Panjurli mask - Lot 178

Panjurli mask India, Tulu Nadu (North Kerala / South Karnataka) C. 19th century Copper alloy. H. 50 × 65 × 34 cm Important mask linked to the local cult of deified spirits and ancestors, featuring the Panjurli boar. tradition of Bhuta cults and trances undoubtedly still bears precious witness to the traditions that on the Indian subcontinent before its Aryanization, and the integration of ancient local heroes and deities into the Brahmin pantheon. into the Brahman pantheon. Thus, the spirit of Panjurli, the wild boar that can devastate crops in its path and cause great nuisance to farmers, can most likely be associated with the one who destroyed the gardens of Parvati's gardens on Mount Kailasa or to Varaha, the wild boar avatar of Vishnu. Although the Bhuta cult is very old, the dating of the masks the dating of masks is still a delicate matter, in the absence of consecrated pieces with inscriptions enabling them to be to place them precisely in time. Provenance : - French private collection