Tantric Devi on Shiva, from a Mandi Devi Series
Unknown Artist
c. 1810
Medium
Gum tempera and gold on paper
Dimensions
20.6 × 26.2 cm
Classification
Painting
Department
Indian and Southeast Asian Art
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Gift of Nancy and Wayne Hunnicutt
Accession Number
2020.431
About this artwork
Showing her utter superiority over the male god, the blue-skinned goddess, Devi, lunges with fangs bared and tongue lolling on the supine body of Shiva, stretched on a burning pyre. In one hand she holds the sword she used to decapitate the demon whose head she triumphantly grasps in her left hand. In the other two hands she holds shears and a noose. Her garment is a tiger skin; her garland consists of severed heads; and her torque is a cobra. As the personification of divine energy—shakti in Sa...