 |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Durga
Durga, the great Warrior Goddess, represents the lethal energy of divine anger when turned against evil. It is Durga's story which is told in the three great legends in  Devi Mahatmya. The world was under attack by Mahisha, the most evil demon in the world, who took many different forms, including that of a buffalo. The male gods, fearing total annihilation endowed Durga with their powers. Riding a lion into battle, Durga slew the buffalo by cutting off its head and then she destroyed the spirit of the demon as it emerged from the buffalo's severed neck. It is through this act that order was established in the world. |
|
|
Full image and description.
At the Hub of Things. Lent by the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution. |
|
Durga's victory and power are celebrated every fall throughout India in the Durga Puja. Durga is among the most widely represented visual forms of Devi across the Indian subcontinent. She is seen in stone, bronze, wood, clay, and paint; her image is reintegrated in the contemporary world in oil on canvas and with powdered pigment in fiberglass. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
