Item: Durga (Hindu Deity)

Tibetan: རྫོང་གི་ལྷ་མོ། རིའི་སྲས་མོ། Chinese: 难近母（印度教女神）

(item no. 65433)

Origin Location	Nepal
Date Range	1200 - 1299
Lineages	Hindu
Material	Metal
Collection	Rubin Museum of Art

Classification: Deity

Interpretation / Description

The Warrior Goddess is the fearsome - demon destroying - form of the Daughter of the Himalayas, Parvati. Although she has many different origin myths associating her with different gods such as Brahma, Vishnu and Krishna, her relationship with Shiva and Parvati is popular in the Himalayan regions. According to chapter 38 of the Garuda Purana (10th-12th c.) Durga can have twenty-eight, eighteen, twelve, eight or four arms. Two lists of eighteen hand attributes are named in chapter 38 but neither of these lists accurately describe the eighteen armed Nepalese sculptures of Durga. Other forms of Durga with ten and six arms are also commonly found.

Video: Mahishasuramardini Durga

Jeff Watt 3-2005 [updated 6-2017]

Mahisasuramardini : Sculptural Representation of the Rise of Murti Veneration, Shaktism, and Interfaith Art in South Asia
by Shinzo Shiratori, Dec 15th, 2023

This gilt copper alloy 13th century Durga statuette takes on the form of Mahisasuramardini meaning “the one that crushes the buffalo demon” in Bengali and is now housed in the Rubin Museum of Art (Simmons, 2008, p. 13). It is a special, iconographic form of Durga marking the scene after her victory of winning against the king asura demon Mahiasura and slicing his head off, signifying the complete destruction of all evil (Mukherjee, 2022, p. 233). This extraordinary statuette originating from the Kathmandu valley in Nepal is much more than just an ancient artifact - it is an object commemorating the collaboration of the Hindu diaspora that heavily emphasized Hindu theism and deity worship with the economic and religious conditions that allowed for such an object to be crafted. Throughout this paper, I will explain how this small sculpture of Durga is an example of a murti for darshan and temple worship, an iconographic representation of Shaktism, and an example of Buddhist influence in Hindu art in the Kathmandu valley during medieval India.

This sculpture of Mahisasuramardini prompts us to question the purpose behind creating such an object. If we consider the piece as a whole, without delving into specifics, it likely serves as a "murti" – a physical representation of the divine, typically housed in temples for deity worship (Simmons, 2008, p. 22). While it's uncertain whether this particular murti was used in a temple or resided in a wealthy donor’s home, the detailed metalwork and jewelry suggest significant investment, pointing towards imperial work. A comparison with a Mahisasuramardini statuette in present-day Pakistan, small enough for temple ritual use, allows us to speculate that this might have been the case for this sculpture as well, considering it's only 11 inches tall (Simmons, 2008, p. 24).

The placement of sculptures in temples for worship arose from a shift in Hindu practice, moving from sacrificial yajna to puja – making offerings and rituals before Hindu deities and receiving darshan, or "seeing the divine" (Davis, 2018, p. 28). The concept of darshan rendered statues invaluable, promoting the creation of images in medieval South Asia, continued through the Bhakti yoga movement via promotion of Saguna or God with attributes (Um, 2023).

“For most people, in the first stages of spiritual development, only objects of great physical attraction have a strong enough appeal to take the mind away from the mechanical agitations of everyday occupations” (Danielou, 1991, p. 370). This underscores the significance of murtis in Hindu worship, particularly for those devoted to a chosen deity like Durga. This 13th-century murti of Mahisasuramardini is visually appealing and serves as a means to approach the deity from the physical form. The object represents the “outward expressions of cosmic law” (Danielou, 1991, p. 365). However, these images are not the actual deity; many sculptures were destroyed when damaged or worn, replaced frequently in temples (Danielou, 1991, p. 364). The survival of this object to the present day is remarkable, considering this practice. It’s also possible that this murti was used not in a temple setting but a personal shrine by someone linked to wealth. In conclusion, this statuette fulfills the role of a murti through its iconographic characteristics of Durga, with details such as height, jewelry, and amount of gold used indicating the ownership or conditions that facilitated its creation.

Shaktism, originating in South Asia, venerates the feminine as divine or sacred, stemming from the word 'shakti', meaning feminine power or force (Mookerjee, 1995, p. 25). Shakti is commonly referred to as devi, derived from the Sanskrit root 'div', meaning to shine (Mookerjee, 1995, p. 11). The iconography of this form of the deity Durga, arising from the collective frustration of the gods, embodies the gods’ divine qualities by Durga holding their signature weapons, in this instance, with her 18 arms. She emerges as the supreme deity of shakti, not as a wife of a god, which is the case with many other female Hindu goddesses. This narrative first appears in the 6th century within the Devimahatmya section of the Markandeya Purana (Davis, 2018, p. 26). Mahisasuramardini is just one form of Durga; the Devimahatmya mentions many names and forms, including Candika, Chamunda, and Ambika. These forms manifested from the various parts of the body of Mahisasuramardini during different battles against the great asura demon Mahisasura. The battle is also interpreted as a universal, internal conflict between knowledge and ignorance, truth and falsehood, equating feminine energy with ultimate good (Mookerjee, 1995, p. 59).

Riding a lion and slaying the buffalo-demon, anthropomorphically representing Mahishasura, Durga inspires devotees to harness their own shakti and discover its unlimited potential (Simmons, 2008, p. 59). Her iconography, revealing her breasts, symbolizes complete authority and power, linking to the shakti principles of the feminine divine (Simmons, 2008, p. 18). She takes the physical appearance of a tantric yogini, a class of females defying cultural and social norms with prominent, naked breasts and wide hips, symbolizing the fundamental creative force of the universe (Davis, 2018, p. 41). Their nakedness signifies accepting the body as a microcosm of the universe and intentionally transgressing social norms to escape conventional reality and directly pursue liberation (Davis, 2018, p. 42).

In Nepal, particularly in the Kathmandu Valley, there is a tradition of sharing religious objects of worship between Hindu and Buddhist traditions. For instance, sculptures of the Hindu god Hanuman are worshiped in Buddhist chaityas as a Buddhist protector and servant to the Buddha (Bühnemann, 2022, p. 234). The tantric severed-head goddess Chinnamasta, revered in the Kathmandu valley, is worshiped as one of the ten Mahavidyas or supreme goddesses by Hindus and as an emanation of the Buddhist deity Vajrayogini by tantric Buddhists (Benard, 1994, p. 4). This mixture of traditions is believed to have arisen from a complex caste system with both Buddhist and Hindu roots (Gupto, 2018, p. 148).

The statuette is an exemplary representation of the unique Newar tradition, a hybrid of Hindu and Buddhist practices primarily found in the Kathmandu valley, representing less than 5% of Nepal's current population (Gupto, 2018, p. 148). This specific sculpture of Durga exhibits several Newar elements in its iconography. The most apparent is one of Durga’s hand attributes, the vajra, a lightning-bolt scepter initially used by Indra in Vedic scriptures and later adopted in tantric Buddhism as a symbol of the Vajrayana (Watt, 2005). The bell she carries in her opposite hand, with a vajra top, is a tantric Buddhist symbol of feminine power and wisdom (Watt, 2005). Her expression of domination, as she steps on the demonic buffalo, may be attributed to a stylistic quality of tantric Buddhist iconography (Simmons, 2008, p. 25). Tantric Buddhist deities such as Hevajra, Chakrasamvara, and Vajrayogini are often depicted demonstrating their dominance by stomping over anthropomorphic figures representing internal qualities like ego (Watt, 2015). Although there is no direct evidence that this sculpture of Mahisasuramardini was worshiped by Buddhists, the Buddhist stylistic and iconographic elements in Durga’s expression of domination and her holding of the vajra and bell suggest a sharing and borrowing of styles, symbols, and deities in Hindu and Buddhist art, typical of the Newar tradition.

In this paper, we have analyzed the exquisite Mahisasuramardini sculpture from two main perspectives. Firstly, we examined the source as a whole, exploring its significance in the South Asian context. Drawing on evidence from Danielou and others, we concluded that the object serves as a murti—a physical embodiment of the divine used in rituals both in temples and homes, a practice popularized following the rise of theism and personal deity worship. Secondly, we delved into the specifics of the sculpture, focusing on its iconography, size, color, and materials. By examining the iconography, we utilized literature from experts to identify the sculpture as a representation of the shakti tradition, embodying the physical characteristics of the divine yogini. Furthermore, the iconography and certain characteristics identify this object to be a work of Newar art. The details of size, color, and materials enabled us to make educated guesses about the commissioner of the piece and the context of its use, likely being a wealthy donor in a temple setting, as suggested by its fine craftsmanship and portable size. This two-part analysis enabled us to associate the statuette with a broad range of subjects, from the general significance of murtis to more specific topics such as the promotion of Shaktism through iconography, text and interchangeable symbols and styles across Hindu and Buddhist settings of Newar art.

Bibliography:

Primary Source (Image)
Durga (Hindu Deity). (2005). Himalayan Art Resources. photograph, New York City. Retrieved December 13, 2023, from https://www.himalayanart.org/items/65433.

Secondary Sources Simmons, C. (2008). She Who Slays the Buffalo-Demon Divinity, Identity, and Authority in Iconography of Mahiasuramardini. Retrieved from http://purl.flvc.org/fsu/fd/FSU_migr_etd-1716

Daniélou, A. (1991). The Myths and Gods of India: The classic work on Hindu polytheism from the Princeton Bollingen Series. Inner Traditions International.

Mukherjee, U. (2022). Live-streaming the goddess in the times of COVID-19: A digital ethnography of diasporic durga puja festivals in pandemic britain. Religion (London. 1971), 52(2), 231-249. https://doi.org/10.1080/0048721X.2022.2051802

Davis, R. H. (2018). INTRODUCTION: A Brief History of Religions in India. In Donald S. Lopez, & D.S. Lopez (Eds.), Religions of Asia In Practice (pp. 3-50). Princeton University Press. https://doi.org/10.1515/9780691188140-003

Bühnemann, G. (2022). Hanumān in Newar (Buddhist) Vihāras of the Kathmandu Valley. Journal of Hindu Studies, 15(3), 221-243. https://doi.org/10.1093/jhs/hiab025

Benard, E. A. (1994). Chinnamastā, the Aweful Buddhist and Hindu Tantric Goddess (1st ed.). Motilal Banarsidass Publishers.

Gupto, A. (2018). Goddesses of Kathmandu Valley: Grace, Rage, Knowledge (2;2nd;2nd; ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429491337

Watt, J. (2005). Ritual Object: Vajra & Bell Main Page. Himalayan Art Resources. https://www.himalayanart.org/search/set.cfm?setID=563

Watt, J. (2015). Subject: Trampled Figures Underfoot (Gods & Deities). Himalayan Art Resources. https://www.himalayanart.org/search/set.cfm?setID=3912

Mookerjee, A. (1995). Kali: The Feminine Force. Thames and Hudson.

Secondary Images