Download Shiva Parvati Images
Velva Naderman
Of the many images in the classical Indian tradition those of Shiva and Parvati are some of the most endearing. Shiva predates history and images of a cross legged yogi in the Indus Valley seals are considered by some as proto-Shiva. Aniconic manifestations of Shiva in the form of a svyambhu linga or naturally occurring stones, such as banalinga from the Narmada river are also ancient. At times represented merely by the trident on ritual objects or on Mount Kailasha, or by his constant companion the Nandi, Shiva makes his presence equally at road-side shrines or in monumental temples such as the Kailasha temple at Ellora or the Kandariya Mahadev temple at Khajhuraho. The cult of Shiva and the worship of Shiva in these aniconic forms is one of the oldest religious cults in India and came much before the development of discursive Shavite philosophy and the development of Shiva Parvati images.
In this group are also included the Bhairava Raga and Ragini genre of images. Shiva in this class of images is regal and distant and receives the adoration and worship equally of his devotees and also of Parvati. Like a king he is shown seated on a throne, flanked by Parvati who functions as his queen and the divine couple preside over a court which include not only their two children Ganesha and Katrikeya, but gods and demigods, kinnaras and humans. Shiva in these images holds a variety of badhras besides the trishula, such as a snake, sword, and noose. Since dualistic systems are the foundations of Shaivite theology, Parvati delights in maintaining the duality between Shiva and herself and these group of images assert the distance between Shiva and Parvati, for devotion and worship demand that the worshipper and the worshipped be apart, for without this epistemic distance and duality there can be no devotion.
The ambience and the dominant rasa of these images is that of bhakti and the surroundings are suggestive of a temple or a court. Shiva bhakti has both a ritualistic and artistic side to it. Artistic expressions of Shiva bhakti are found predominantly in painting and especially in the Pahari kalam. Equally beautifully expressed Shiva bhakti is found in poetry and in music. Of the many poets who have expressed Shiva bhakti the most notable are the Nayanmars of the Tamil country who in the 6th century have sung of their love and devotion to Shiva. It is important to note that the Tamil poet, whether male or female, takes on the persona of a female and therefore one can regard these Shiva bhakti songs as sung by Parvati who is the prototypical Shiva bhakta . Equally importantly the Nayanmars extol Shiva the householder and not the ascetic, and therefore not just Shiva but equally Parvati, become the recipient of their veneration. Nayanmar Appar wrote:
For the devout it is an event to be celebrated through ritual worship and the 13th day of phagun is observed as Shivratri, which is a major festival at all Shiva temples. However the aesthete derives another layer of meaning from this very beautiful myth. For the aesthete, the myth is a perfect visual paradigm of the epistemology of Kashmir Shaivism. Shiva, the perfect subject moves from the solipsistic aham , expand his consciousness to not only cognise but embrace the object through his amorous dalliance with Parvati and demonstrates the stage of aham-idam. Having embraced and affirmed that object Shiva is wonderstruck, sringara rasa is transformed into adbhuta rasa and he attains the bliss of knowledge and passes onto the epistemic stage of aham eva vishvarupam. It is this romance, the togetherness, the gaze of the divine couple and the transformation of the shringara rasa of Shiva into his adbhuta rasa that defines the second group of Shiva Parvati images.
Artists of different schools and at different historical periods have portrayed this togetherness of Shiva and Parvati in myriad ways. It does not matter whether one is looking at Chola or Pahari images, the works of folk artists or classical silpis , what strikes one is the alingan or embrace of Shiva and the loving gaze of Parvati in return. There is a dynamic harmony between the two acts. One is impressed not so much by the variations of stylistic or artistic features of these Shiva Parvati images but the amorous coming together of Shiva and Parvati. And what better expression of this togetherness than the strikingly beautiful ardhanarisvara images where Shiva and Parvati are in dynamic harmony, the perfect samarasya of the subject and the object, where there is no negation but only celebration and affirmation. And equally important, not just artistically but epistemologically, is the mirror in the hand of Parvati. The mirror of Parvati is not a sign of feminine vanity, for it is held not so that Parvati can see herself in it, but so that Shiva can see himself. And when after several lustful cognitions of Parvati, Shiva sees himself in that mirror, he is wonder-struck with the realisation that he and Parvati are one. As the Linga Purana says quite succinctly, umasankarayor bhedo na asteyava paramarthaha, dvidhasau rupamathaya theta eko a samsaya, in truth there is indeed no difference between Uma and Shankara, the one posits himself in two forms, there is no doubt about it. The veil of amnesia of Shiva is lifted and in that moment of remembrance his consciousness expands even further, and he embraces not just Parvati but the whole world, with the assertion aham eva visvarupam. In loving, embracing and uniting with Parvati, Shiva succeeds in emerging from his solipsistic contemplation to embrace the universal. It is important to note that the Nataraja is not just the dancing Shiva but is equally, conceptually a ardhanarishvara, for Parvati exists in the image of the Nataraja as the kundala in the left ear of Shiva, reminding us that there can be no ananda for Shiva without Parvati. The Shiva Sutras have stated nartaka atma , rangoantaratma, indrayani prekshakani, the dancer is theatma, the soul is the stage and the senses are the spectators.
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