Cleveland Museum of Art

Brahma

Date

c. 1890

Medium

Gum tempera, graphite, ink, and tin on paper

Culture

Eastern India, Bengal, Kolkata, Kalighat

Department

Indian and Southeast Asian Art

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

The god of creation has four arms and four heads. The manuscript in his upper right hand indicates that he is the source of sacred knowledge as the quintessential Brahman. The lotus flower in his lower right hand references birth and procreation. He would typically hold a rosary and water pot in his left hands, which are here difficult to clearly identify given the cursory style of Kalighat painitngs. His mount, the goose, examines the ground at his feet. Brahma once had five heads, but the god Shiva decapitated one of them.

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