Wisdom of the Goddess

four goddesses portrayed in detail views of four artworks: a golden, crowned sculpture, a painted, romantic figure, a painted fearsome goddess, and a painting of a serene, pale-clad goddess.
  • Dates

    Ongoing

  • Location

    Online

  • Collection Area

    South Asian & Himalayan Art, Southeast Asian Art

The Divine Feminine in South Asian, Southeast Asian, and Himalayan Art

It is often said that knowledge is power. For the goddesses of South Asia, Southeast Asia, and the Himalayas, power is closely connected to a particular type of divine wisdom or a state of omniscience, of knowing all things. The wisdom of the divine feminine takes myriad forms in these regions, ranging from healing to artistic skill, and from prosperity to enlightenment. Wisdom of the Goddess highlights nine well-known goddesses of Hindu and Buddhist traditions through twenty-five artworks dating from the ninth through the nineteenth centuries, all drawn from the National Museum of Asian Art’s permanent collections. Many of these representations of goddesses were used by individuals or in temple settings as aids for worship. Some were encountered in manuscripts or worn as necklaces. For devotees past and present, a goddess’s image facilitates a sense of intimate devotion and closeness to the deity.

This online exhibition includes an introduction to each goddess, detailed descriptions of individual artworks, a glossary, learning resources, and an instructional essay designed for college students and lifelong learners. Wisdom of the Goddess aims to enhance understanding of goddess imagery and the religious practices of goddess devotees globally, both in their countries of origin and throughout the diaspora.

The Goddesses

Drawn from the National Museum of Asian Art’s collections, the works in this exhibition—made between the ninth and nineteenth centuries—depict goddesses and divine female practitioners from Hindu and Buddhist traditions in South Asia, Southeast Asia, and the Himalayas.

  • Painting detail of colorful shrine of goddess slaying buffalo demon

    Durga

    Hindu Warrior Goddess Who Killed the Demon Mahisha; she is often seen as a form of all-knowing Great Goddess (Mahadevi).

  • Painting detail of gray-hued, four-armed goddess seated on god Shiva

    Forms of Kali

    Fierce Hindu goddess who eradicates demonic forces on the battlefield; she is often seen as a form of the all-knowing Great Goddess (Mahadevi).

  • Sculpture detail of golden necklace pendant depicting goddess Lakshmi

    Lakshmi

    Hindu Goddess of Prosperity and Good Fortune; her wisdom creates abundance.

  • Sculpture detail of goddess Uma’s smiling face and round hat

    Parvati/Uma

    Hindu Goddess of the Mountain, also known as Uma; she is often seen as the feminine half of the god Shiva, and the divine feminine power of the universe (shakti).

  • Red and gold painting detail of goddess Prajnaparamita

    Prajnaparamita

    Buddhist goddess who personifies the perfect wisdom necessary for the attainment of enlightenment.

  • Painting detail of sari-clad goddess Radha standing beneath a tree

    Radha

    Hindu Goddess of Divine Love; thoroughly understands the divine nature of the god Krishna. Hindus often view her as the feminine half of Krishna, the all-knowing, divine power of the universe.

  • Painting detail of all-white goddess Saraswati cross-legged on lotus

    Saraswati

    Hindu Goddess of the Arts and Learning.

  • Bronze sculpture detail of smiling goddess Tara with two large lotuses

    Tara

    Bodhisattva-goddess of great compassion who aids beings in peril.

  • Gilt bronze sculpture detail of grimacing Naro Dakini with ornate crown

    Yoginis and Dakinis

    Yogic practitioners, often fearsome, who reveal secret teachings; they gain superhuman powers through tantric yoga.

Detail of multicolored painting of seated, four-armed goddess in profile holding bow, arrow, sword, and shield
Detail of Devi with Krishna, Vishnu, and Lakshmi in a palace, ca. 1645–55, S2018.1.5

Durga, Goddess Who Slays the Buffalo Demon

The fifth-century Hindu text Devi Mahatmya relates the well-known narrative of Durga’s triumph over evil. Though each of the gods tried, they could not defeat the earth-threatening demon Mahisha, who disguised himself as a water buffalo. Together the gods created Durga, furnishing the goddess with a bevy of weapons to use against him. Artists typically depict Durga at the moment she handily defeats the demon, seated or standing atop her lion with multiple arms fanned out, brandishing the weapons. Durga’s tale expresses the superiority of the Great Goddess (Mahadevi) over all the male gods. For her devotees, Mahadevi is the cosmic creator and the foremost divine power of the universe (Shakti). While other goddesses, including Kali or Lakshmi, can represent Mahadevi on earth, she often takes the form of victorious Durga, whose wisdom on the cosmic battlefield is absolute.

Wild-eyed goddess—with dark blue skin, long black tresses, and teeth barred—brandishes sword and human head dripping with blood
Kali trampling Shiva. Chromolithograph from a painting by R. Varma, ca. 1910-1920. Wellcome Collection. Public Domain Mark. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Forms of Kali, Mother and Destroyer

The goddess Kali destroys all forms of evil, including delusions that obscure the wisdom of moksha, or liberation from our world of samsara, in which the cycle of birth, death, and rebirth is endless. Hindus worship Kali as the Great Goddess (Mahadevi) and mother of the universe. A popular narrative describes Kali—tongue lolling, wearing a garland of skulls and a skirt of human forearms—engaged in a demon-killing spree on a cosmic battlefield (see related image). So intense was her rage that her husband, the god Shiva, laid down in her path to prevent her from unwittingly destroying the universe. This legend likely reflects Kali’s beginnings as a local deity whose appeasement prevented unwanted destruction. Although she is considered primarily benevolent in present-day culture, Kali—also known as Bhadrakali—retains a sense of unpredictability. As devotee-poet Ramprasad writes: “Who knows what she truly Is? . . . If She decides to be kind, this misery will pass.”1


1 Ramprasad Sen, translated by Leonard Nathan and Clinton Seely, Grace and Mercy in Her Wild Hair (Prescott, Hohm Press, 1999), 32.

Four-armed goddess wearing a wine-colored sari and standing on a deep-pink lotus floats on the surface of a small lake.
Lakshmi on her lotus in the water with elephant. Chromolithograph from a painting by R. Varma, ca. 1884-1900. Wellcome Collection. Public Domain Mark. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Lakshmi, Goddess of Prosperity

Lakshmi, also known as Shri, possesses divine wisdom that creates abundance. She offers her devotees great wealth. Since the first century BCE, artists have depicted the goddess holding lotuses, symbols of purity and divine power, together with elephants spraying water from their trunks. At right, a chromolithograph by Raja Ravi Varma takes inspiration from this classical mode. The distribution of such chromolithographs throughout India in the early twentieth century increased the popularity of certain deities and solidified specific ways of representing them. Varma depicts Lakshmi flanked by an elephant representing good fortune. Lakshmi stands on a lotus that floats on refreshing, cleansing water. This collective symbolism indicates that the goddess’s blessings surpass monetary gain alone. Both Hindu and Buddhist texts describe her as creating verdant lands that yield abundant harvests. Lakshmi is commonly known today as the wife of the Hindu god Vishnu.

Watercolor-painted drawing of a seated ten-armed, golden-skinned goddess dressed in a dark green sari and holding baby Ganesha
Parvati enthroned nursing Ganesha. Watercolour drawing, ca. 19th century. Wellcome Collection. Public Domain Mark. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Parvati/Uma, Goddess of the Mountain

The Puranas, literally the “old stories” of Hindu traditions, relate the narrative of the goddess Parvati, who aspired to marry the god Shiva. Because Shiva could not easily be distracted from his yogic meditation, Parvati subjected herself to extreme acts of physical deprivation—such as meditating in cold water during the winter—to gain supernatural powers and win over the celibate god. Parvati’s yoga was incredibly successful. Describing her as “full of wisdom,” the Vamana Purana states: “When the gods gathered to see the mountain daughter, they were so overcome with her brilliance that they could not approach her” for she was “outshining” the highest among them.2 Some devotees consider the goddess Durga (destroyer of the buffalo demon) to be the warrior form of Parvati/Uma.


2 Cornelia Dimmitt and J. A. B. van Buitenen, Classical Hindu Mythology: A Reader in Sanskrit Puranas (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1978), 158–59.

Two rectangular carved wood pieces encases a stack of palm leaf folios with a design painted in red and gold on side of stack
Prajnaparamita Sutra, Tibet, 20th century, The Alice S. Kandell Collection, Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, S2020.5.11a–d

Prajnaparamita, Goddess of Enlightened Wisdom

The goddess Prajnaparamita embodies the perfection (paramita) of wisdom (prajna) that leads to Buddhist enlightenment. Therefore, devotees refer to her as the “mother of all Buddhas.” She also represents the teachings contained within a genre of texts written in ancient India beginning around 100 BCE that describe the path to becoming a Buddha. Artists depict the goddess holding the earliest of these texts (sutras), the Perfection of Wisdom in Eight Thousand Verses. While such early Mahayana (“great vehicle”) sutras instruct practitioners to revere the texts, the goddess who personifies them did not appear in art until the sixth or seventh century. Once introduced, the goddess’s figural image became widely popular throughout the Buddhist world, including in Southeast Asia and the Himalayas. The Heart Sutra, commonly recited in Mahayana and Tibetan Buddhism today, contains her dharani, a type of long-form mantra.

Young man stands behind seated woman in a beautiful landscape scene; she throws her arms up in surprise as he caresses her cheek
Krishna embracing Radha. Chromolithograph based on a painting by R. Varma, ca. 1901-1910. Wellcome Collection. Public Domain Mark. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Radha, Goddess of Divine Love

Many Hindus celebrate Radha’s love for the god Krishna. A woman from a village of cowherders, Radha is worshiped today as a goddess alongside Krishna, as one of two inseparable halves of a divine being. The Bhagavata Purana (ca. tenth century) tells stories of Krishna’s life on earth in an Indian village. He was so handsome and enchanting that everyone, including one hundred gopis (female cow herders), fell in love with the young god. Sometimes Krishna playfully disappeared when he was with them, reappearing only when the gopis could love him without needing to possess him as their own, thereby relinquishing their egos. In later poetic narratives, such as the twelfth-century Gita Govinda, Radha becomes Krishna’s beloved over all others. Her love for the fleeting god is selfless, so secure is she in the knowledge that Krishna’s divine presence is transcendent and absolute.

Four-armed goddess in white sari sits beside a tree-lined river playing the sitar; she gazes at the viewer as a peacock watches her.
Sarasvati with her sitar and peacock. Chromolithograph based on a painting by R. Varma, ca. 1894-1900. Wellcome Collection. Public Domain Mark. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Saraswati, Goddess of Learning and the Arts

Saraswati bestows wisdom, particularly for devotees engaged in learning and artistic creation. Clad in a white sari, the goddess plays a vina, a large stringed instrument. She holds a string of prayer beads (mala) in her upper left hand and a sacred text in her lower right. Saraswati’s name translates to “the flowing one” in Sanskrit because in the ancient Hindu texts known as the Vedas, she embodies a sacred river that once flowed through the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent. This sense of flow is evident in the benefits she imparts: speech that is pure and eloquent, and creativity in all forms of artistic expression. Together with the goddess Lakshmi, Saraswati is often described as co-wife of the Hindu god Vishnu. In that context, she represents spiritual and transcendent goals, while Lakshmi represents worldly benefits and good fortune.

Head-and-shoulder detail of gilt copper goddess figure with downcast eyes and a large ornate pointed crown with turquoise insets
Detail of Mahashri Tara and the twenty-one Taras, 19th century, S2017.49

Tara, Goddess of Great Compassion

In northwestern India and the Himalayan region, Tara is the foremost goddess of Buddhist practice. She embodies the Buddha’s great compassion. Her name means both “star” and “savior,” and scholars believe she was an important goddess for ancient seafarers. Gaining renown in the Mahayana (“great vehicle”) Buddhism of India by the sixth century, she was initially closely connected to the bodhisattva of compassion, Avalokiteshvara. A bodhisattva aspires to become a future buddha and vows to attain wisdom, generosity, and other qualities called perfections (paramitas). The highest-ranking bodhisattvas are believed to dwell in celestial realms, yet they appear endlessly on earth to help devotees. Tara has multiple important forms that rescue beings from peril. As White Tara, she heals, and as Green Tara, she removes obstacles along the path toward awakening.

Gilt sculpture detail of fanged, three-eyed goddess, grimacing with large golden earrings and tall bejeweled crown with small skulls
Detail of Naro Dakini, mid-18th century, S2013.22a–j

Yoginis and Dakinis, Divine Tantric Practitioners

Yoga was not a form of exercise in India until the modern era but rather a practice of spiritual discipline involving intensive meditation and asceticism, methods for restraining the body and senses. Through these efforts, yogic practitioners aimed to realize union with the Absolute (or Brahman) in Hindu traditions and awakening in Buddhism. By the ninth century, some yogic practitioners adopted the techniques of tantra to gain immortality and supernatural powers. Stories convey the abilities of female and male practitioners (yoginis and yogins) to change shape, fly, or vanish at will. Hindu and Buddhist texts alike describe yoginis and their Buddhist counterpart, dakinis, as human women whose tantric asceticism, ritual prowess, and great wisdom propelled them to the status of goddesses.

Further Resources

Instructional Essay

This essay guides students, lifelong learners, and classroom educators in the analysis of religious works of art. It also briefly summarizes the artistic significance of these works and offers a closer look at goddess-related devotion today.

Figure 5. A table covered with brocaded cloth, 5 rows of god, crowned sculptures and one larger sculpture, flowers, glass cups and candles.
Twenty-One Taras. Photo by Kadampa Center of Tibetan Buddhism, Raleigh, NC, USA. CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 DEED

Glossary

Find definitions for unfamiliar terms used in the exhibition here.

A person who practices asceticism, or the renouncing of worldly possessions and family life to pursue religious or spiritual goals. In South Asian religions historically, ascetics commonly performed challenging acts of self-denial, including restraining the senses through meditation (see also yoga)

An earthly incarnation of the Hindu deity Vishnu; from the Sanskrit verb tṛ, “to cross,” as in to cross between realms.

(“Old Stories of the Lord”) an important Hindu text (ca. tenth century CE). Its tenth chapter tells of Krishna’s life on earth in a village in India.

One who aspires to become a Buddha. In Mahayana Buddhism, a bodhisattva ascends ten levels (or bhumis) on the path to enlightenment.

In Hindu traditions, brahman is the divine source of all things; it is eternal, all-pervasive, and formless.

In Buddhist traditions, (“Awakened One”) a fully awakened or enlightened being who is no longer subject to the cycle of death and rebirth.

In tantric Buddhism, fierce female guardians who offer secret teachings to advanced practitioners (see also tantra below).

Refers to a mutual exchange accomplished through a meeting of the eyes. In religions indigenous to India, devotees see and are seen by the deity or enlightened being who is present within a consecrated image or object. This exchange confers blessings.

Goddess in Sanskrit; also a shortened form of the name of Mahadevi (Great Goddess) in Hindu traditions.

(“Glory of the Goddess”) the ca. fifth-century CE Hindu text that relates the narrative of Durga’s triumph over evil as well as the creation of Kali/Chamunda and each goddess’s glory on the battlefield.

In Buddhism, a type of long-form mantra.

In Hinduism, a moral code to live by for a person or social group; in Buddhism, the historical Buddha’s teachings.

The Hindu god Vishnu’s eagle mount or vehicle.

(“Song of Krishna”) Hindu poetic narrative text by Jayadeva that tells the love story of Krishna and Radha. Krishna is alternately known as Govinda (“King of Cowherds”).

The cow-herder women who became ardent devotees of the Hindu deity Krishna when he lived in a village on earth, as recounted in the Bhagavata Purana.

(“Great Goddess”) or Devi (“goddess”) Hindu conception of the goddess as the source and creator of all things.

(“great ritual knowledge”) A group of ten deities who embody the animating female energy of the universe (shakti) in Tantric Hinduism; also a type of mantra embodied by a goddess in both Hindu and Buddhist traditions (see also shakti, mantra).

(“Great Vehicle”) the Buddhist path that emphasizes becoming a bodhisattva.

A string of prayer beads used when reciting mantras (powerful sacred syllables).

A sequence of powerful sacred syllables, usually associated with invoking a specific deity.

Liberation from our world of samsara, the endless cycle of birth, death, and rebirth.

A sacred hand gesture that conveys a specific, culturally agreed-upon meaning; in tantric contexts, a hand gesture that generates spiritual power.

(“perfection”) In Mahayana Buddhism, six (or later ten) methods of purifying or perfecting one’s body, speech, and mind to attain awakening.

In Buddhism, the wisdom of enlightenment (wisdom that awakens the mind).

(“perfection of wisdom”) A genre of texts personified by a goddess, and the sixth perfection in Mahayana Buddhism.

An item, often a small sweet, which is blessed by the deity and then given to devotees after they receive darshan (see also darshan).

(“old”) A genre of early Hindu texts that tells the stories of Hindu deities (ca. first millennium CE).

Hindu poetic narrative written by Keshavdas in 1591 that uses the long-standing tropes of the hero and heroine to describe the love between Krishna and Radha.

An artistic technique of hammering sheets of metal on the reverse side to produce sculptural forms.

In Buddhism, a ritual for invoking the powerful presence and protection that deities bestow. The ritual typically uses a thangka, or painting on cloth, to aid the practitioner in visualizing that the central deity resides in one’s heart.

The endless cycle of birth, death, and rebirth.

Khmer term for a long, sarong-like skirt worn by deities in Southeast Asian sculptures.

In Hinduism, an epithet for Devi that describes her as the animating female energy of the universe.

A sacred verse, teaching, or a genre of religious texts used for teaching. In this exhibition, it refers to a Buddhist text, specifically of the Mahayana tradition.

Ritual methods into which one must be initiated, typically by a teacher (guru) into a lineage. Many tantric rituals are secret, some purposefully transgressing social customs and taboos (for more, please see the Wisdom of the Goddess section on yoginis and dakinis).

Tibetan term for Tibetan Buddhist painting on cloth.

The earliest texts associated with Hindu traditions. The Vedas were orally composed and transmitted over many centuries, beginning as early as 1500 BCE, according to some experts. The latest of the Vedic texts, the Upanishads, may have been composed around the fifth century BCE.

A long-necked lute or stringed instrument with a round, wooden body attached to a neck that is associated with the Hindu goddess of learning, Saraswati. Fitted to one or both ends of the vina, the round gourd acts as a resonator.

A discipline involving intensive meditation and ascetic practices (see ascetic above) that emerged in ancient India. Through these efforts, yogic practitioners aimed for the highest spiritual wisdom.

In religions indigenous to India, powerful goddesses who teach secret wisdom. Most yoginis have both ferocious and nurturing qualities.

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