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Trident with Shiva as Half-Woman (Ardhanarishvara)
Gary Kirchenbauer (photographer)
1050
- Classification
- Sculpture
- Museum
- Wikimedia Commons
- Credit line
- https://clevelandart.org/art/1969.117
- Rights
- CC0, as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Teens profiles and older: its subject is for older viewers (war, death, the Passion, drink or the like). How works are placed
About this work
The form of the trident--the main weapon of the Hindu god Shiva--dramatically and elegantly encircles his form in which the left side is female and the right side is male. The male side has the matted locks of a yogi piled high on his head; he holds an axe and leans on his mount, the bull. The female side has a jeweled crown, earring, full breast, broad hips, long skirt, and only one arm. The lower hands probably held a stringed instrument.
This particular iconic form of Shiva visually indicates that he embodies all phenomena, even if they seem contradictory. He is male and female, destructive and creative, yogi and royal sovereign, hunter and musician.
