A Gilt Copper Figure of Durga Mahishasuramardini

Acquired by the current owner in the 1970s

Wear to gilding, accretion and scattered areas of oxidization overall. Traces of vermillion from ritual use throughout. Some losses to fingertips. Restoration to the two outermost left hands. Central crown leaf has been replaced, stable. The exposed lug at the reverse of the figure's head would indicate that it may have once been joined to a surrounding aureole.
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The present work is an exceptionally fine and dynamic example of early Malla sculpture. The goddess Durga in her avatar as Mahishasuramardini is depicted, as her name suggests, slaying the buffalo demon. One of her feet rests on a lion, while the other thrusts down the head of the defeated demon. The ten-armed goddess is standing in the fierce alidha pose, reserved for wrathful deities. The positioning of her hands suggests that she would have held a variety of weapons, now missing. Her principle hands are in karanamudra and the other is holding a kapala. She is adorned with a headdress, kundala earrings, two necklaces, a girdle and armbands. Her lower garment has an inverted petal design with a skillfully rendered, undulating pattern. The central panel of the fabric is shown in relief, while the side panels are gently etched on her legs. The back of the sculpture displays a dotted pattern on the lower garment. The arching of the shoulder blades signals the strength of the multiple limbs. Her hair is tied in two top knots, neatly depicted by striation on the back of her head.

This scene depicts the culminating and most important episode of the Devi Mahatmya, the Hindu text describing the victory of the Goddess over the demon Mahishasura, during which the goddess slays the demon in buffalo form. The artist has successfully achieved a balance between the violence of the actual episode and the splendor of victory for which the goddess is celebrated. As explained by art historian Dr. Pratapaditya Pal, the primary function of these sculptures is religious and hieratic. Nepalese artisans in the Malla period captured the idea of energetic movement: the use of the alidha pose highlights the active nature of the god. The “heroic diagonal” was employed in India and Nepal to denote militant deities, especially for free standing sculptures.

The goddess is shown with a calm face, while her extended arms and strong posture depict her strength in the aftermath of the event. The vertical body of the buffalo, its limp head angularly perched on the stone, exaggerates the violence with which the Goddess would have rendered the beast lifeless. It is the physical strength, theatrical pose and heroic victory that express the dramatic tension and energy of combat.