The Hindu deity Shiva

The Hindu deity Shiva is usually represented with four or more arms and has a vertical third eye in his forehead. Here, however, he is identified only by his ascetic’s tied-up dreadlocks, with a tiny crescent moon and river goddess Ganga on either side. Similar figures of earlier centuries would have had somewhat more naturalistic proportions and treatment of details. Here, though, the sculptor, following the trend of the time, has chosen to exaggerate the broadness of the shoulders and the narrowness of the waist, and to treat lines such as the jeweled chain on the lower right leg and the sacred thread across the chest in a hyperelegant manner.

Moving Images

The lotus pedestal of this image of Shiva is positioned on top of a square base with two holes for attaching it to a frame for carrying during ceremonial processions. (Here the square base is recessed into the platform and not visible.) For such a procession, the image would have been decked with elaborate textiles, jewelry, and flowers.

In South Indian temples, major deities such as Shiva are represented by both a stone image in the central sanctuary and a bronze one that can be taken out in procession through the neighborhood. The stone image is understood to be rooted, immovable, and permanent. A bronze processional image, on the other hand, is mobile and dynamic, allowing the deity who resides in it to see and be seen by thousands of worshipers, and to interact with them.