Durga Slaying Mahisha
Durga is the name of the goddess who personifies the sum total of the powers of all the male gods combined. When she vanquishes the fierce buffalo demon named Mahisha, she is described as having many arms, each holding a different weapon: bow and arrow, trident, discus, shield, sword, mace, and the conch shell that sounds the start of battle. The horizontal lines on her arms are sectarian markings. At the moment depicted in this painting, she has succeeded in beheading the buffalo demon and shooting arrows into his true form that climbs from its neck. Artists in the foothills of the western Himalayas, where this work was made, depicted Durga’s mount as a tiger—lions and tigers had synonymous meaning throughout India as emblems of shakti, or divine creative energy.
Colors in this work
Details
- Artist
- Unknown artist
- Date
- c. 1700–1710
- Dimensions
- overall: height 0.155 m, width 0.212 m
- Department
- Indian and Southeast Asian Art
- Holding institution
- Cleveland Museum of Art
- Palette
-
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- Image provider
- cleveland-museum-of-art
- License
- CC0-1.0
- Credit
- Mr. and Mrs. William H. Marlatt Fund
Art Genome Taxonomy
10 tags
Subject Matter
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Deities and Holy Figures Both · 99%
The museum identifies the central figure as Durga, a goddess, and the image visibly shows a richly adorned, many-armed female divine figure.
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Mythology and Religion Both · 99%
The catalog identifies the Hindu myth of Durga’s defeat of Mahisha, while the image depicts the goddess, demon, weapons, and combat.
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Narrative Both · 98%
The image presents a specific mythic action involving Durga’s attack on Mahisha, and the catalog confirms the depicted episode.
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Animals Both · 99%
A large buffalo and a striped tiger are clearly visible and are integral to the combat scene.
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Violence Both · 99%
The image depicts armed combat and decapitation; the catalog describes Durga beheading Mahisha and attacking his emerging true form.
Medium and Techniques
Geographic Regions
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Indian Art Metadata · 99%
The catalog gives the place of origin as Northern India, Pahari kingdoms.
Materials
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Use of Paper Metadata · 99%
The catalog explicitly identifies paper as the support.
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Gold Metadata · 98%
The catalog explicitly identifies gold as part of the medium.
Source & rights
Unknown artist. Durga Slaying Mahisha. Cleveland Museum of Art.
High-resolution sources
- Original TIFF ↗ 7,640 × 5,517 · Cleveland Museum Of Art · Available