The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 19, 2025

Varahi

c. 1300s

Nepal

bronze
Overall: 21 cm (8 1/4 in.)
Andrew R. and Martha Holden Jennings Fund 1978.70
Location: Not on view

Description

This Hindu goddess has the body of a young mother and the head of a female boar, which is the meaning of the Sanskrit word varahi, with the third eye of true knowledge. This sculpture was one of a set of seven goddesses associated with worship of the Hindu god Shiva or the mother goddess. The objects in three of her four hands reference the countercultural tantric Hindu practices of drinking revolting liquids from a bowl made from a skull. The fish implies the consumption of illicit food, and the snake pertains to the noose that keeps one bound in fear that leads to inevitable death. In tantric Hindu rituals, this goddess would aid the practitioners in overcoming their fears that keep them attached to ordinary life in the world, instead of reaching the liberated state of union with the creator.
  • ?–1978
    (Ulrich von Schroeder [b. 1943], Zürich, Switzerland, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
    1978–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Pal, Pratapaditya. "Two Gilt-Copper Survivors of the 1934 Earthquake and Some Related Objects from Nepal." Berliner indologische Studien, vol. 23 (2017): pp. 265-290 pp. 265-290
    Lee, Sherman E. “The Year in Review for 1978.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 66, no. 1 (January 1979): 3–47. Reproduced: p. 29; Mentioned: p. 47, no. 163 www.jstor.org
    Schroeder, Ulrich von. Indo-Tibetan Bronzes. 1st ed. Hong Kong, Glattbrugg, Switzerland: Visual Dharma Publications; Sole distributor, Nanda Distribution, 1981. Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 352, no. 92B
    Reedy, Chandra L. Himalayan Bronzes: Technology, Style, and Choices. Newark, London: University of Delaware Press; Associated University Presses, 1997. Reproduced: p. 238, fig. N270
  • Sacred India. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 5, 1985-January 12, 1986).
    Year in Review: 1978. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 13-March 18, 1979).
  • {{cite web|title=Varahi|url=false|author=|year=c. 1300s|access-date=19 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1978.70