Kali attacking Nisumbha (c. 1740): Art, History and Details

Kali attacking Nisumbha (c. 1740) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

The powerful black Hindu goddess Kali effortlessly slays an eight-armed spotted green demon with an impossibly long trident. His chariot horses and two minions lie incapacitated below. Kali’s tongue lolls out, indicating her ability to catch blood before it touches the ground: one of her demonic enemies has blood that generates another demon every time one drop comes in contact with the earth. The demon is a metaphor for wicked thoughts that give rise to more evil thoughts; Kali aids her followers in eradicating them all.

Object facts

• Title: Kali attacking Nisumbha
• Date: c. 1740
• Culture: Northern India, Pahari kingdoms
• Type: Painting
• Technique: Gum tempera and gold on paper
• Dimensions: Image: 22 x 33 cm (8 11/16 x 13 in.); Overall: 23.7 x 35.2 cm (9 5/16 x 13 7/8 in.)
• Collection: Indian Art
• Department: Indian and Southeast Asian Art
• Accession number: 1968.44

Collection credit

Edward L. Whittemore Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Lee, Sherman E. “The Year in Review for 1968.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 56, no. 1 (January 1969): 3–50.
• Leach, Linda York. Indian Miniature Paintings and Drawings. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art in cooperation with Indiana University Press, 1986.
• Zhuang, Bohe. “Preface to 'The Art of Tongue Protrusion'". Yi shu jia, i. 611 (April 2026): 324–327.

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.