The Hindu deities Shiva and Parvati combined as Ardhanarishvara

The Hindu Deity Shiva

Shiva is the supreme deity for many Hindus. His divine personality is very complex and embodies contradictions. In these sculptures and others in Galleries 1 and 4, the great god is shown as a family man, a conqueror of demons, a fierce or gentle ascetic, or, more abstractly, as the Absolute embodied in a pillar-like phallic emblem.

Shiva is conventionally represented with certain physical characteristics that convey various aspects of his divine power, such as a third eye in the middle of the forehead, and four or more arms. He usually appears as a yogi, or ascetic, with the long dreadlock-like locks of his hair tied on top of his head. He sometimes wears a crescent moon or skull at the front of his hairdress. He is also associated with certain animals (snakes, and his faithful mount, the bull Nandi), and may carry identifying objects such a trident, an axe, an antelope, or a small drum.

Not all of these characteristics and attributes are shown in every image of Shiva. Some are particular to a certain form of the god, and the popularity of others varies by region.

Indian artists and philosophers sometimes sought ways to show the combination—the reintegration—of opposites like male and female. Here, Shiva and his wife are shown combined in a single figure divided vertically, just as Shiva and Vishnu are shown in the sculpture to your right. The headdress has contrasting halves, the figure has one male breast and one female one, and at the figure’s feet are two different animal mounts, Shiva’s bull (with its head broken off) and Parvati’s lion.