Page 170 - Himalayan Art Macrh 19 2018 Bonhams

3076 W
A WOODEN PANEL OF KALI
KERALA, LATE 15TH CENTURY
44 x 12 x 9 in. (112 x 30.5 x 23 cm) approx.

$60,000 - 80,000
All is divine within the Hindu worldview, and Kali expresses the wild and untamed aspects
of our inner and outer existence. She is raw power, life that feeds on life, nature in its
totality, and thus truly terrific. Potentially at odds with order and civilization, it only seems
natural that most find her divinity perplexing, making Kali one of the most captivating
deities in the Hindu pantheon.

Dehejia points out that in Tamil Nadu, and seemingly in neighboring Kerala, evinced by
the present sculpture, Kali is not portrayed with a scorpion positioned on her sunken
stomach (highlighting her emaciated state), as she is elsewhere in India and Nepal.
Rather, whilst retaining her awesome powers, she is Bhadra-kali (Auspicious Kali): a
beautiful young woman with uplifted breasts and smooth limbs, whose only concessions
to her fearsome role are her weapons and two fangs: “evidently, the absence of physical
beauty was a concept that did not fit too comfortably with the general vision of the divine,
at least in the Tamil country.” (Dehejia, The Body Adorned, New York, 2009, pp.134-5.)

The pair to this sculpture is in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (M.85, 287), see
Pal, Indian Sculpture, Los Angeles, 1988, pp.299-300, no. 164. As noted by Pal, the
goddess, “is portrayed like a guardian,” standing in a hieratic pose holding an upright
sword. Her terrifying aspect is in no way diminished , with her gaping, fanged mouth and
bulging eyes framed by an elaborate fan-like crown. Despite its distressed state, typical
of wooden sculpture exposed to the harsh tropical environment of Southern India, the
Kali has discernable features in the finely carved jewelry across her bare torso and the
voluminous folds of the textiles that form her lower garment. Her power and foreboding
presence radiates on every level.

Related examples can be found in the 15th century temple of Kazhakuttam, Kerala, as
well as a 16th century temple at Ettumanur, see Kramrisch, Dravida and Kerala in the
Art of Travancore , 1959, pls. 14, 34-5. Also compare with a seated figure of Kali dated
to the 17th century, formerly in the Kornblum Collection, now in Los Angeles County
Museum of Art (2011.5), and a fragment depicting Bhairavi, dated to the 17th century in
Mallebrein, Skulpturen aus Indien, Munchen, 1984, p. 180, no. 147.

Published
Arman Neven, Sculpture des Indes, Brussels, 1978, p. 167, no. 87.

Exhibited
Sculpture des Indes, Société Générale de Banque, Brussels, 8 December 1978 - 31
January 1979.

Provenance
Private European Collection before 1978
Christie’s, Amsterdam, 29 October 1981, lot 110
Private Collection, Los Angeles

168 | BONHAMS