Details
- Title : Mahalakshmi riding her lion
- Year : ca. 1750
- Classification : Manuscript Painting
- Medium : Opaque watercolour on paper
- Dimension : 4 13/16 in. x 8 15/32 in. (12.2 cm x 21.5 cm)
- Accession No : 1990.166
- Country/ Geo-location : NEPAL
- Collection : San Diego Museum of Art
- Credit Line : Edwin Binney 3rd Collection
- Manuscript/Book Title : Devimahatmya (Glory of the Great Goddess)
- Provenance : *Doris Wiener Gallery, New York, New York ( - November 24, 1970 ) *Edwin Binney 3rd, San Diego, California ( November 24, 1970 - August 27, 1990 ) *San Diego Museum of Art, San Diego, California ( August 27, 1990 - )
- Label Copy : Label Copy: September 2005 Devotional Arts of Nepal Extolling the supremacy of the goddess, the Devimahatmya (Glory to the Great Goddess) is the most revered Hindu text in Nepal. A label at the top of the page identifies the central figure as Mahalakshmi, another name for Durga, and she is being worshipped by gods of the Hindu pantheon, including Vishnu, Shiva, and Brahma. The gods generated her from the light of their combined essences, and they each gifted her a weapon. She, the sum total of the energies of the gods, will alone be able to conquer the demons who were ravaging the universe. The abstract snowy peaks along the bottom of the page are peculiar to the paintings of this manuscript, and the charming puppet-like figures as well as the Himalayan type of lion on which she sits are distinctively Nepali.
- Exhibition History : *Goddess: The Divine Female in Hindu and Buddhist Art, Art Gallery of New South Wales, 10/13/2006 - 1/28/2007 *Into India: South Asian Paintings from The San Diego Museum of Art, San Diego Museum of Art, 2/28/2012 - 5/27/2012