Cleveland Museum of Art

Shiva as Slayer of the Elephant Demon

Date

1000s

Medium

granite

Culture

South India, Tamil Nadu, early Chola Period, 11th century

Department

Indian and Southeast Asian Art

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

In an exuberant dance posture with eight arms, Shiva is shown here in his wrathful aspect, with disheveled hair, bulging eyes, and fangs. He has just successfully flayed the skin of an elephant demon and triumphantly stretches it out behind him, its two hind feet sticking up at the right corner of the panel. The elephant in rut, in its demonic form, was used as a metaphor for uncontrolled passions that Shiva helps to conquer in the mind of the devotee, so that the devotee can better focus his attentions on the god himself. In the lower left corner, a dwarfish member of Shiva's entourage beats the rhythm of the dance on his drum. His wife, the goddess Parvati, looks on with admiration.

The authoritative record is held by Cleveland Museum of Art. LinkedCulture surfaces this object and its connections; it does not alter institutional metadata.