The Cleveland Museum of Art
Collection Online as of April 19, 2024
Durga Destroying the Buffalo Demon
800s–900s
Overall: 76.2 cm (30 in.)
Leonard C. Hanna, Jr. Fund 1982.45
Location: 244 Indian and Southeast Asian
Did You Know?
She uses Shiva's trident to pin down the demon.Description
IIn Hindu traditions, the goddess Durga is sometimes understood as a form of Shiva's wife Parvati, the personification of his female energies. This female creative energy, called shakti, has a powerful side that is personified as the warrior goddess Durga, capable of destroying arrogance and other mental vices, personified as the demon. Her main feat in the mythic literature is the slaying of the Buffalo Demon, Mahishasura. He had been ravaging the universe until the warrior goddess Durga decapitated him. His more vulnerable demonic form emerges from the neck, and she, calm but powerful, slays him with her sword.- The Pan-Asian Collection, New York, NY?–1982(Robert H. Ellsworth [1929–2014], New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)1982–The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
- Lee, Sherman E. "Year in Review for 1982." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 70, no. 1 (January 1983): 3-55. Reproduced: p. 26, no. 100 www.jstor.org
- The Year in Review for 1982. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 5-February 6, 1983).
- {{cite web|title=Durga Destroying the Buffalo Demon|url=false|author=|year=800s–900s|access-date=19 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}
Source URL:
https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1982.45