Durga as Slayer of the Buffalo Demon Mahishasura

Nepal

On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 252

This eighteen-armed version of the goddess Durga originally stood on a pedestal upon which she vanquished the buffalo demon Mahishasura, trampling him with one foot while transfixing him with Shiva’s trident. This iconography is the supreme expression of the power of this goddess, “the Unassailable, the Unconquerable.”

Durga as Slayer of the Buffalo Demon Mahishasura, Gilt copper alloy, inlaid with semiprecious stones, Nepal

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