Mardhini has power and strength and is not reluctant to use it for a purpose. Here Madhini is making a show of it as well.

This eight-armed broad-shouldered Mardhini is impaling the water-buffalo’s body with her Trishul and at the same time pulling Mahisha out of the buffalo’s body. Mahisha, a demon/asura, disguised himself as a buffalo and terrorized people and deities. Mardhini was created from the combined energy of the deities, to conquer Mahisha. For more information see one of my earlier blogs.

Normally you tend to see matched attributes Shankha and Chakra, bow and arrow, sword and shield. In this case the shield is missing as she is using two hands to impale the buffalo.

Unusually enough Mahisha is looking away from Mardhini. The combat is already lost. Mardhini’s vahana, a lion, standing passively behind her is another not-so-common feature. Normally Mardhini will have one foot on the lion with the lion attacking the buffalo. The lion looks tame, in comparison.

The serenity of the face despite the gory scene and the raw demonstration of power is typical of Mother Goddess figures.

The flat base is like that in the recently posted Ananathasai, helping us in the geographical attribution, Karnataka.

There is a fair amount of wear, suggesting an age of about two hundred plus years. The Vigraha is about 14 cm tall and it is quite heavy.