Shiva and Devi on Gajasura's hide (c. 1675–80): Art, History and Details

Shiva and Devi on Gajasura's hide (c. 1675–80) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

These divine lovers embody the duality of opposites: male/female, yogi/princess, death/ birth, and destruction/creation. Their gazes are locked on each other, linking them in loving unity as they float on the skin of an elephant demon through swirling monsoon clouds above the earth. The god Shiva looks like a yogi with matted locks of hair entwined with serpents, white skin smeared with ash from funeral pyres, the third eye of true knowledge, triple-line sectarian marks, a garland of severed heads, and the leopard-skin loincloth. In three hands he holds emblems of destruction: skull cup, sword, and a drum that beats the rhythm of time. His fourth hand rests tenderly on the shoulder of his wife, the goddess Devi, also known as Parvati, who perches on his lap, her hands in a gesture of honor.

Object facts

• Title: Shiva and Devi on Gajasura's hide
• Date: c. 1675–80
• Culture: Northern India, Pahari kingdoms
• Type: Painting
• Technique: Gum tempera and silver on paper
• Dimensions: Image: 23.5 x 16.2 cm (9 1/4 x 6 3/8 in.); with mat: 35.5 x 25.4 cm (14 x 10 in.)
• Collection: Indian Art
• Department: Indian and Southeast Asian Art
• Accession number: 1952.587

Collection credit

Edward L. Whittemore Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Lee, Sherman E. "A Rajput Miniature from Basohli." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 40, no. 3 (1953): 50–51.
• The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958.
• Sickman, L. C. S. Masterpieces of Asian Art in American Collections. New York: Asia Society, 1960.

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.