Durga (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston)

dc.contributor.authorRowland, Benjamin
dc.contributor.authorPhotographer: Arthur Llewellyn Basham
dc.coverage.spatialIndia
dc.date.accessioned2019-10-15T01:35:34Z
dc.date.available2019-10-15T01:35:34Z
dc.date.created1953
dc.date.updated2019-10-15T01:35:33Z
dc.descriptionThe goddess is represented standing on the severed bull head of the demon Mahisha, an episode from Puranic legend. She is 8-armed, & holds the bow, discus and trident lent her by Siva and Vishnu for the epic struggle. Her ornaments include a towering head-dress (karana mukhuta), necklaces and jewelled belt
dc.descriptionand her arms are covered with bracelets like those of the Dancing Girl from Mohenjodaro. This figure, like all Pallava sculpture, belongs to the earliest and classic phase of Dravidian art. Ultimately it is an outgrowth of the later Andhra style in the elongation of the form with long tubular limbs, but the whole conception is invested with a peculiarly dynamic quality that is always characteristic of Dravidian Hindu art. We can see once more in this single figure the suggestion of the emergence of the form from stone. Certain aspects of the figural canon differ from earlier practice, as may be discerned in the heart-shaped face already noted at Mamallapuram. The figure of the Triumphant Goddess has a militant energy conveyed by the moving pose and deployment of the arms in a kind of aureole. This is combined with a suggestion of complete serenity and feminine softness, as is entirely appropriate to the conception of the divinity.
dc.format.extent35mm
dc.format.mediummounted transparency
dc.format.mediumb&w
dc.format.mimetypeimage/tiff
dc.identifierANUA 682-1756
dc.identifier.otherIM-915
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/1885/176752
dc.language.isoen_AU
dc.provenanceDigitised by the Australian National University in 2019
dc.relation.ispartofseriesBasham Collection
dc.rights.licenseThis item is provided for research purposes. Contact the Australian National University Archives at butlin.archives@anu.edu.au for permission to use.
dc.subjectSouth India-- Sculpture - South India
dc.subjectstone sculpture
dc.subjectbook scan
dc.titleDurga (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston)
dc.typeImage
dspace.entity.typeANUArchivesItem
local.description.notesSource: B. Rowland, The Art and Architecture of India, Penguin Books, London, 1953, ill. 116

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