Page 10 - Indian and Himilayan Art

205 At once ferce and elegant, the present fgure of Guhyakali is the
A RARE GILT BRONZE FIGURE OF GUHYAKALI tantric emanation of Kali, also known as “secret Kali,” and one of
NEPAL, 15TH CENTURY the Eight Mother Goddesses and Nine Durgas. While beloved in
Nepal, her image is seldom depicted, making the present example
15 in. (38.1 cm.) high extremely rare. Her counterpart is Pasupati, a manifestation
of Shiva as Lord of the Animals and the national god of Nepal.
$120,000-180,000 Rising from Shaiva and Shakta literature, Guhyakali combines
the strength of the divine mother with Shaivite tantric power; in
PROVENANCE: this embellished and animated example, her expression remains
poised and serene at the center of tiered wrathful animal heads.
Acquired by 1975. She strides upon prostrate fgures on a base lined with heads
of deities with her dog mount, perhaps a symbol of her absent
EXHIBITED: counterpart, Shiva as Bhairava, gazing up at her.

Nepal: Where the Gods are Young, Asia House This very example was published by Dr. Pal as a rare iconographic
Gallery, New York, 1975 representation, and is also one of the earliest known sculptural
images of the goddess. Singular representations of Guhyakali
PUBLISHED: combine the deity and her counterpart with the presence of animal
heads and the dog. A painting of Guhyakali from the Zimmerman
P. Pal, Nepal: Where the Gods are Young, New York, Collection, exhibited and published alongside the present example
1975, p.104, cat.72 in Dr. Pal’s Nepal: Where the Gods are Young (no.72, pp.105, 130),
Himalayan Art Resource (himalayanart.org), also depicts the fully articulated goddess: with multiple animal
item no. 24155 heads, standing upon a tiered base, and surrounded by a retinue
of Shaivite deities.

Other examples depict Guhyakali in union with Shiva, such as
a Nepalese fourteenth-century image from the J. and M. Meijer
Collection, as well as an eleventh/twelfth-century Tibetan bronze
fgure at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (M.84.221.7).
A sixteenth-century image of the couple at the Museum of
Fine Arts, Boston (25.481), displays similarly elaborate casting
details and iconographic composition. The couple stands atop
prostrate fgures over a tiered base, the lower tiers lined with
fgures of Shaivite deities similar to those along the base of the
present example.

These few other known sculptural and painted examples support
Guhyakali as a prominent and longstanding goddess who is
worshiped within a specifc tantric cult practice. The rarity, large
size, and quality of the present example suggest it was was likely
commissioned by the Hindu elite in Nepal.

P. Pal, Nepal: Where the Gods are Young, New York, 1975, p.104 and cover