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Shakti Devi
Female Goddess
Nepal; 18th century
Pigment on cloth
Rubin Museum of Art
F1996.32.8 (HAR 100019)

A rare iconographic form of the divine feminine shakti, this figure is not easy to identify, as the work appears to be a unique blending of both Vaishnava (worshiping Vishnu) and Shaiva (worshiping Shiva) imagery. However, the central figure, sitting on an over-sized skull cup, wields some of the common attributes of Siddhalakshmi: a sword, wheel, vase, jewels, and trident. Above the central figure, riding on a stylized Garuda, is a green multi-armed Vishnu, along with his consort Lakshmi. Above these two, in the smallest niche at the top of the temple, sit Shiva and Parvati, the supreme couple of the painting. Their elephant-headed son, Ganesha, and possibly his consort, yet another form of shakti, float in the sky above, flanked on both sides by four different depictions of Durga.


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