Provenance:
Sotheby’s, New York, March 22, 1989, no. 355
European Private Collection
At once fierce and elegant, the blue multi-armed goddess is depicted standing in pratyalidhasana on a multicolored lotus pedestal with a karttrka and a kapala in her principal hands. While beloved in Nepal, her image is seldom depicted, making the present example extremely rare. Her counterpart is Pasupatinath, a manifestation of Shiva as Lord of the Animals and the patron deity of the Hindus in Nepal. The cosmic form of Kali has fifty-four arms fanned out at her sides, and her hands are holding a host of weapons and ritual implements. Her principal head has three large round eyes and a fanged mouth, and she has multiple additional heads, almost all of which are birds and animals—both natural and mythological. She wears a tiger-skin dhoti, bone apron, garlands of severed human heads and skulls, snakes, and skull crowns securing her flaming hair.
Below is the prostrate figure of Bhairava holding a karttrka, kapala, damaru, and khatvanga in his four hands. He gazes up at the goddess and has his legs crossed at the ankles. The scene is enveloped in a wall of bright red flames as a terrifying backdrop. Various diminutive Hindu deities are shown in registers below Bhairava to demonstrate Kali’s superiority over these gods.
See P. Pal, Art of the Himalayas, American Federation of the Arts exhibition catalogue, New York, 1991, for a large paubha in the Zimmerman Collection.
