Parvati as Candika

Label

At the center of this stone stela, the Hindu goddess Parvati stands surrounded by a dense array of other deities, animals, and symbols. In its original placement, the relief would have been set into a wall niche in a brick temple as part of a profusion of ornament. The sheen of oil at the base of the stone may be the remnants of devotional practices that involved ritually bathing and touching the sculpture. The desire for similar fragments of sacred architecture in the art market eventually led to the widespread looting and smuggling of sculptures that are still actively worshipped. This has resulted in the citizen-led “Give Back Our Gods” movement that seeks to identify improperly acquired sculptures and return them to their homes. Because this sculpture entered the United States before 1970, it is in compliance with the UNESCO Convention on Illicit Trafficking that sets the legal standard for acquisitions of cultural property.

From the 2025 exhibition, From Mastodon to Mosaic: Building an Academic Art Collection in America, curated by Ashley B. Offill, Curator of Collections

Course History

ASCL 51.06/REL 41.07, Buddhism Sex, Gender in South East Asia, Sara Swenson, Spring 2022

HIST 96.01, Colonialism and Culture in Asia and Africa, Douglas Haynes, Spring 2022

REL 43.01, Buddhism in America, Reiko Ohnuma, Spring 2022

HIST 90.15/ASCL 54.12, Early Modern India, 1500-1800, Tiraana Bains, Fall 2022

Art History 31.01, Arts of South Asia, Seher Agarwala, Fall 2023

Art History 38.01, Asian Socieites, Cultures, and Languages 70.01, Sacred Architecture of Asia, Seher Argawala, Fall 2024

Exhibition History

Dr. Ernest Hauswedell Auction, Hamburg, 1964.

From Mastadon to Mosaic, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, June 14, 2025 - Fall 2026

Provenance

Dr. Ernst Hausweddell & Co., "Indien & Siam, Plastik des 2.-18. Jahrhunderts," Hamburg, Germany, lot 19, 27 November 1961; sold to David Herbert Beskind (1915-2015), Class of 1936, New York, New York; given to present collection, 1967.

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Subjects