STÈLE DE DURGA MAHISHASURAMARDINI EN GRÈS INDE DU NORD, VIII/IXE SIÈCLESTÈLE DE DURGA MAHISHASURAMARDINI EN GRÈSINDE DU NORD, VIII/IXE SIÈCLE51 cm (20 1/8 in.) high A SANDSTONE STELE OF DURGA MAHISHASURAMARDININORTH INDIA, 8TH/9TH CENTURY印度北部 八/九世紀 砂岩屠牛魔者難近母石碑Provenance:With Claude de Marteau, Brussels, by 1970sThis sculpture emphasizes Durga's mild and gentle aspects (saumya). Despite the violence inherent in her effortless dispatching of the squirming demon, the goddess benignly offers a comforting gaze (darshan) to the viewer. There is a playful character to Durga's lion mount rearing on its hind legs and grappling with the demon's legs. Similar to other sculptures produced around the turn of the Second Millennium CE, such as a 10th-century example in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (33.65.2), this composition does not yet show the buffalo fully decapitated. Instead, the sculptor suggests the buffalo suffered little discomfort from the incision made across its neck from which Durga exorcised Mahisha; rather than resting limp, the buffalo's tail curls upward between his hind legs, and while bowing to Durga in submission, the rotund animal still appears to graze calmly.