A COPPER ALLOY FIGURE OF A WRATHFUL DEITY

NORTHEASTERN INDIA, PALA PERIOD, 11TH/12TH CENTURY

Footnotes

印度東北部 帕拉時期 十一/十二世紀 忿怒相神祇銅像

This charismatic miniature commands a mighty presence. Sword aloft, the robust, pot-bellied deity stands triumphant over two prone figures. His matted locks form a leonine mane, framing his furrowed, mustachioed face. His expression has an unyielding character, like that of the Buddhist protector Achala (skt. "The Immovable"), who also wields a sword. Yet, unlike Achala, in his left hand this figure brandishes a severed human head. He resembles numerous wrathful deities seen in illustrated Pala manuscripts, such as the attendant to Manjushri in the Ashtasahasrika Prajnaparamita manuscript in the Asia Society Museum, New York (1987.1). He may also represent one of the myriad forms of Bhairava, the wrathful manifestation of Shiva.

While its exact identification and religious affiliation remain unanswered, this figure would have been certainly part of a large, remarkable Pala shrine. His fanned array of twisted locks compare with a figure of Hayagriva from Kurkihar likely from a similar context, as well as two 11th-/12th-century Pala bronzes of Nairatmya held in the Potala Palace, and a figure of Savari in the Musée Guimet (see Ray, Eastern Indian Bronzes, 1986, no.178a; von Schroeder, Buddhist Sculptures in Tibet, Vol.I, 2001, pp.284&288, nos.93A&95A; von Schroeder, Indo-Tibetan Bronzes, 1981, p.284, no.70A, respectively). The distinctive hairstyle is also common to the Hindu solar deity Brhaspati in Pala sculpture (see Lefèvre, Chefs-d'œuvre du delta du Gange, 2007, pp.278-9, no.109).

Provenance:
The Nyingjei Lam Collection