MORE COVERAGE
"When heritage is stolen, a piece of history is lost forever": 16th c. Shri Lakshmi of Kerala lies as gift of Harry Lenart in Los Angeles County Museum of Art, a melancholy note that such priceless treasures of Indian heritage rest in foreign land
Sculpture of seated Brahma of Angkor in Cambodia was most likely made during the reign of the Buddhist King Jayavarman VII (r. 1181-ca. 1218), when many Hindu deities were incorporated into the practices of Khmer Buddhism
"Return to the root and you will find the meaning": Silver rhyton discovered at Deylaman, Iran, inscription & leading art historians identify the artifact as representing Durga Mahishasuramardini, a new insight into high-quality production of silver icons
"ॐ त्रयम्बके यजामहे सुगंधि पुष्टिवर्धनम उर्वारुक्मिव बन्धनान मृत्योमुर्क्षीय मार्मतात्!!!": Rudra, the Wild God; a hunter with his arrow - One face of the ekamukhalinga, directed toward the door, stands for the four visible faces, total presence of Shiva
"Rare Amrita Sher-Gil portrait sells for record $2.92 million": Born in Budapest to an Indian Sikh father and Hungarian mother, Amrita Sher-Gil painted the portrait in 1932 when she was 19, setting a new record for an Indian woman artist
Talwar from India dated to the Late 18th Century on display at the Queen’s Gallery in Edinburgh
Close view of sculpture of Kurmavatara (tortoise incarnation of Vishnu), Garhwa, Allahabad District - 1875
Top of broken pillar in foreground with the famous Sarnath lion capital standing on the ground beyond - 1905
The Goddess Durga Slaying the Demon Buffalo Mahishasura - 12th century | India (Himachal Pradesh, probably Chamba Valley)
Functioning as an altar shrine, complete with a lustration basin, this icon depicts the goddess Durga in the act of conquering the demon buffalo Mahisha. Durga crushes the beast with her foot and impales him with her trident, whereupon the demon reveals himself in human form and pleads for mercy.
In each of her eight arms, Durga holds a weapon lent to her by the male gods expressly for this task.
This shrine, with its distinctive temple towers, evokes the architecture of Himachal Pradesh, as does the lotus-petal nimbus framing the goddess’s head, a motif specific to the imagery of the Chamba Valley region.
Image and text credit: © The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Details of carvings at the Prasanna Chennakesava temple, Somnathpur - 1895
This photograph of the Prasanna Chennakesava Temple, Somnathpur was taken in the 1890s by an unknown photographer and is from the Curzon Collection's 'Souvenir of Mysore Album'.
The Keshava Temple at Somnathpur near Mysore, completed in 1268, is one of the best-preserved temples built in the Hoysala period. Dedicated to Keshava, the god Vishnu under his three aspects, it consists of three shrines approached through a pillared mandapa.
On the outer walls of the temple, at the lower levels, there are friezes with elephants, horses, makaras (mythical sea creatures), geese, and foliated scrolls.
Then, a procession of gods richly encrusted with jewels and ornaments is set in the various projections of the walls created by the stellate plan of the sanctuaries. Above the panels, pilasters support miniature towers and an angled eave with fringe projects above.
Text and image credit: Copyright © The British Library Board