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A ten-armed Durga stands triumphant as she grabs the hair of the buffalo demon’s true form, one foot on his neck, about to plunge spear into his heart. Interestingly, demon wears European buckled shoes; this painting was made in the British enclave then known as Calcutta.
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Made by artists who sold their works in a goddess temple bazaar, this painting was made with rapid brush strokes and thin paint layers on inexpensive paper. Exuberant in their devotional vitality and visceral color sensibilities,
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Kalighat paintings achieved acclaim among modern artists of the 20th century.
Believed to be a manifestation of the Great Goddess, the goddess Durga is portrayed here killing Mahisha, a demon in buffalo form.
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Believed to be a manifestation of the Great Goddess, the goddess Durga is portrayed here killing Mahisha, a demon in buffalo form.
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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,
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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
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shooting arrows into his true form that climbs from its neck. Artists in 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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