on cotton cloth
- Dimensions
- 23 1/2 x 19 3/4 in. (59.69 x 50.17 cm)
- Accession Number
- M.81.271.1
- Collecting Area
- South and Southeast Asian Art
- Curatorial Notes
Worshipped by both Hindus and Buddhists in Nepal and invoked in Shaktism and Tantric rituals, Mahalakshmi (Great Lakshmi) is the name of a cosmic protector form of the goddess Lakshmi as the primordial Supreme Mother Goddess, Adi Parashakti (First Supreme Energy). Mahalakshmi is also one of the Eight Mother Goddesses (Astha Matrikas). In this painted representation, she is crowned, heavily ornamented, and has Shiva’s third eye of wisdom (jñana netra). Regarded as a fierce protective goddess, she holds multiple weapons in her 16 arms. She sits cross-legged on her lion mount (simha vahana) crouching on a lotus base in the central shrine of a tripartite temple supported by lions. Mahalakshmi is flanked on her proper right by the emaciated goddess Chamunda seated on her human male mount holding a skull cup, and on her proper left by the goddess Kaumari seated on her peacock mount. Floating on clouds in the sky above are (from the viewer’s left to right) the white moon-god Chandra; the elephant-headed Ganesha; Kumara, Kaumari’s husband; and the red sun-god Surya.
Depicted in the lower register and identified by captions and the Newari inscription in the footer, is the Mahalakshmi rite being performed by the priest Rachchemana Bhaja for the patron Gangarama Bharo and his family in 1679. The inscription reads, On the seventh and eighth day of the dark fortnight of the month of Bhadra (August–September), in the year, 799 [1679 CE], Gangarama Bharo along with members of his family performed the Mahalakshmi rite and consecrated the painting. (Translation by Ian Alsop.)
See also M.72.108.5 and M.88.228
- Selected Bibliography
- Pal, Pratapaditya. Art of Nepal. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art; University of California Press, 1985.
