Goddess Siddhalakshmi (1000s): Art, History and Details

Goddess Siddhalakshmi (1000s) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

This specific goddess with five heads and ten arms is described in Hindu ritual handbooks from Kashmir. She is white in color and "rests on a lotus and Shiva." Her left hands hold, from top to bottom: an elephant goad, manuscript, noose (broken), the gift-giving gesture, and a hatchet. In her right hands are a sword, trident, skull staff, skull cup, and the gesture of protection. These objects reveal the awe-inspiring extent of her knowledge, skill, and power to defeat enemies on behalf of her devotees.

Object facts

• Title: Goddess Siddhalakshmi
• Date: 1000s
• Culture: India, Kashmir
• Type: Sculpture
• Technique: bronze
• Dimensions: Overall: 22.2 cm (8 3/4 in.)
• Collection: Indian Art
• Department: Indian and Southeast Asian Art
• Accession number: 1982.47

A detail from the museum

In tantric texts, this goddess is described as white.

Collection credit

Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Lee, Sherman E. “Year in Review for 1982.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 70, no. 1 (January 1983): 3–55.
• Reedy, Chandra L. Himalayan Bronzes: Technology, Style, and Choices. Newark: University of Delaware Press, 1997.
• Pal, Pratapaditya, Amy Heller, Oskar von Hinüber, and Gautamavajra Vajrācārya. Himalayas: An Aesthetic Adventure. Chicago, IL: Art Institute of Chicago in association with University of California Press and Mapin Pub, 2003.

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.