Kamala/ Bhairavi

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Kamala and Bhairavi are two of the ten Mahavidyas or great manifestations of Devi (deified aspects of the goddess that range from pacific to ferocious). On the left, four elephants lustrate the goddess who is identified in a below label as Kamala. She holds lotuses in her two left hands while her upper right is in the abhaya mudra (reassurance) and her lower right is in the varada mudra (boon giving). She sits on a lotus and in fact, her name means “she of the lotus”, an epithet of the goddess Lakshmi. Kamala is a bringer of prosperity, fertility and luck, all characteristics she shares with Lakshmi, a goddess that is also lustrated by elephants. The labeled Mahavidya Bhairavi, on the right, holds a book in her lower left hand and a mala in her upper right (here hidden within a small bag that covers the end of her hand). The garland of skulls around her neck hints at the terrible nature of this goddess who is the female aspect of Bhairava, a ferocious form of Shiva. Here she is shown as a calm and beautiful woman in a mountain landscape. The demeanor of the figure speaks to her dual role as the peaceful Parvati, while her weapons allude to her terrible aspect. Bhairavi is credited with slaying the demons Sumbha and Nishumbha.

Asian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Met's collection of Asian art—more than 35,000 objects, ranging in date from the third millennium B.C. to the twenty-first century—is one of the largest and most comprehensive in the world. Each of the many civilizations of Asia is represented by outstanding works, providing an unrivaled experience of the artistic traditions of nearly half the world.

Metropolitan Museum of Art