Untitled

Unknown

9th–10th century · Granite · Asian Art

Jyestha is the goddess of bad fortune, embodying all that is inauspicious. As the embodiment of disease and poverty, she is worshiped to prevent such misfortunes. Here, she is seen enthroned, holding a blue lotus (nilotpala) and flanked by her crow-headed standard (dhvaja). Alongside sit her daughter and her bull-headed son, carrying a club. Jyestha is placated by devotees fearful of infant diseases; in eastern India she is specifically associated with smallpox. Her earliest appearance is in northern India in the fourth century; in the south, a major cult developed, as witnessed by her depiction at the early eighth-century Pallava-period Kailashanatha temple in Kanchipuram. Her cult appears to have waned in the post-medieval era.

Artist

Unknown

Date

9th–10th century

Medium

Granite

Culture

India (Tamil Nadu)

Department

Asian Art

Credit line

Gift of Doris Wiener, 1986