The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 25, 2024

Women Worshipping a Shiva Linga: Devagandhari Ragini of Hindol, from a Chamba Ragamala

Women Worshipping a Shiva Linga: Devagandhari Ragini of Hindol, from a Chamba Ragamala

c. 1700
gum tempera and gold on paper
Miniature: 21 x 18.4 cm (8 1/4 x 7 1/4 in.)
Purchase and partial gift from the Catherine and Ralph Benkaim Collection; Severance and Greta Millikin Purchase Fund 2018.87
Location: not on view

Did You Know?

The iconography of Devagandhari is consistent in several Ragamala series from Chamba

Description

Removed from any temple setting, the focus of the scene is on the intensity of the women’s devotions to the Hindu god Shiva in his abstract form of a linga. The figure on the right tosses flower petals on the linga and offers incense in a handheld censer. Her taller companion wearing a yellow blouse holds two lotus flowers in her hands cupped in devotion as she bows reverently.
  • ?–June 1973
    (Marjorie Buckle, Hong Kong, sold to Ralph Benkaim)
    June 1973–2001
    Ralph Benkaim [1914–2001], Beverly Hills, CA, by descent to his wife Catherine Glynn Benkaim
    2001–2018
    Catherine Glynn Benkaim and Barbara Timmer, Beverly Hills, CA, partial sale and gift to the Cleveland Museum of Art
    2018–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • {{cite web|title=Women Worshipping a Shiva Linga: Devagandhari Ragini of Hindol, from a Chamba Ragamala|url=false|author=|year=c. 1700|access-date=25 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2018.87