Cleveland Museum of Art
Shalabhanjika (Woman and Tree)
- Date
- 300s–400s CE
- Medium
- gray steatite
- Culture
- Northern India, Kashmir
- Department
- Indian and Southeast Asian Art
- Institution
- Cleveland Museum of Art
The full carving of a flowering tree on the back of this figurine indicates that she is a figure of a nature divinity who personifies the life-giving qualities of the sap that envigorates the tree and causes it to flower. These figures are sometimes called shalabhanjika , "she who breaks the tree," probably because her fertile properties are so powerful that it causes the tree to fruit so heavily that the branches break.
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