Page 37 - Bonhams, Indian and Himalayan Art New York July 23, 2020
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A PANELLED WOOD PAINTING OF BHAIRAVA Stylistically, this painting belongs to the 18th-to-19th-century ‘Southern
SRI LANKA, KANDYAN PERIOD, 19TH CENTURY Tradition’ of Sri Lankan mural painting, as dubbed by Bandaranayake
Distemper on wood, comprised of seven horizontal slats; together with (ibid., p.201). See a mural of the ogre-god Mara riding a similarly
custom wall mounts. caparisoned elephant at a temple in Telvatta (ibid., pp.236-7, pl.128).
95 3/4 x 77 in. (243 x 195.5 cm)
$15,000 - 20,000 Provenance
Private Florida Collection since 1997
This striking image of a ten-armed ogre riding a white elephant joined
by a bird-headed mahout almost certainly depicts a supreme form of
Bhairava, the wrathful manifestation of Shiva appearing in both Hindu
and Buddhist contexts. The preponderance of snakes and scorpions
as well as his serpentine locks indicate this, given that Bhairava is
an earth-deity in Sri Lanka. A closely related fragmentary mural at
Mulkirigala temple depicts a four-armed version of Bhairava, known
as Siyavatuka—similarly fanged and steel-blue (Bandaranayake, The
Rock and Wall Paintings of Sri Lanka, p.217, pl.111). Siyavataku often
appears as a guardian of the entrance to Sri Lankan cave temples.
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