id: 130218 accession number: 1952.587 share license status: CC0 url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1952.587 updated: 2023-03-09 12:47:49.068000 Shiva and Devi on Gajasura's Hide, c. 1675–80. India, Pahari Hills, Basohli school, 17th century. Gum tempera and silver on paper; image: 23.5 x 16.2 cm (9 1/4 x 6 3/8 in.); with mat: 35.5 x 25.4 cm (14 x 10 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Edward L. Whittemore Fund 1952.587 title: Shiva and Devi on Gajasura's Hide title in original language: series: series in original language: creation date: c. 1675–80 creation date earliest: 1670 creation date latest: 1685 current location: creditline: Edward L. Whittemore Fund copyright: --- culture: India, Pahari Hills, Basohli school, 17th century technique: Gum tempera and silver on paper department: Indian and Southeast Asian Art collection: Indian Art type: Painting find spot: catalogue raisonne: --- CREATORS --- measurements: Image: 23.5 x 16.2 cm (9 1/4 x 6 3/8 in.); with mat: 35.5 x 25.4 cm (14 x 10 in.) state of the work: edition of the work: support materials: inscriptions: --- CURRENT EXHIBITIONS title: Rajput Painting opening date: 1960-11-30T05:00:00 Rajput Painting. The Asia Society Museum, New York, NY (organizer) (November 30, 1960-January 22, 1961). title: Highlights of Asian Paintings from The Cleveland Museum of Art opening date: 1998-02-21T00:00:00 Highlights of Asian Paintings from The Cleveland Museum of Art. Nara National Museum (organizer) (February 21-March 29, 1998); Suntory Museum of Art (April 28-June 21, 1998). title: Yoga: The Art of Transformation opening date: 2013-10-19T04:00:00 Yoga: The Art of Transformation. Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, San Francisco, CA (February 21-May 25, 2014); The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (June 22-September 7, 2014). title: Supernatural Love - Indian Gallery 242 Rotation opening date: 2019-04-01T04:00:00 Supernatural Love - Indian Gallery 242 Rotation. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (April 1-September 9, 2019). --- LEGACY EXHIBITIONS * Rajput Painting. Asia House, New York, NY (December 3, 1960-January 22, 1961). * Indian Miniature Rotation (Gallery 115). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (February 4-August 5, 2003). --- PROVENANCE (Heeramaneck Galleries, New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art) date: ?–1952 footnotes: citations: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH date: 1952– footnotes: citations: --- fun fact: digital description: wall description: These divine lovers embody the duality of opposites: male/female, yogi/princess, death/ birth, and destruction/creation. Their gazes are locked on each other, linking them in loving unity as they float on the skin of an elephant demon through swirling monsoon clouds above the earth.

The god Shiva looks like a yogi with matted locks of hair entwined with serpents, white skin smeared with ash from funeral pyres, the third eye of true knowledge, triple-line sectarian marks, a garland of severed heads, and the leopard-skin loincloth. In three hands he holds emblems of destruction: skull cup, sword, and a drum that beats the rhythm of time. His fourth hand rests tenderly on the shoulder of his wife, the goddess Devi, also known as Parvati, who perches on his lap, her hands in a gesture of honor. --- RELATED WORKS --- CITATIONS Lee, Sherman E. "A Rajput Miniature from Basohli." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 40, no. 3 (1953): 50–51. page number: Mentioned: pp. 50–51; Reproduced: p. 46 url: https://www.jstor.org/stable/25141867 The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958. page number: Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 772 url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1958/page/n138 Sickman, L. C. S. Masterpieces of Asian Art in American Collections. New York: Asia Society, 1960. page number: Mentioned: cat. no. 31c, p. 64 url: Lee, Sherman E. and George Montgomery. Rajput Painting; with an introductory essay and catalogue notes. New York: Asia House, 1960. page number: Reproduced: p. 61; plate 58 url: The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966. page number: Reproduced: p. 239 url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1966/page/n263 The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969. page number: Reproduced: p. 238 url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1969/page/n262 Dwivedi, Vinod P. "A Rasamanjari Painting from Basohli." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 56, no. 7 (1969): 262–268. page number: Reproduced: fig. 4, p. 266 url: https://www.jstor.org/stable/25152284 Archer, W. G. Indian Paintings from the Punjab Hills; A Survey and History of Pahari Miniature Painting. London: Sotheby Parke Bernet, 1973. page number: Mentioned and Reproduced: vol. 1, p. 41; vol. 2, p. 25, no. 7 url: The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. page number: Reproduced: p. 307 url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1978/page/n327 Kramrisch, Stella. Manifestations of Shiva. Philadelphia: Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1981. page number: Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. P-26, pp. 188–189 url: Heeramaneck, Alice N. Masterpieces of Indian Painting: From the Former Collections of Nasli M. Heeramaneck. Verona, Italy: A.N. Heeramaneck, 1984. page number: Mentioned: p. 95; Reproduced: color plate 87, p. 103 url: Leach, Linda York. Indian Miniature Paintings and Drawings. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art in cooperation with Indiana University Press, 1986. page number: Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 104 url: Tōyō kaiga no seika: tokubetsuten: Kurīvurando Bijutsukan no korekushon kara [東洋絵画の精華: 特别展: クリーヴラント美術館のコレクションから= Highlights of Asian painting from the Cleveland Museum of Art]. Nara, Japan: Nara National Museum, 1998. page number: Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 32, cat. no. 11 url: Goswamy, B. N. The Spirit of Indian Painting: Close Encounters with 101 Great Works, 1100-1900. NY: Thames & Hudson, 2016. page number: Mentioned: p. 208-211; Reproduced: p. 208, 210 url: --- IMAGES web: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1952.587/1952.587_web.jpg print: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1952.587/1952.587_print.jpg full: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1952.587/1952.587_full.tif