Description
This specific goddess with five heads and ten arms is described in Hindu ritual handbooks from Kashmir. She is white in color and "rests on a lotus and Shiva." Her left hands hold, from top to bottom: an elephant goad, manuscript, noose (broken), the gift-giving gesture, and a hatchet. In her right hands are a sword, trident, skull staff, skull cup, and the gesture of protection. These objects reveal the awe-inspiring extent of her knowledge, skill, and power to defeat enemies on behalf of her devotees.
Provenance
Pan Asia Collection; (Robert H. Ellsworth [1929–2014], New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art) (1982); The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (1982–)
Accession Number
1982.47
Medium
bronze
Dimensions
Overall: 22.2 cm (8 3/4 in.)
Classification
Sculpture
Credit Line
Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund