KALI THE DESTROYER
KALI THE DESTROYER
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INDIAN PAINTINGS FROM THE LUDWIG HABIGHORST COLLECTION
KALI THE DESTROYER

MANDI, NORTH INDIA, LATE 18TH CENTURY

Details
KALI THE DESTROYER
MANDI, NORTH INDIA, LATE 18TH CENTURY
Opaque pigments on paper set within yellow geometric borders, black rules and red margins, the reverse plain
Painting 8 1/4 x 5 1/4in. (21 x 13.5cm.); folio 10 1/4 x 7 1/8in. (26 x 18cm.)
Provenance
Royal Arki Collection
Literature
J. P. Losty, Indian Paintings from the Ludwig Habighorst Collection, Francesca Galloway, London, 2018, no.17

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Lot Essay

Kali, the embodiment of the destructive power of time, stands astride the body of Shiva, representing the destroyed universe. She stands naked apart from a garland of severed heads and a vanamala of human corpses. Her nakedness is a sign of her purity and she holds a severed head, symbolic of human ego. Behind her we see a stark orange funeral ground populated only by flaming pyres, jackals and vultures.

In comparison to other Pahari schools in the eighteenth century, Mandi painting remained fairly static. Painting of the court would also move to a popular level making dating somewhat more difficult. However, one development useful in this task is the movement of very high and straight horizon line to a curving one, as found here.

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