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Lot Essay
Kaumari belongs to the group of Astamatrikas, or Eight Mother Goddesses, a powerful assembly of female deities revered in both Hindu and Buddhist Tantric traditions across South Asia. She is the third of the Matrikas and represents the shakti (divine feminine energy) of Kumara (also known as Skanda or Kartikeya), the youthful god of war and son of Shiva. As his consort and female counterpart, Kaumari embodies martial strength, youthful vitality, and divine protection. She is typically depicted holding a club and a skull bowl, potent symbols of her protective and destructive power.
In the Kathmandu Valley, the Matrikas hold particular significance in Newar culture, where they are invoked not only as protectors of individuals and communities, but also enshrined as guardians of urban space, deeply embedded in civic rituals, festivals, and temple architecture. They function as fierce yet nurturing forces, removers of obstacles and defenders of cosmic order.
The full pantheon includes Brahmani, Vaishnavi, Maheshvari, Indrani, Kaumari (the present lot), Varahi (Cleveland Museum of Art), Chamunda (LACMA), and Mahalakshmi. Each goddess is an emanation of the shakti of a principal male deity of the Hindu pantheon. In Tantric belief systems, they are simultaneously wrathful and beneficent, embodying the power to destroy evil and to sustain and nurture life.
This figure of Kaumari is part of a rare and well-documented group of eight mother goddesses published by Ulrich von Schroeder in Indo-Tibetan Bronzes, 1981, p. 352. Von Schroeder proposed that the group can be divided stylistically into two subgroups based on subtle sculptural differences. Group I: 92A, 92B, 92F, and 92H, features a slightly more attenuated torso and a distinct treatment of the pleated garment between the legs. The present figure, along with 92C, 92D, 92E, and 92G, falls within Group II, characterised by a more naturalistically proportioned torso and a softer, more rhythmic rendering of the lower garment’s pleats.
Despite these nuanced variations, the group as a whole represents a remarkably rare survival of a complete sculptural set from this period. Like the Varahi now in the Cleveland Museum of Art (inv. no. 1978.70), Kaumari is depicted seated in lalitasana, the pose of royal ease, exuding grace and poised dignity. Her four arms are conceived with a superhuman naturalism, while her tightly draped garment cascades in elegant pleats between her legs.
Notably, the large floral rosettes adorning her lower garment resonate with those seen on the standing Maitreya (lot 2017), attesting to a widespread and enduring aesthetic trend in textile and costume design across the Himalayan plateau during the 11th to 13th centuries.
Kaumari’s expression carries a slightly foreboding intensity, her head gently inclined, and her sharply defined pupils gazing forward with divine concentration. Together, these elements fuse to create a sculpture of exceptional presence and spiritual gravitas, exemplifying the artistic heights achieved during the early Malla period in Nepal.
In the Kathmandu Valley, the Matrikas hold particular significance in Newar culture, where they are invoked not only as protectors of individuals and communities, but also enshrined as guardians of urban space, deeply embedded in civic rituals, festivals, and temple architecture. They function as fierce yet nurturing forces, removers of obstacles and defenders of cosmic order.
The full pantheon includes Brahmani, Vaishnavi, Maheshvari, Indrani, Kaumari (the present lot), Varahi (Cleveland Museum of Art), Chamunda (LACMA), and Mahalakshmi. Each goddess is an emanation of the shakti of a principal male deity of the Hindu pantheon. In Tantric belief systems, they are simultaneously wrathful and beneficent, embodying the power to destroy evil and to sustain and nurture life.
This figure of Kaumari is part of a rare and well-documented group of eight mother goddesses published by Ulrich von Schroeder in Indo-Tibetan Bronzes, 1981, p. 352. Von Schroeder proposed that the group can be divided stylistically into two subgroups based on subtle sculptural differences. Group I: 92A, 92B, 92F, and 92H, features a slightly more attenuated torso and a distinct treatment of the pleated garment between the legs. The present figure, along with 92C, 92D, 92E, and 92G, falls within Group II, characterised by a more naturalistically proportioned torso and a softer, more rhythmic rendering of the lower garment’s pleats.
Despite these nuanced variations, the group as a whole represents a remarkably rare survival of a complete sculptural set from this period. Like the Varahi now in the Cleveland Museum of Art (inv. no. 1978.70), Kaumari is depicted seated in lalitasana, the pose of royal ease, exuding grace and poised dignity. Her four arms are conceived with a superhuman naturalism, while her tightly draped garment cascades in elegant pleats between her legs.
Notably, the large floral rosettes adorning her lower garment resonate with those seen on the standing Maitreya (lot 2017), attesting to a widespread and enduring aesthetic trend in textile and costume design across the Himalayan plateau during the 11th to 13th centuries.
Kaumari’s expression carries a slightly foreboding intensity, her head gently inclined, and her sharply defined pupils gazing forward with divine concentration. Together, these elements fuse to create a sculpture of exceptional presence and spiritual gravitas, exemplifying the artistic heights achieved during the early Malla period in Nepal.