Parvati,

16th century

This monumental sculpture represents Parvati, the spouse of Shiva and one of the most important Hindu gods, in her aspect as Gauri, the “fair lady”— a favorite deity of those desiring prosperity and riches. She wears a long loincloth that is gathered into an elaborate girdle decorated with pearl strings, and her hair is decorated with jewels to resemble a crown. She stands in a strictly frontal pose known as sampada—a pose also found in classical Indian dance—holding prayer beads in her upper right hand and a lotus bud in the upper left. The lower right hand (now missing) was almost certainly in the abhaya mudra gesture, by which the deity grants her followers protection; her lower left hand, in the vara mudra, shows that she fulfills her devotees’ wishes.