A very nice wooden panel coming from a Indian temple chariot. A Ratha or temple chariot was mostly used in southern India, but also in Orissa and Bengal. During special festivals those ratha’s who could be as high as 30 meter were pulled either manually either by horses or elephants. They were covered with wooden carved panels like this one.
It shows the goddess Durga killing the buffalo demon Mahisha: this demon could not be killed by a male god, so all the Hindu gods combined their powers to create this celestial beauty with 18 arms. She rode the lion (here visible under her right foot), and cut off the head of the buffalo with a discus so she could pull out the demon (shown here with her left fore-arm).
Well preserved, part of the top frame is missing. Height 21 cm, width 12.5 cm, depth 4 cm. Weight 585 g. 15th-16th century.
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