Gauri heads

from Maharashtra or Madhya Pradesh  they are used as heads for dough dolls in worship of Goddess Gauri or Parvati.

each year a festival is held where the figures are worshipped and the bodies are discarded, but the heads are used over and over again

Adi Da received one other pair of these statues in 2006 (through me, but sponsored by Neal Stewart) and greatly appreciated them 19th century  cost was $365 in 2008 from Imtiyaz   in Mumbai