Dhumavati - Sasadhar Banarjee

A nineteenth-century lithograph depicting the Hindu goddess Dhumavati, rendered with hand-coloured details and traditional iconographic elements.

This lithograph depicts Dhumavati, one of the Mahavidyas in Hindu tantric tradition. She is traditionally represented as an elderly widow, embodying aspects of loss, solitude, and the void. In this composition, she sits atop a multi-tiered temple structure, holding a winnowing basket. A crow, her traditional mount, is perched at the apex of the central spire. Below her, a smaller figure stands on the temple architecture, while horses pull the structure forward, suggesting a processional or chariot-like movement. The work reflects the popular print culture of late nineteenth-century Bengal, where lithographic presses in Kolkata produced religious imagery for a growing middle-class audience.

The aesthetic style combines traditional Indian iconographic conventions with the technical influence of European lithography. The artist employs a structured, architectural approach to the composition, placing the deity in a position of dominance over the temple form. The hand-colouring adds a muted, delicate quality to the print, softening the sharp lines of the lithographic process. The inclusion of Bengali script at the top and bottom of the image provides liturgical context, identifying the subject and offering devotional verses. This print is a characteristic example of the Bat-tala or similar urban print traditions, which sought to make complex theological concepts accessible through visual media. The paper shows signs of age, with characteristic discolouration and wear consistent with historical prints from this period. The composition is balanced, using the verticality of the temple spires to draw the eye upward towards the figure of the goddess and the crow, creating a sense of spiritual elevation despite the subject matter's association with the darker aspects of existence.