Durga Destroying the Buffalo Demon
Unknown Artist
800s–900s
Medium
schist
Dimensions
h. 76.2 cm
Classification
Sculpture
Department
Indian and Southeast Asian Art
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund
Accession Number
1982.45
About this artwork
IIn Hindu traditions, the goddess Durga is sometimes understood as a form of Shiva's wife Parvati, the personification of his female energies. This female creative energy, called shakti, has a powerful side that is personified as the warrior goddess Durga, capable of destroying arrogance and other mental vices, personified as the demon. Her main feat in the mythic literature is the slaying of the Buffalo Demon, Mahishasura. He had been ravaging the universe until the warrior goddess Durga decapi...