STÈLE EN PIERRE NOIRE REPRÉSENTANT DURGA TUANT LE DÉMON MAHISHA

Bangladesh, XIe-XIIe siècle

Footnotes

The ten-armed Durga assumes the form of Mahishasuramardini, the Slayer of Mahisha, the buffalo demon. Mahisha emerges in his anthropomorphic form from the neck of the decapitated buffalo. Durga holds him by the hair, while her lion grips his foot. Her retinue of sword-wielding female warriors surround the scene, and a flame aureole emanates behind her.

She stands triumphantly over the doomed Mahisha, who had disguised himself as a buffalo to attack her. The male Hindu gods gave her their combined power by supplying her with the weapons to kill this demon, thereby restoring balance to the universe. She is depicted holding all these weapons in her hands. The sculptor masterfully conveys both the kinetic energy of the battle and the divine composure of the goddess, whose serene posture contrasts with the dynamic ferocity of her expression.

Durga is the ultimate protecter of devotees, the embodiment of shakti, or divine feminine energy, and the fierce manifestation of Parvati, consort of Shiva. She is particularly revered in Northeast India. The region has a long tradition of goddess and nature worship long before the advent of Brahmanical Hinduism and was a centre of Tantric devotion. Numerous indigenous communities across the Northeast venerated mother goddesses linked to fertility, protection, and the natural world. The cult of Durga integrated seamlessly into these pre-existing belief systems, where she was embraced as an aspect of the primordial Mother, bridging Hindu and local spiritual cosmologies.

Compare the composition to an 11th-century black stone Mahishasuramardini in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (acc. no. 91.21).

Provenance
P. Delplace, Brussels, 1970
Private Collection, Belgium, acquired from the above (recorded in a 1985 insurance document);
Thence by descent.

孟加拉國 十一至十二世紀 黑石屠牛魔者難近母碑

來源
P. Delplace，布魯塞爾，1970年
比利時私人收藏，購於上者（記錄於1985年保險文件）
後由家族傳承