CHAMUNDA
Central India
10th-11th century
Sandstone
H. 23 cm

During the primordial battle among deities and demons Chamunda was created to destroy the demons Chandra and Munda from whom she took her name. However, Chamunda is also one of the “seven mother-goddesses” (saptamatrika), each of whom embodied a different form of the ancient mother-goddess cult.
Chamunda was also associated with Shiva; this is evident when we look at her hairdo which is formed by a high bun of many small plaits. In this small relief Camunda has eight arms holding their respective ritual objects. As she dances on the supine body of a masculine figure she is flanked above by two dancing figures festooning fully bloomed garlands, and below by two other dancing figures. The great dynamism of this scene displays the traditional iconography of the goddess  carved in the stone as  a sculpted miniature.