A gray stele depicting Dvadashabhuja Rishabha Tandavamurti, Eastern India, 10th / 11th century

A gray stele depicting Dvadashabhuja Rishabha Tandavamurti
Eastern India, 10th / 11th century

Height 19 in., 48.3 cm

Catalogue Note:
The multi-armed deity dancing with his twelve arms radiating out and holding various implements and the body of Sati, with Nandi gazing up from below, the base with a two-line inscription, diminutive figures of his sons, Skanda and Ganesha, and a kneeling devotee.

This form of Shiva is related to the legend of Daksha yajna, in which Shiva is insulted by Daksha, the father of his wife Sati. Sati self-immolates in the sacrificial fire (yajna). Shiva retrieves her body and rampages in uncontrollable rage and grief clutching the corpse of his beloved wife. Shakti peethas were erected wherever parts of Sati’s half-burned body fell to the earth. There are 51 peethas across India where the goddess is worshipped.

Provenance:
Dr. J.R. Belmont Collection, Basel.

Sotheby's London, 27th February 1967, lot 48.

Collection of James and Marilynn Alsdorf.

Sotheby's New York, 26th March 1998, lot 368.