Gouache painting on paper from an album of eighty-two paintings of Hindu deities. Four-armed Śiva sits atop Mount Kailasa with his left leg crossed over the right. He carries two attributes in his upper hands: the tanka (chisel), in his upper right and a vajra (thunderbolt) in his upper left. His lower right hand is in vitarka mudra and his lower left rests on the flexed left knee. In his hair can be seen the goddess Gaṅgā and the moon. Beneath the deity’s feet, the dark complexioned, nine-headed Ravaṇa attempts to lift the mountain. The majority of his sixteen arms are devoid of attributes aside from two hands, in which he carries a sword and one of his own heads.

Company School
1850 (circa)
Tamil Nadu

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