Yogini

late 9th - mid 10th century

Indian

On View

Indian and Southeast Asian Art, Level 1, North Wing

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Exhibition History

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Published References

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About the Artwork

This goddess figure, called a yogini, is both alluring and ferocious. Her body bends gracefully, yet a snake winds around her torso. Her club and shield signal she is ready to protect—or attack. This sculpture once stood in a temple alongside others depicting many yoginis, each with unique powers and attributes. Together they embodied Shakti, the all-powerful goddess believed by many Hindus to be the creative force of the universe.

Title Yogini

Artwork Date late 9th - mid 10th century

Artist ----------

Life Dates ----------

Nationality Please note: Definitions for nationality may vary significantly, depending on chronology and world events. Some definitions include: Belonging to a people having a common origin based on a geography and/or descent and/or tradition and/or culture and/or religion and/or language, or sharing membership in a legally defined nation. Indian

Culture Please note: Cultures may be defined by the language, customs, religious beliefs, social norms, and material traits of a group. Indian

Medium Pyroxene gabbro

Dimensions Overall: 46 × 29 × 20 inches, 918 pounds (116.8 × 73.7 × 50.8 cm, 416.4 kg)

Classification Sculpture

Department Asian Art

Credit Founders Society Purchase, L. A. Young Fund

Accession Number This unique number is assigned to an individual artwork as part of the cataloguing process at the time of entry into the permanent collection. Most frequently, accession numbers begin with the year in which the artwork entered the museum’s holdings. For example, 2008.3 refers to the year of acquisition and notes that it was the 3rd of that year. The DIA has a few additional systems—no longer assigned—that identify specific donors or museum patronage groups. 57.88

Markings

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Provenance

By 1925, located in Kanchipuram, Tamil Nadu

1925, purchased by Gabriel Jouveau-Dubreuil [1885-1945], through agent N. Tangavelou Pillai (Pondicherry, India)

1926, sold to (C. T. Loo & Company, Paris, France and New York, NY, USA)

1957-present, purchase by the Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, Michigan, USA)

For more information on provenance and its important function in the museum, please visit:

Provenance page

Exhibition History

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The exhibition history of a number of objects in our collection only begins after their acquisition by the museum, and may reflect an incomplete record.

We welcome your feedback for correction and/or improvement.

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Published References

Grove Dictionary of Art, Vol. 15, p. 515-516.

Grousset, Rene. The Civilization of India. New York, 1967, p. 155 (fig. 88).

Bulletin of the DIA 59, 2/3 (1981): pp 77-84 (ill.).

Mitchell, S.W. "The Asian Collection at the Detroit Institute of Arts." Orientations 13, 5 (May 1982): pp. 14-36 (fig. 8).

100 Masterworks from the Detroit Institute of Arts. New York, 1985, p. 44- 45 (ill.).

Dehejia, Vidya. Yogini Cult and Temples: A Tantric Tradition. New Delhi, National Museum, 1986, p. 177, 179 (ill.).

Harle, James. "Finding the Kanci Yoginis." Silk Road Art and Archaeology, 6 (1999/2000): pp.285-298 (fig. 1).

Chance, Stacey Lynn. "Investigation of the Goddess' Ascetic Emanations: A Yogini Set from Tamilnadu." M.A. Thesis, University of Missouri, Kansas City, 2000, (ill.) (fig. 3 & 15).

Kaimal, Padma. "Seductive and Repulsive: the Deceptive Contrasts of a South Indian Goddess." Rotunda (Summer/Fall 2003): pp. 28-35 (ill.).

Harle, James. “Some New Light on the Kāñcī Yoginīs.” In Ellen M. Raven, ed. South Asian Archaeology 1999: Proceedings of the Fifteenth International Conference of the European Association of South Asian Archaeologiests, held at the Univeriteit Leiden, 5-9 July 1999. Groningen, 2008, pp. 453-456; p. 453 (fig. 39.1).

Kaimal, Padma. Scattered Goddesses: Travels with the Yoginis. Ann Arbor, 2012, pp. 22 (fig. 5), 32 (fig. 5), 60 (fig. 37), 156-7, 165-8, 184-7, 204 (fig.125).

Diamond, Debra. "Yoginis" in Yoga: The Art of Transformation. Washington, D.C., 2013, pp. 118-125.

Kaimal, Padma. "Yoginis in stone: Auspicious and inauspicious power." In 'Yogini' in South Asia: Interdisciplinary approaches, ed. István Keul. London and New York, 2013, pp. 97-108 (fig. 8.4).

Dehejia, Vidya. The Thief Who Stole My Heart: The Material Life of Sacred Bronzes from Chola India, 855-1280. Princeton, 2021, p. 280 (ill. fig. C.7).

Stein, Emma Natalya and Katherine E. Kasdorf. "Alternate Narratives for the Tamil Yoginis: Reconsidering the 'Kanchi Koyinis' Past, Present, and Future." Religions 13, no. 10: 888 (2022): https://doi.org/10.3390/rel13100888. Accessed on: November 11, 2022.

Kaimal, Padma. "Why Do Yoginis Dance?" In Beyond Bollywood: 2000 Years of Dance in the Arts of South Asia, Southeast Asia, and the Himalayan Region. Exh. cat., Asian Art Museum. San Francisco, 2022, pp. 20-31; p. 23 (fig. 3), p. 26.

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