Mother Goddess in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, September 2010

Title/Object Name: Mother Goddess (Matrika)
Culture: India (Rajasthan, Tanesara)
Period: Post-Gupta period
Date: mid- 6th century
Medium: Gray schist
Dimensions: H. 24 1/2 in. (62.2 cm)
Classification: Sculpture
Credit Line: Gift of Florence and Herbert Irving, 1993
Accession Number: 1993.477.5


Gallery Label

This figure is one of a group of seven mother goddesses that sprang from an associated Hindu male god. Despite their alluring beauty, these matrikas represent dangerous and malevolent forces—the devourers of children and bearers of sickness and disease. Although they were integral to early temple iconographic schema, as seen at sixth-century Aihole, their power was so threatening that they were soon marginalized, consigned to dedicated shrines beyond city boundaries. The combined power of the matrikas is understood to be embodied in the mother goddess par excellence, Durga.

Text from: www.metmuseum.org/Works_of_Art/collection_database/asian_...