2022
Gold plated bronze
28 x 15 x 8 cm



A sculpture of the Goddess Śūleśvarī referred to in the Jayadrathayāmalatantra as Kālasaṃkarṣiṇī. 

Textual Source:
“He should trace the trident so that the cusps face east or north. In the centre between the lateral cusps, he should draw a square eleven finger breadths by eleven. In a circle centred on a the tip of the central cusp there should be a lotus with eight petals, a ‘hub’ and sixteen filaments. He should color as before. On this lotus he should worship the goddess Śūleśvarī visualizing her as adorned with a mass of three-eyed serpents, open-mouthed and fanged, shining with the colour of lamp-black, carrying in her hands a knife, a skull-bowl, a great trident and a skull-staff, richly decked with all manner of adornment, her body white with the ashes of the cremated, sitting on the shoulders of Ananta…Then having drawn three on the cusps he should install upon them the three goddesses Parā, Parāparā, and Aparā.”
~ Jayadrathayāmala I 26/18c-23

Acknowledgments:
A sculpture created based on Alexis Sanderson’s translations and analysis of “Kālasaṃkarṣiṇī, The Fourth Goddess” [Sanderson, Visualization… p58-61]. Sanderson proposes [Tri]Śūleśvarī from Jayadrathayāmala I 26/18c-23 as most “likely to be akin to the lost icon”. The sculpture was created following this description, in the iconic style typical of small-scale medieval Kashmiri bronze mūrtis [‘Kashmir Region’ <www.himalayanart.org>]. On p63 of Visualization, Sanderson refers to two bronzes – “Siddhalakṣmī. Panjab, Kangra Valley, 11-12th c. Bronze. Height: 22.2cm. Pan-Asian Collection” and “Siddhalakṣmī. Panjab, Kangra Valley, 11-12th c. Bronze. Height: 36.7cm. National Museum, New-Delhi”. Both bronzes were visited and studied during the creation of the sculpture, and several elements from each were integrated into the final form.