March 2005
Origins of Mughal Painting
In a rare fifteenth-century example from a manuscript central to the worship of the great goddess, this important page depicts the eight-armed Kali, the fierce black form of the great Goddess, having just vanquished two demons, Chanda and Munda. The text illustrated by this scene reads:
Then Kali, her ugly teeth gleaming within her dreadful mouth,

Angrily cackled with terrible sounds.

Mounting her great lion, the Goddess ran at Chanda,

And having seized him by the hair, she cut off his head with her sword.

On seeing Chanda slain, Munda rushed at her.

She caused him to fall to the ground, wrathfully smitten with her sword.
She wields weapons and a garland of severed heads, while her mount, the lion, in an imaginatively stylized rendering, is at her side. The staring eyes, including the “further eyes” that disconcertingly protrude beyond faces otherwise shown in profile, flat red ground, and angular gestures - all stylistic features of fifteenth-century Indian painting - impart an intensity to this depiction of mythic battle.

Sonya Quintanilla (2014) Quebec Label
The goddess Kali battles demons
Folio from a Devimahatmya («Glory to the Great Goddess»)
India, 15th century
Opaque watercolor on paper
Edwin Binney 3rd Collection, 1990.187
In a rare fifteenth-century example from a manuscript central to the worship of the great goddess, this important page depicts the eight-armed Kali, the fierce black form of the great Goddess, having just vanquished two demons, Chanda and Munda. The text illustrated by this scene reads:
Then Kali, her ugly teeth gleaming within her dreadful mouth,
Angrily cackled with terrible sounds.
Mounting her great lion, the Goddess ran at Chanda,
And having seized him by the hair, she cut off his head with her sword.
On seeing Chanda slain, Munda rushed at her.
She caused him to fall to the ground, wrathfully smitten with her sword.
She wields weapons and a garland of severed heads, while her mount, the lion, in an imaginatively stylized rendering, is at her side. The staring eyes, including the “further eyes” that disconcertingly protrude beyond faces otherwise shown in profile, flat red ground, and angular gestures - all stylistic features of fifteenth-century Indian painting - impart an intensity to this depiction of mythic battle.
Last Updated: 9/5/2017