A SANDSTONE STELE DEPICTING DURGA

Description:

Central-India, 8th/9th c.
H. 75 cm (o.S.)
Seated in lalitasana on a throne placed on a shaped base with a pair of lions to the front, her eight arms radiating around her body, the hands holding the specific attributes, including sword and trishula resting on the buffalo-head in her principle hands, wearing sari, bejewelled, her face displaying a serene expression with almond-shaped eyes below slightly arched eyebrows, smiling lips, elongated earlobes with elaborate ear-ornaments, her hair combed in the jatamakuta, floral head-halo behind, a parasol above flanked by a pair of gandharvas extending offerings, a pair of divinities and a pair of makaras, both latter placed on the horizontal throne beam, the lower section with a pair of female worshippers flanking Durga and each surmounted by a pair of animals.
While Durga, killing the buffalo demon, was very often depicted on the walls of Vishnu or Devi temples (Devi is one of the consorts of Shiva), statues and stelae like this one, which depict her as world ruler, are rather rare.
Sotheby's , New York, 30.11.1994, lot 37 - Private collection Friedrich Georg Zeileis, acquired at Sotheby's London, 1996 - Traces of age, slightly chipped, mounted on base
Published in: Friedrich Georg Zeileis, ' Sakrales und Säkulares von Gandhara bis Lhasa und entlang der Seidenstraße ', Gallspach, 2004, p. 30-31, no. 6