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God Shiva Seated with the Seven Mother Goddesses (Saptamatrika)

A work made of sandstone.
CC0 Public Domain Designation

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  • A work made of sandstone.

Date:

10th century

Artist:

India
Madhya Pradesh

About this artwork

Across India, the seven mother goddesses (saptamatrikas) are the personified powers (shakti) of the principal male gods, whom they energize. Here, these warrior deities have been invoked for their primary role: to help the goddess Durga destroy demons. The mothers are shown dancing in victory, drunk with the blood of vanquished demons. Shiva is featured at the left playing the veena, a stringed instrument. The skeletal goddess on the far right is Chamunda, the goddess of destruction and death.

Status

On View, Gallery 141

Department

Arts of Asia

Title

God Shiva Seated with the Seven Mother Goddesses (Saptamatrika)

Place

Madhya Pradesh (Object made in)

Date  Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

901 CE–1000

Medium

Sandstone

Dimensions

36.3 × 100.7 × 10.3 cm (14 3/8 × 39 5/8 × 4 1/16 in.)

Credit Line

James W. and Marilynn Alsdorf Collection. Gift of Marilynn Alsdorf

Reference Number

2021.206

IIIF Manifest  The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

Learn more.

https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/130624/manifest.json

Extended information about this artwork

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

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