id:			136475
accession number:	1960.51
share license status:	CC0
url:			https://clevelandart.org/art/1960.51
updated:		2023-03-24 11:13:13.085000

Durga Slaying Mahisha, c. 1700–1710. India, Pahari Hills, Nurpur school, early 18th Century. Ink and color on paper; overall: 15.5 x 21.2 cm (6 1/8 x 8 3/8 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Mr. and Mrs. William H. Marlatt Fund 1960.51

title:				Durga Slaying Mahisha
title in original language:	
series:				
series in original language:	
creation date:			c. 1700–1710
creation date earliest:		1695
creation date latest:		1715
current location:		
creditline:			Mr. and Mrs. William H. Marlatt Fund
copyright:			

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culture:	India, Pahari Hills, Nurpur school, early 18th Century
technique:	ink and color on paper
department:	Indian and Southeast Asian Art
collection:	Indian Art
type:		Painting
find spot:	
catalogue raisonne: 

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CREATORS

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measurements: Overall: 15.5 x 21.2 cm (6 1/8 x 8 3/8 in.)
state of the work:	
edition of the work: 	

support materials:


inscriptions:

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CURRENT EXHIBITIONS

	title:		Rajput Painting
	opening date:   1960-11-30T05:00:00
	<i>Rajput Painting</i>. The Asia Society Museum, New York, NY (organizer) (November 30, 1960-January 22, 1961).

	title:		Year in Review - Nineteen Hundred Sixty
	opening date:   1960-11-30T05:00:00
	<i>Year in Review - Nineteen Hundred Sixty</i>. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 30, 1960-January 1, 1961).

	title:		The Art of India
	opening date:   1961-04-07T05:00:00
	<i>The Art of India</i>. Memorial Art Gallery of the University of Rochester, Rochester, NY (organizer) (April 7-30, 1961).

	title:		Sacred India
	opening date:   1985-11-05T05:00:00
	<i>Sacred India</i>. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 5, 1985-January 12, 1986).

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LEGACY EXHIBITIONS

* <em>Rajput Painting</em>. Asia House, New York, NY (December 3, 1960-January 22, 1961).

* <em>Main Gallery Rotation (Gallery 242B)</em>. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (April 6-November 7, 2016).

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PROVENANCE

	(Heeramaneck Galleries, New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
	date: ?-1960
	footnotes: 	
	citations: 	


	The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
	date: 1960-
	footnotes: 	
	citations: 	


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fun fact:


digital description:


wall description:
Durga is the name of the goddess who personifies the sum total of the powers of all the male gods combined. When she vanquishes the fierce buffalo demon named Mahisha, she is described as having many arms, each holding a different weapon: bow and arrow, trident, discus, shield, sword, mace, and the conch shell that sounds the start of battle. The horizontal lines on her arms are sectarian markings. At the moment depicted in this painting, she has succeeded in beheading the buffalo demon and shooting arrows into his true form that climbs from its neck. Artists in the foothills of the western Himalayas, where this work was made, depicted Durga’s mount as a tiger—lions and tigers had synonymous meaning throughout India as emblems of shakti, or divine creative energy.
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RELATED WORKS

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CITATIONS

	Asia Society, Sherman E. Lee, and George Montgomery. <em>Rajput Painting; with an introductory essay and catalogue notes</em>. New York: Asia House, 1960.
	page number: 	Reproduced: p. 71; plate 66
	url:		

	The Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966</em>. 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. <em>Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969</em>. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969.
	page number: 	Reproduced: p. 239
	url:		https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1969/page/n263

	The Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978</em>. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978.
	page number: 	Reproduced: p. 308
	url:		https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1978/page/n328

	Leach, Linda York. <em>Indian Miniature Paintings and Drawings</em>. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art in cooperation with Indiana University Press, 1986.
	page number: 	Reproduced: cat. no. 135
	url:		

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IMAGES

web:	https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1960.51/1960.51_web.jpg
print:	https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1960.51/1960.51_print.jpg
full:	https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1960.51/1960.51_full.tif