Yogini

Goddess seated cross-legged carved in high relief on a rounded granite slab. Goose vahana carved in light relief on base. She holds a winnower (a basketlike apparatus for separating chaff from grain), a small broom, and a skull cup in three hands, and her forth hand touches her breast in a pose signifying self-absorbtion. She wears a tall crown, one crocodilian and one cobra earring, and her hair is loose behind her head.

Historical period(s)
Chola dynasty, late 9th--mid-10th century
Medium
Stone (metagabbro)
Dimensions
H x W x D: 116 x 76 x 43.2 cm (45 11/16 x 29 15/16 x 17 in)
Geography
India
Credit Line
Gift of Arthur M. Sackler
Collection
Arthur M. Sackler Collection
Accession Number
S1987.905
On View Location
Sackler Gallery 22a: The Art of Knowing in South Asia, Southeast Asia, and the Himalayas
Classification(s)
Sculpture, Stone
Type

Figure

Keywords
Chola dynasty (850 - 1280), goddess, goose, Hinduism, India, yogini
Provenance

9th or 10th Century-?
From a now-destroyed Yogini temple, Kaveripakkam, Tamil Nadu, India [1]

By 1925-1927
N. Tangavelou Pillai and Gabriel Jouveau-Dubreuil (1885-1945) reportedly discovered in Kanchi (also known as Kanchipuram or Kancheepuram), Tamil Nadu, India [2]

1927-about 1950
C.T. Loo & Company, New York, NY and Paris, France purchased from Gabriel Jouveau-Dubreuil [3]

About 1950-?
Christian Humann (1929-1981), New York, NY purchased from C.T. Loo & Company, NY [4]

By 1968-1974
Drs. Arthur M., Raymond, and Mortimer Sackler, New York, NY purchased from Christian Humann [5]

1974-1982
Dr. Arthur M. Sackler, New York, NY purchased from Drs. Raymond and Mortimer Sackler in 1974 [6]

From 1987
Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, gift of Arthur M. Sackler on September 11, 1987 [7]

Notes:
[1] The Yogini temple, which originally contained at least 14 sculptures, fell out of use sometime in the following centuries. Likely constructed of stone foundations supporting brick walls, no trace of its structure has been identified. See Padma Kaimal, "Scattered goddesses Travels with the Yoginis" [book] (Ann Arbor: Association for Asian Studies, Inc., 2012) and Emma Natalya Stein and Katherine E. Kasdorf, "Alternate Narratives for the Tamil Yoginis: Reconsidering the 'Kanchi Yoginis' Past, Present, and Future" in Religions, vol. 13 (September 2022).

[2] Gabriel Jouveau-Dubreuil was a French-born archeologist who lived in Pondicherry, India. He worked with several Indian agents to source antiquities to export for sale in Europe. N. Tangavelou Pillai, who worked around Kanchi, was Jouveau-Dubreuil's primary agent for Hindu antiquities. Reportedly Jouveau-Dubreuil and Tangavelou discovered this sculpture along with others similar sculptures during a trip to Kanchi in August 1925. Tangavelou collected sixty signatures from individuals who consented to the removal of the sculptures. Despite ongoing objections, Tangavelou believed the majority approved of the removal and sent the sculptures to Pondicherry for export. See Kaimal, p. 33-137 and Stein and Kasdorf, 17.

[3] The dealer C. T. Loo and Jouveau-Dubreuil became acquainted in Paris between 1922 and 1923. Loo proposed that Jouveau-Dubreuil become Loo's scout, supplier, and buying agent in India. It is likely that Loo was not Jouveau-Dubreuil's only patron, see Kaimal, p. 137 and p. 243, note 25. Jouveau-Dubreuil and Tangavelou photographed each recovered sculpture before Jouveau-Dubreuil exported them to France; these photographs are preserved at the Musée Guimet, Paris and in the archives of the Red Pagoda, Paris. See Kaimal, p. 33-137.

Jouveau-Dubreuil and C.T. Loo collaborated closely on the export of the sculptures. The sculptures arrived in Paris via several shipments, the first arriving in the fall of 1926 and the last by July 1927. The correspondence between Loo and Jouveau-Dubreuil suggests this yogini was part of a shipment in January 1926. See Emma Natalya Stein and Katherine E. Kasdorf, "Tracking the Tamil Yoginis: New Findings from the Jouveau-Dubreuil Archives" presentation during webinar "Translocation of South Asian Art: Provenance and Documentation," October 7, 2022, power point in object file. See also Kaimal's diagram of the sculptures mentioned in Loo and Jouveau-Dubreuil's correspondence, p. 137.

[4] See Kaimal, p.164.

[5] See documentation from the Brooklyn Museum cited by Kaimal, p. 255. The Collection and Collections Information Department at the Brooklyn Museum reports that they received the object on loan in 1968 and credited the three Sackler brothers (Drs. Arthur M, Raymond, and Mortimer Sackler) with ownership. Arthur M. Sackler's office notified the Collection and Collections Information Department at the Brooklyn Museum of his exclusive ownership in December 1974.

[6] The 1982 inventory of Arthur M. Sackler's gift to the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery reports Arthur M. Sackler as the owner, see 1982 inventory, copy in file.

[7] Pursuant to the agreement between Arthur M. Sackler and the Smithsonian Institution dated July 28, 1982, legal title of the donated objects was transferred to the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery on September 11, 1987.

Research updated on February 3, 2023.

Previous Owner(s) and Custodian(s)

N. Thangavelu Pillai early 20th century
C.T. Loo 1880-1957
Gabriel Jouveau-Dubreuil French, 1885-1945
Dr. Arthur M. Sackler 1913-1987
C.T. Loo & Company 1914-1948
Dr. Mortimer David Sackler 1916-2010
Dr. Raymond Sackler American, 1920-2017
Christian Humann 1929-1981

Description

Goddess seated cross-legged carved in high relief on a rounded granite slab. Goose vahana carved in light relief on base. She holds a winnower (a basketlike apparatus for separating chaff from grain), a small broom, and a skull cup in three hands, and her forth hand touches her breast in a pose signifying self-absorbtion. She wears a tall crown, one crocodilian and one cobra earring, and her hair is loose behind her head.

Inscription(s)

On reverse of sculpture at lower right corner, in red paint (?): L68.13.31
On reverse of sculpture at center right, in black pigment: 2

Label

This four-armed Hindu goddess is a yogini, a female embodiment of yogic power. She once graced a temple with at least forty-two equally life-sized sculptures of yoginis set in niches around a central courtyard.


Yoginis are both benign and ferocious. This sculpture’s gracefully swaying posture, full breasts, and gentle smile, as well as the threshing tools in her upper hands, reveal that she confers blessings. In contrast, her unbound hair (a marker of female wrath), fangs, and skull cup (for drinking blood or liquor) indicate that she can be very dangerous if approached in the wrong way. Lightly incised into the pedestal is a duck, which indicates the goddess belongs to the class of flying yoginis known as sky travelers (khechari).

Published References
  • Emma Natalya Stein, Katherine E. Kasdorf. "Alternate Narratives for the Tamil Yoginis: Reconsidering the 'Kanchi Yoginis' Past, Present and Future". 13 MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. Fig. 2.
  • Vidya Dehejia. The Thief Who Stole My Heart: The Material Life of Sacred Bronzes from Chola India, 855–1280. Princeton, NJ, May 2021. pg. 281, fig. C.8.
  • (Introduction) Dr. John Alexander Pope. An Exhibition of the Sculpture of Greater India, a Fully Illustrated Catalogue. Exh. cat. New York. cat. 38.
  • Padma Kaimal. Scattered Goddesses: Travels with the Yoginis. Ann Arbor, 2014. pp. 20, 19, 91-92, 164, 168, 188, figs. 2, 21, 26, 87, 89, 134, 135.
  • Padma Kaimal. Seductive and Repulsive: The Deceptive Contrasts of a South Indian Goddess. vol. 36, no.1, Summer/Fall 2003. pp. 28-35.
  • et al. Asian Art in the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery: The Inaugural Gift. Washington, 1987. cat. 28, pp. 64-65.
  • Thomas Lawton, Thomas W. Lentz. Beyond the Legacy: Anniversary Acquisitions for the Freer Gallery of Art and the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery. vol. 1 Washington, 1998. p. 108.
Collection Area(s)
South Asian and Himalayan Art
Web Resources
Google Cultural Institute
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