A painting of Chinnamasta, India, Rajasthan, possibly Jaipur, late 18th century

Nik Douglas, 17th December 1982.

Collection of James and Marilynn Alsdorf.

Christie's New York, 29th September 2020, lot 25.

In the Hindu tradition, Chinnamasta (or ‘Severed Head’) is one of the ten mahavidyas (incarnations of the great goddess Devi). According to the Pranatosinitantra, Parvati was bathing in the wilderness with two yoginis, Dakini and Varnini, when they became famished. Parvati resolved to decapitate herself so that they may be nourished by her blood, thus embodying Chinnamasta.

Here, the goddess appears seated on a throne, worshipped by a ruler and his wife kneeling beside her, holding a scimitar in her right hand and her own head on a platter in her left. A crown sits just above her third eye, while thin wisps of hair hang loose and her tongue lolls.

The goddess is adorned with pearl and emerald jewelry, and her skin is rendered a characteristic orangered complexion. Thin streams of blood can be seen flowing from her neck to the mouths of the yoginis that flank her. Chinnamasta’s iconography encompasses elements of both terror and heroism by way of severing her own head and then offering her blood for nourishment, ultimately symbolizing the transformations of death and life.