The Hindu deity Shiva

Pure gold, first being,
living in grove-encircled Pulamankai,
he is my own; he is music, he is
like the light of the morning sun.

Hindu deities such as Shiva are usually envisioned as supremely beautiful. Their beauty, even sensuousness, manifests their perfection and power. In many Hindu traditions the magnetic attraction of the Divine for the individual soul is seen as similar to the attraction of lover for lover.

Shiva is usually represented with four or more arms and characteristically has a vertical third eye in his forehead. Here, however, he is identified only by his ascetic’s dreadlocks, which are tied up 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 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.

A noted scholar wrote of this image that it “brilliantly represents South Indian bronze casting. Although its stylistic precursors, the renowned bronze sculptures created [somewhat earlier] under the Chola kings. . .are often considered to exemplify the peak moment of such art, one could argue that post-Chola sculptures such as this also mark peaks.”

The lotus pedestal is placed on top of a square base with two holes pierced through it to hold wooden or metal posts inserted for carrying during ceremonial processions. For such a procession, the image would have been decked with elaborate textiles, jewelry, and flowers. The deity’s beauty would have been hidden from ordinary sight, but glowingly vivid in the mind’s eye of the worshiper.