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Worship of Shiva and Devi
early 1700s
- Medium
- Gum tempera, ink, and gold on paper
- Classification
- Painting
- Dimensions
- Image: 26.7 x 20.3 cm (10 1/2 x 8 in.); Overall: 31.2 x 24.5 cm (12 5/16 x 9 5/8 in.)
- Culture
- Northwestern India, Rajasthan, Rajput Kingdom of Bikaner
- Museum
- Cleveland Museum of Art, Indian and Southeast Asian Art
- Credit line
- Gift of Dr. and Mrs. Sherman E. Lee
- Rights
- Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Tweens profiles and older: its subjects are known and suit older children. How works are placed
View at the Cleveland Museum of Art
About this work
In the shrine in the lower half of the painting, the Hindu god Shiva appears in human form along with his wife, depicted as a red goddess. Shiva has the appearance of a yogi, his matted locs coiled on top of his head, a chain of skulls around his neck. He wears cobras as jewelry, and his body is white with ashes of the cremated dead. The crescent moon perches at his third eye of knowledge. Six women bear offerings in vessels of brass—a pure material suitable for sacred food and drink. The narrative scene featuring a heroine at three moments of time remains unidentified.
