Bagalamukhi, the eighth Mahavidya, from a Dashamahavidya series (c. 1725): Art, History and Details

Bagalamukhi, the eighth Mahavidya, from a Dashamahavidya series (c. 1725) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

This enigmatic painting remains unidentified. Set in a forest teeming with wildlife, a four-armed goddess with three eyes and a crescent moon in her crown shows her dominance over a naked, ashen male figure standing to her left by clutching his tongue. In her right hands, she appears to hold agricultural implements, while in her upper left hand she holds a mace.

Object facts

• Title: Bagalamukhi, the eighth Mahavidya, from a Dashamahavidya series
• Date: c. 1725
• Culture: Northwestern India, Rajasthan, Rajput Kingdom of Sirohi; or Northern Deccan, Aurangabad
• Type: Painting
• Technique: gum tempera, gold, and silver on paper
• Dimensions: Page: 35.6 x 26.7 cm (14 x 10 1/2 in.)
• Collection: Indian Art
• Department: Indian and Southeast Asian Art
• Accession number: 2018.200

A detail from the museum

His spiky hair standing on end suggests that the naked figure is a demon.

Collection credit

Purchase and partial gift from the Catherine and Ralph Benkaim Collection; Severance and Greta Millikin Purchase Fund

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.