Fragment of a temple sculpture, showing the two figures of the first and the last Jain Tīrthaṁkara, Ṛṣabhanātha (left) and Mahāvīra. As is consistent with Jain iconography, the upright and naked figures have broad sjoulders and narrow waists. The ascetic nature of Ṛṣabhanātha is suggested by his ...
Read More
Umapati (Shiva, the Primeval Father God, and Uma, the Great Mother Goddess)
India, Uttar Pradesh, Deogarh region, circa 750-800
Sculpture
Gray sandstone
Ganesha is worshipped by most Jainas, for whom he appears to have taken over certain functions of Kubera. Jaina connections with the trading community support the idea that Jainism took up the worship of Ganesha as a result of commercial connections.
Hindus spread through Maritime Southeast Asia and took their culture with them, including Ganesha, statues of whom are found throughout the region, often beside Shiva sanctuaries. The forms of Ganesha found in Hindu art of Java, Bali, and Borneo show specific regional ...
Read More
Vishnu Chaturmurti
Karkota period - 8th to 9th century AD
Kashmir
Sculptural representations of Vishnu Chaturmurti exist throughout northern India but is most characteristic of the Kashmir region where it assumed a prominent position in the Hindu pantheon.
Vishnu in his four-fold aspect, Chatur...
Read More
A sandstone figural relief of Surya
Central India, 10th/11th Century
The solar deity standing in a frontal hieratic pose with both hands raised and holding a stylized blossoms, a small figure of his consort standing between his boots and accompanied by his two sons Shani and Yama standing on the...
Read More
Dance scene of 13 male figures made of plaster and painted brown with white clothing, all standing on circular wooden board (a). Figures attached to board with metal wires protruding from their feet and pass through holes in board. (b) man wearing turban and loincloth playing drum held horizontal...
Read More
HARIHARA is the name of a combined deity form of both Vishnu (Hari) and Shiva (Hara) from the Hindu tradition. Also known as Shankaranarayana ("Shankara" is Shiva, and "Narayana" is Vishnu), Harihara is thus worshipped by both Vaishnavites and Shaivities as a form of the Supreme God, as well as b...
Read More
'Deification stele with figure of Harihara, in the Residency garden, Kediri, East Java, 1866-67'
The colonial authorities in the Dutch East Indies had first used photography to document the great Buddhist stupa of Borobudur in 1844, but this very early archaeological project proved abortive an...
Read More
Sculpture of Vishnu as Trivikrama in the north verandah of Cave II, Badami, Bijapur District - 1874
Photograph of a sculpture of Vishnu as Trivikrama in the north verandah of Cave 2 at Badami, taken by James Burgess in 1874. Badami, formerly known as Vatapi, was the capital of the early Chaluk...
Read More