Provenance:
Alice and Nasli M. Heeramaneck, New York
Christian Humann (Pan-Asian Collection), 1974-1982
Robert Hatfield Ellsworth, New York, 1982-1990
Sotheby's, New York, October 5, 1990, no. 23
Collection of Joel Shapiro
Published:
Pratapaditya Pal, The Sensuous Immortals. A Selection of Sculptures from the Pan-Asian Collection, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, 1977, cat. no. 38
Alice N. Heeramaneck, Masterpieces of Indian Sculpture from the Former Collections of Nasli M. Heeramaneck, Verona, 1979, cat. no. 89
Vishakha N. Desai and Darielle Mason, Gods, Guardians, and Lovers: Temple Sculptures from North India A.D. 700-1200, The Asia Society Galleries in association with Mapin Publishing,1993) pp. 255-256, cat. no. 66.
Exhibited:
“The Sensuous Immortals. A Selection of Sculptures from the Pan-Asian Collection,” Los Angeles County Museum of Art, October 25, 1977-January 15, 1978
"Gods, Guardians, and Lovers: Temple Sculptures from North India A.D. 700-1200," Asia Society Galleries, New York, March 31–August 15, 1993; Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, October 10–November 28, 1993
Monumental, complex, and exquisitely carved, this goddess Marichi is an explosive vision of martial femininity that bears exceptional witness to the persistence of Buddhism in central India into the mid-tenth century. Marichi, whose name means a ray of light, is the Buddhist divinity of the dawn, associated with swine who bring light from darkness. Like other solar deities in both Buddhism and Hinduism, she rides a chariot. Hers is pulled by seven swine and a lion, the vehicle of goddesses, which balances the set at the far right. The animals trample diminutive male warriors, embodiments of darkness and ignorance. The great head of Rahu, the light-eater, acts as charioteer; a chakra, multivalent as solar disk and wheel of the Buddhist law, rises above him.
The goddess has three faces—a sow and a peaceful female face flanking a central face that conveys her martial energy through its contracted brows and bold stare. Marichi’s fecund torso radiates multiple arms, probably eight. Her outer two female attendants bear jeweled garlands while the inner carry fly whisks. The large attendant by her right knee also appears to have a mirror to reflect Marichi’s radiance. Although the top of the relief is broken, the remnants hint at subsidiary deities. The width of the relief and layout of the frame suggest that this image stood in a temple or monastery interior.
By the tenth century, Buddhism had become increasingly concentrated in the eastern subcontinent, especially under the patronage of the Pāla dynasty. Yet scattered remains and inscriptions, particularly around sites of historical significance to Buddhism, testify to continuing patronage in central India even as late as the twelfth century. Sanchi, near Vidisha, Madhya Pradesh, best known for its early Buddhist stupas (reliquary mounds), retains evidence—especially at and around Temple 45—that Buddhist monuments continued to be constructed here late into the first millennium. The style of this Marichi likewise points toward the Vidisha region (ancient Dasharnadesha), placing this exceptionally ambitious image within that continuing Buddhist presence.
