94 BULLETIN 148, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



night, when the Hnga is worshiped. Height, 12^ inches. India. 

 <Cat. No. 154878, U.S.N.M.) 



8. Siva. — Statuette of brass. Represented standing with six 

 arms, holding, respectively, trident, knife, conch, dish (?), trampling a 

 demon, and with one hand grasping the hair of another. Height, 

 4K inches. India. (Cat. No. 311801, U.S.N.M.) Bequest of Miss 

 Elizabeth S. Stevens. 



9. Lakshmi. — Statuette of marble, painted and gilded, represented 

 seated on a full-blown lotus. In her upper hands she holds lotus 

 stalks; in the lower right hand, a chaplet; in the left, the pot of nectar. 

 Two elephants uphold with their trunks a parasol over her head, 

 while at her sides are attendants with fly-whisks. 



Lakshmi, also called Sri, is the wife of Vishnu, the goddess of beauty, 

 love, and prosperity. Like Aphrodite (Venus), she sprang from the 

 ocean at the time of its being churned for nectar. Her son is Kama 

 or Kamadeva, the god of love. Her sacred flower is the lotus. 

 Height, lOK inches. India. (Cat. No. 154871, U.S.N.M.) 



10. Parvati. — -Statuette of marble, painted and gilded. Repre- 

 sented riding a tiger, with four arms. The upper hands hold a club 

 in the right and what looks like the tail of a snake in the left; in the 

 lower right hand is a waterpot, in the left a trident. 



As the wife of Siva, the most powerful and lofty god of the Indian 

 Pantheon, Parvati is called Devi, that is, the goddess, or Mdhadevi, 

 the great goddess, and is, like her spouse, worshiped under many 

 names and aspects. In her mild character she is called Vma or 

 Parvati, the lovely daughter of Himavat (Himalaya), the mountain 

 king, Jagaddhatri or Jaganmatri, mother of the universe, and is repre- 

 sented as a beautiful woman; in her destructive character she is called 

 Kali (the black woman) and is represented as a black fury with 

 protruding tongue, a cincture of hands holding various weapons 

 dripping with blood, crowned with snakes, and hung round with 

 skulls; and in her composite character she is named Durga and 

 represented as a golden-colored woman riding on a tiger, which is her 

 vahan or vehicle. She is especially popular in Bengal and the south- 

 ern parts of India. She is worshiped by the lower population (the 

 Sudras) with bloody sacrifices; on some of her festivals, as the Dur- 

 gapuja and OharaJcpuja, revolting barbarities are perpetrated, and 

 in her honor the orgies of the TantriTcas, or the worshipers of the 

 female principle of the deity, are held. Height, 13)2 inches. India. 

 (Cat. No. 154872, U.S.N.M.) 



11. Parvati. — Statuette of marble standing on a flat base, richly 

 decorated in gold and red. The elbows, which are held out at a right 

 angle, terminate in rounded-out stumps. Height, 20 inches. India. 

 (Cat. No. 214326, U.S.N.M.) 



