Devi Attacking a Demon (c. 1630): Art, History and Details

Devi Attacking a Demon (c. 1630) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

The horizontal format of this sacred text is derived from the earlier use of palm leaves instead of paper. This page is from the foundational work of scripture for worshippers of the great goddess Devi. In her warrior aspect, or incarnation, Devi is multiarmed, rides a lion, and conquers demons more powerful than all the male gods. The demon holding a mountain above his head as a missile is dressed in the Central Asian belted tunic and pants of the Mughals, who ruled most of India at the time this painting was made. Devi wears the Mughal women’s style of tall flat-topped feathered headdress, and she holds a bottle and cup of liquor. Aside from these Mughal elements, the style remains staunchly indigenous, with unmodeled figures in strict profile against a flat red ground.

Object facts

• Title: Devi Attacking a Demon
• Date: c. 1630
• Culture: India, Rajasthan, Possibly Sirohi, 17th century
• Type: Painting
• Technique: Gum tempera, ink, and gold on paper
• Dimensions: Image: 12.5 x 10.2 cm (4 15/16 x 4 in.); Overall: 12.5 x 27.5 cm (4 15/16 x 10 13/16 in.)
• Collection: Indian Art
• Department: Indian and Southeast Asian Art
• Accession number: 1968.72

Collection credit

Gift of George P. Bickford

Further reading listed by the museum

• Leach, Linda York. Indian Miniature Paintings and Drawings. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art in cooperation with Indiana University Press, 1986.

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.