A COPPER ALLOY FIGURE OF CHAMUNDA


NEPAL, CIRCA 15TH CENTURYHimalayan Art Resources item no.61663 11 cm (4 1/2 in.) high
|尼泊爾 約十五世紀 恰母妲銅像Few subjects in Asian art rival the dramatic imagery of Chamunda, the emaciated Goddess of Death in Hinduism. According to scripture, she emerged in battle from the Great Goddess' rage – her name taken from the demonic generals, Chanda and Munda, she vanquished. She is propitiated at charnal grounds as a guardian against foul spirits that might fester there. Cast here with terrific verve, she arches slightly forward over her skullcup with a menacing grimace like a wry crone. In Tibetan Buddhism, the consort of Yama Dhamaraja, Lord of Death, derives the name Chamunda. Pal also draws striking visual and conceptual parallels between Hindu Chamunda and wrathful emanations of Tibetan Buddhism's Shri Devi (Great Goddess). He broaches this while discussing the most celebrated bronze example of Chamunda, a stylistically related Nepalese bronze held in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (M.80.3; Pal, Himalayas: An Aesthetic Adventure, Chicago, 2003, p.62).ProvenanceJohn Barnett, London, 2002