The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 19, 2025

Goddess standing on a mountaintop

c. 1720

attributed to Master of the court of Mandi

(Indian)
Northern India, Pahari kingdoms
Gum tempera and gold on paper
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.)
Purchase and partial gift from the Catherine and Ralph Benkaim Collection; Severance and Greta Millikin Purchase Fund 2018.98
Location: Not on view

Did You Know?

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.
  • Royal Mandi Collection
    ?–July 1980
    (Ramesh Kapoor Gallery, New York, NY, sold to Ralph and Catherine Glynn Benkaim)
    July 1980–2001
    Ralph Benkaim [1914–2001] and Catherine Glynn Benkaim [b. 1946], Beverly Hills, CA
    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=Goddess standing on a mountaintop|url=false|author=Master of the court of Mandi|year=c. 1720|access-date=19 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2018.98