Marriage of Siva and Parvati (Kalyanasundara)
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Photographer: Arthur Llewellyn Basham
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There is some tendency in Pala sculpture, exaggerated in the following period of the Senas, [toward] a semi-metallic style using a hard stone of very fine grain. Detailing in this medium becomes sharp and jewel-like in its highest form, especially in images of one or two figures standing without a plinth. The present example retains the plinth and looks like a stele, but it is possible to see the fine grade of carving employed in the group, partly due to the hardness of the stone. The details around the main figures of Siva and Parvati are the iconographic prescriptions for such subjects: attendant deities stand at the feet of the main gods, celestials hover near the heads of the central figures while the base displays small figures of guhyakas or simply miniature divinities of a lesser status than that of the main figures. It is important to notice that the size of the figures increases with their relative importance, and that male figures are consistently larger and more powerful than their female counterparts. The Great Lord Siva is the creator and destroyer of all life and also the master of all ascetics, being able to maintain the most perfect vigil of meditation and abstinence of any being. His marriage to Parvati, daughter of the god of the Himalayas, was a great event in the mythological kingdom of gods, for he now had a female counterpart manifesting the feminine source of creation. Parvati, also known as Uma when she represents the mother of the earth, is shown as a beautiful young woman in her bridal capacity. -- . From Pala. 9th-10th Centuries. London, British Museum.
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Basham Collection
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circa 1970s
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This item is provided for research purposes. Contact the Australian National University Archives at butlin.archives@anu.edu.au for permission to use.
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