A chromolithograph diptych published by the Calcutta Art Studio around 1885 to 1895, the last of a set of five sheets depicting the Ten Mahavidyas, two goddesses to a sheet, named at the base in Bengali, English and Hindi. The left field shows Kamala (Kamalatmika), the tenth and most benign Mahavidya, closely associated with Lakshmi and typically shown seated on a lotus and attended by elephants pouring water over her, a form of auspicious abundance closing the Mahavidya cycle. The right field shows Bhairavi, seated on a lotus above water and wearing a garland of skulls, the fierce feminine counterpart to Bhairava, Shiva's destructive aspect, embodying the principle of destruction as a necessary part of the cosmic order. Part of the same series later exhibited by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in "Household Gods: Hindu Devotional Prints, 1860-1930".
Facts
Subject Matter
Depicted SubjectKamala (left field) and Bhairavi (right field), two of the Ten Mahavidyas. 2 Custody
Current LocationThe Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York 2 Current CustodianThe Metropolitan Museum of Art 2 Rights and Reproduction
Reproduction and CopyrightThis atlas describes and cites the print rather than reproducing an image of it. 2 Classification
Object TypePrint (Engraving, Etching, Woodcut or Lithograph) 1 Medium (class) Connections
Associated With
This source names Bengali directly: "to a sheet, named at the base in Bengali, English and Hindi."
Source Kamala and Bhairavi, The Metropolitan Museum of Art
This source names Bhairava directly: "the fierce feminine counterpart to Bhairava, Shiva's destructive aspect, embodying the principle of destruction as a necessary part of the cosmic order."
Source Kamala and Bhairavi, The Metropolitan Museum of Art
This source names Hindi directly: "at the base in Bengali, English and Hindi."
Source Kamala and Bhairavi, The Metropolitan Museum of Art
This source names Lakshmi directly: "Mahavidya, closely associated with Lakshmi and typically shown seated on a lotus and attended by elephants pouring water over her, a form of auspicious abundance closing the Mahavidya cycle."
Source Kamala and Bhairavi, The Metropolitan Museum of Art
This source names Lakshmi directly: "Mahavidya, closely associated with Lakshmi and typically shown seated on a lotus and attended by elephants pouring water over her, a form of auspicious abundance closing the Mahavidya cycle."
Source Kamala and Bhairavi, The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Belongs to Tradition
Derived: this work depicts a figure already recorded as belonging to this tradition; the work-to-tradition link is inferred from that live depicts edge and the figures own attested tradition affiliation, not independently sourced beyond it.
Depicts
Source Kamala and Bhairavi, The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Source Kamala and Bhairavi, The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Originated In
India, Regions Source Kamala and Bhairavi, The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Sources
1. When India Reinvented Prints, New York Review of Books
Andrew Raftery, The New York Review of Books, 2026catalogue record, medium/object-type descriptionQuote, catalogue record, medium/object-type description
A chromolithograph diptych published by the Calcutta Art Studio around 1885 to 1895, the last of a set of five sheets depicting the Ten Mahavidyas, two goddesses to a sheet, named at the base in Bengali, English and Hindi.
2. Kamala and Bhairavi, The Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of ArtOriginated In: India, Stored country property on this entity, cited to this source: IndiaView the Source Reader Challenges (0)
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