Important Notice

MANDI, CIRCA 1770
Inscribed and numbered '448' in Nagari on the cover page
Gouache on paper heightened with gold and silver
Image: 9 x 12.5 in (23 x 32.5 cm)
Folio:10.5 x 14 in (27.1 x 36 cm)

NON-EXPORTABLE REGISTERED ANTIQUITY

PROVENANCE
Property from a Distinguished Family Collection


Chanda and Munda were the servants of Shumbha and Nishumbha, two powerful demons who had usurped the kingdom of the devas. The devas approached Parvati in the Himalayas for help. Heeding their plea, Ambika, an aspect of Parvati, emanated from her body and dwelt in the mountains. Chanda and Munda were enraptured by her beauty, and informed their masters about her. Shumbha and Nishumbha were taken in by their superlative description of the goddess, and sent their messenger Sugreeva to bring her to them. The latter attempted extolling the virtues of the demon kings to Ambika, but she declined accompanying him back.

Shumbha and Nishumbha dispatched an envoy of demons to capture the goddess. When she slayed them all, Chanda and Munda set out to defeat her. The present lot shows Chanda and Munda seated on elephants, approaching the goddess with their demon army. The goddess Ambika produced Kali, who is portrayed here in the most typical iconographic representation - her fierce form, armed with weapons, a garland of skulls around the neck, and her tongue sticking out. All the figures, whether Gods, demons or animals, are treated equally in pictorial terms, and are precisely detailed and filled in with flat, stark colours. In the story, Kali destroys the army by severing the heads of Chanda and Munda, thus earning the name Chamunda Devi.

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