VL 9 The Goddess in Pahari Painting Isabella Nardi

Question 1

Pahari Painting

Answer 1

Areas of Rajput Painting:
1) Rajasthan
2) Pahari region: Punjab hills, Jammu and Kashmir, Garhwal

Question 2

Goddess worship

Answer 2

“Goddess worship had been one of the key strands of Hinduism in the Pahari region in the 16th and 17th centuries, before devotional Vaishnavism dedicated to Rama and Krishna became much more prevalent in the 18th and 19th centuries.”
(source: J. Losty, A Picture Book of the Devi Mahatmya)

The Goddess, known in India as Devī or Mahādevī, has many guises. She is one and she is many.
All Hindu goddesses may be viewed as different manifestations of Devī. In some forms she is benign and gentle, while in other forms she is dynamic and ferocious, but in all forms she is helpful to her devotees. She can be gentle and approachable or she can assume cosmic proportions, destroying evil …”

Question 3

Tantric Devi Series (17th century)

Answer 3

Between 1660–1670, an unknown master in the Punjab hills painted a magnificent series of some seventy paintings which visualize Devi in expressive forms of strength and beauty.
Only thirty-two of the original group have survived. This series is known as the Tantric Devi series because the imagery suggests an affiliation with esoteric rites of tantric worship.

Question 4

Tantric Devi Series (17th century) -2

Answer 4

*Tantric practices are esoteric rituals that include:
*the repetition of mantras (potent sound syllables)
*use of yantras (magical diagrams intended to aid meditative practices) *consumption of wine, flesh and blood of animals
*performance of rituals associated with corpses

Question 5

Picture Book of the Devi Mahatmya

Answer 5

Devī Māhātmya (Glorification of the Goddess) a text dated to the 5th to 6th century.
56 folios out of an original 59
Kangra (Himachal Pradesh), circa 1810. Measures: 22.9 x 29.2 cm. Opaque pigments and gold and silver on paper within wide red borders
With inscriptions in Sanskrit and Hindi

Question 6

Picture Book of the Devi Mahatmya -2

Answer 6

“The Devī-māhātmya … relates three of Durgā’s cosmic interventions on behalf of the gods: the battle with Madhu and Kaitabha; the battle with Mahiṣa and his army; and the battle with Śumbha and Niśumbha and their generals, Caṇḍa, Muṇḍa, and Raktabīja.”

“The myths … conform to a structure that underlines Durgā’s role as the upholder and protector of the dharmic order.”
“the myths … also make the point that Durgā transcends the great male gods of the Hindu pantheon, who in other texts usually have the central role in these myths.”

“The paintings were not meant to illustrate a manuscript but to be used in the public recitation of this sacred text at the time of the Dassehra or Durgapuja, the great autumn festival of the Goddess.”

“…the reciter would chant while the picture is held up for viewing by the audience.”
“The reciter and his auditors will receive innumerable blessings.”

Question 7

Picture Book of the Devi Mahatmya -3

Answer 7

“Because Durga is unprotected by a male deity, Mahisa assumes that she is helpless, which is the way that women are portrayed in the Dharma-sastras. There women are said to be incapable of handling their own affairs and to be socially inconsequential without relationships with men. They are significant primarily as sisters, daughters, and mothers of males and as wives.
Nearly all forms of Durga’s mythical exploits portray her as independent from male support and relationships yet irresistibly powerful. She is beautiful and seductive in appearance, but her beauty does not serve its normal function, which is to attract a husband. It serves to entice her victims into fatal battle.”