Artwork Page for Goddess standing on a mountaintop

Details / Information for Goddess standing on a mountaintop

Goddess standing on a mountaintop

c. 1720
(Indian)
Measurements
Page: 28.1 x 18.4 cm (11 1/16 x 7 1/4 in.); Image: 24.9 x 15.3 cm (9 13/16 x 6 in.)
Public Domain
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The Goddess is wearing a garland of corpses.

Description

The four-armed goddess, whose name remains unknown, presides over a scene of carnage. Two dark-skinned women offer halved heads full of blood. A buffalo that stands for her devotees’ enemies has been sacrificed. Jackals and birds of prey cheerfully take away shares of flesh.

An important aspect of religious practice in the northwest Himalayas, the worship of fierce goddesses was thought to aid their devotees in conquering enemies, psychological and otherwise. She wears the enemies as corpses in her ears and as a garland around her neck.
A vertically oriented tempera painting depicts an orange-skinned, six-armed figure standing atop a white, scalloped mountain. Holding a sword, trident, torch, and severed head, she is flanked by two dark-skinned attendants on the slopes. Below, foxes and people scavenge a bull's carcass and severed limbs. Dark, tapering trees frame the central scene against a gray-blue sky filled with soaring birds, all enclosed within a thick, red border.

Goddess standing on a mountaintop

c. 1720

Master of the court of Mandi

(Indian)
Northern India, Pahari kingdoms

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