Kubjika–Navatman (1300s): Art, History and Details

Kubjika–Navatman (1300s) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

The tantric Hindu Goddess Kubjika sits on the bent knee of her male consort, Navatman, a form of Shiva. Tantric practitioners use the recitation of mantras, which are powerful formulas or spells, in order to achieve the favor and power of the goddess. In this sculpture, the male figure personifies the Navatman Mantra by means of which devotees can access the goddess Kubjika. Kubjika’s name translates to “the crooked one,” and she is often shown as an elderly woman with a curved back. Here, however, she is depicted as a youthful contortionist.

Object facts

• Title: Kubjika–Navatman
• Date: 1300s
• Culture: Nepal
• Type: Sculpture
• Technique: Gilt bronze with semiprecious stones
• Dimensions: Overall: 29.8 x 27.2 cm (11 3/4 x 10 11/16 in.); with base: 32.6 cm (12 13/16 in.)
• Collection: Nepalese Art
• Department: Indian and Southeast Asian Art
• Accession number: 1984.3

A detail from the museum

The smaller figure, the goddess Kubjika, is the more powerful of the pair.

Collection credit

Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Turner, Evan H. “The Year in Review for 1984.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 72, no. 2 (April 1985): 163–207.
• Reedy, Chandra L. Himalayan Bronzes: Technology, Style, and Choices. Newark, London: University of Delaware Press; Associated University Presses, 1997.
• Donaldson, Thomas E. Síva-Pārvatī and Allied Images : Their Iconography and Body Language. New Delhi: D.K. Printworld, 2007.

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.