A BRONZE FIGURE OF DURGA SLAYING THE BUFFALO-DEMON MAHISHA, ORISSA, EASTERN INDIA, 13TH-14TH CENTURY
Finely cast with the four-armed goddess slaying the demon just as the he emerges from the decapitated body of the buffalo. The goddess’s right foot rests on the back of her lion vehicle, who roars in victory as Durga delivers the death blow with her trident, the decapitated buffalo head lying at the lower end of the pedestal. Resplendent with her arms fanning out and holding her attributes: trident, chakra, and conch. The face dominated by bulging eyes, the deity adorned with jewelry, all raised on a beaded lotus pedestal.


Provenance
: From a noted Hungarian private collection.

Condition
: Very good condition with old wear and some minor casting flaws, small nicks, and tiny scratches.

Weight: 304.9 g
Dimensions: Height 10.6 cm


The warrior manifestation of Adi Parashakti/ Mahadevi
(the Supreme Being in Shaktism) is represented in her most popular form as Mahishasuramardini (Slayer of the Buffalo Demon). Whilst representations of Durga can have between two and twenty arms, in medieval Indian art she is most often shown with eight or ten arms. However, the few extant Orissan metal Durga images in fully developed indigenous style (i.e., sculptures created after ca. 1200) almost invariably show her with only four arms. The four-armed form is most closely associated with Puri.


The weapons that Durga holds
were bestowed upon her by male Hindu deities. Here, she holds Vishnu's conch (shankha) and disk-like weapon (Sudarshana Chakra) in her upper pair of hands, whereas her two principal, lower hands push Shiva's massive trident into Mahishasura's chest. The artist brilliantly captures the ultimate culmination of this fierce battle, when the powerful demon humbly realizes Durga's blatant superiority in the very moment of his death. The demon in human form emerges from the neck of his buffalo guise. The buffalo's body supports the foot of Durga's bent right leg, whilst the foot of her outstretched left leg rests on the back of her mount (vahana), a lion.


Goddess Durga fought Mahishasura
for ten whole days. The shape-shifting demon was no match for the radiant and strong goddess. On the tenth day, she slayed him. The nine days of battle became what is celebrated today as the Hindu festival of Navaratri, and the tenth day-the day of victory-is Vijaya Dashami.


Durga's serene, calm and graceful face
starkly contrasts with the lion's unleashed force and the demon's last rearing up. The crescent moon in her crown, almost entirely worn off, alludes to her association with Shiva, whose Shakti (female creative energy) is known in various manifestations, such as Sati, Parvati, Durga or Kall.


According to the Devi Bhagavata Purana
, Mahishasura's enormous powers were the result of a boon granted by Brahma. After Mahishasura had performed penance and worshipped the gods for 10,000 years, Brahma granted him one wish. Mahishasura demanded immortality, which Brahma denied. As a compromise, Mahishasura wished that he could only be killed by a woman, and Brahma granted him that favor. As Mahishasura thought that no woman would ever be powerful enough to kill him, he deemed himself immortal, and his vanity and tyranny henceforth knew no bounds. Soon, he had taken control of the Earth. In order to conquer the heavenly world of Svargaloka (Indraloka), Mahishasura and his demon army had to defeat the army of the Devas, which was headed by Indra. The gods and demons fought an intense battle for 100 years. The gods were ultimately defeated, and Mahishasura became the Lord of Heaven as well. After expelling some of the gods from heaven, and making others his servants, he assumed jurisdiction over the gods and began to enjoy his new status as lord of the Triloka (Three Worlds) in a hedonistic way.


The Devi Mahatmya (Glory of the Goddess),
which forms part of the Markandeya Purana and is one of the most important texts of Shaktism, narrates that the defeated gods were outraged by the suffering to which they had been subjected, and henceforth implored Vishnu and Shiva for help. Vishnu and Shiva knew that they had to utilize the loophole of the boon and that a goddess had to be found who was powerful enough to defeat Mahishasura. Thereupon, a number of gods, including Brahma, Shiva and Vishnu, emitted cruel energies from their bodies, and the flames of anger that rose from the assembled gods merged into a mountain of effulgence, which eventually solidified to form the radiant goddess Durga.


Literature comparison:

Compare to a closely related iconography of Durga previously in the collection of the late Wolfgang Messmer, Konstanz, Germany, illustrated in Rossi and Rossi, A Selection of Rare Orissan Bronzes, TEFAF 2023, catalog no. 5, page 18-21.