Durga Mahishasuramardini

Devi, the goddess, is celebrated across India today as she has been throughout the subcontinent’s recorded history. She takes many forms, ranging from benign and maternal to wrathful and enraged. In this large-scale painting of the goddess Parvati, wife of Shiva, in her martial form as Durga, is seen wielding the weapons of the assembly of male gods to slay the demon (asura) Mahisha, who by severe penance had obtained seemingly unassailable protection from death. She is poised upon her lion as she effortlessly dispatches the demon as he manifests in multiple forms. Mahisha has first attacked Durga in the form of a black buffalo, which she decapitates with her long sword. The demon then emerges in human guise from the beast’s neck, and we see in this rendering Durga slaying each form with a different weapon.