A pair of 19th Century carved sandalwood Kamadhenu figures, Mysore – India.
The Kamadhenu is an important mythological figure of the mother of all cows, and is also a worshiped heavenly cow. In iconography, she is generally depicted as a cow with a female head and breasts, the wings of a bird, and the tail of a peafowl, or as a cow containing various deities within her body.
This sandalwood carved symmetric pair of kamedhenu is faithful in its representation, it shows the body of a cow with the head of a lady and tail of a peafowl. As the artist could not represent the various deities carried in her womb, he instead showed two calves suckling from her breasts. The idea of mother of all things, giver of every wish, mother of all cattle is thus overtly portrayed here.