Durga, seated, with sixteen arms / Artist Unknown, India, South India
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About this Item
Record Details
- Accession Number
- 1981/2.59
- Title
- Durga, seated, with sixteen arms
- Artist Nationality
- Indian
- Medium and Support
- copper
- Object Creation Date
- 18th century
- Object Creation Place
- Asia (continent)
- India (nation)
- Creation Place 1
- Asia (continent)
- Creation Place 2
- India (nation)
- Style/Group/Movement
- folk bronze
- Dimensions
- 12.9 cm x 15.2 cm x 6.5 cm (5 1/16 in. x 6 in. x 2 9/16 in.)
- Century
- 18th century
- Primary Object Classification
- Sculpture
- Primary Object Type
- figure
- Secondary Object Classification
- Ritual Objects
- Secondary Object Type
- figure
- Physical Description
- Durga sits with her legs in a half lotus position, crossed in front of her, but not interlaced. She has a narrow waist and rounded pointy breasts with broad shoulders. Her front two hands hold a rosary (also in a reassuring gesture) and a pot. Her other hands fan out around her. Reading clockwise, she carries a wide assortment of weapons, an arrow, sword, feather, club, discus, trident and [?] on her right and conch, bell, noose, trident, club?, shield, bow and a kapala (skull cup). She has large open eyes and a full mouth and nose. She wears jewelry including necklaces and shoulder loops, armlets, bracelets and large floral earrings. Her crown rest atop her head, but there are wing-like elements that fan out behind her ears. She sits on a squared base with stylized lotus petals over simpler moldings.
- Subject Matter
- Durga is a common name for the Goddess. She has a large following in Hinduism and often the title Durga is an umbrella name covering a wide assortment of goddesses. The fact that she has so many arms suggests this collective identity. It relates to stories told in the Devimahatmya, part of a larger work, which tells how the gods could not beat particular demons and it is only when the goddess was created and imbued with the individual powers of all of the gods that the demons could be vanquished. Consequently she holds weapons associated with a number of the gods.
- Primary Keywords
- arrow
- bell (idiophone)
- club (weapon)
- conch shell
- deity
- discus
- feather
- flower (plant)
- hindu
- hinduism
- jewelry
- rosary
- seated
- sword
- trident
- Secondary Keywords
- hollow-bodied
- animal material
- associated concepts
- beads and sets of beads
- bells and sets of bells
- buildings and the land
- chordophones
- combination inorganic/organic animal material
- combination inorganic/organic material
- costume
- costume accessories
- costume accessories worn
- descriptors
- directly struck idiophones
- edged weapons
- figures
- herbaceous plants
- keratinous material
- landscapes (environments)
- materials
- materials by composition
- materials by origin
- natural landscapes
- object genres
- object genres by form
- objects we use
- people
- people (agents)
- people and culture
- people and occupations
- people by state or condition
- percussion idiophones
- percussive weapons
- plants
- projectile weapons
- projectile weapons with nonexplosive propellant
- projectiles with nonexplosive propellant
- recreational artifacts
- recreational artifacts for competitive activities
- religions
- religions and religious concepts
- sets of beads
- settlements and landscapes
- shell (animal material)
- shell and shell material
- sound devices
- sound devices by acoustical characteristics
- spears (weapons)
- spears by form
- sports and athletic equipment
- staff weapons
- struck idiophones
- track and field sports equipment
- vegetation and vegetation components
- vegetation components
- weapons
- weapons and ammunition
- woody plants
- Rights
- If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please visit https://umma.umich.edu/about/services/request-image/ for more information and to fill out the online Image Rights and Reproductions Request Form.
Technical Details
- Collection
- University of Michigan Museum of Art
- Image Size
- 997 x 897
- File Size
- 90 KB
- Record
- 1981/2.59
- Link to this Item
-
https://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/musart/x-1981-sl-2.59/1981_2.59.jpg
Rights and Permissions
Related Links
Portfolios
IIIF
- Manifest
-
https://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/i/image/api/manifest/musart:1981-SL-2.59:1981_2.59.JPG
Cite this Item
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- Full citation
-
"Durga, seated, with sixteen arms; Artist Unknown, India, South India." In the digital collection University of Michigan Museum of Art. https://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/musart/x-1981-sl-2.59/1981_2.59.jpg. University of Michigan Library Digital Collections. Accessed April 18, 2024.
