Cleveland Museum of Art

A Guardian of Shiva

Date

1200s

Medium

Chloritic schist

Culture

Southwestern India, Karnataka

Department

Indian and Southeast Asian Art

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

Guardians at Shiva temples sometimes appear as a form of the deity himself. Carved in the ornate style favored by kings of the Hoyshala dynasty (1026–1343), this four-armed figure holds a drum that indicates the ongoing passage of time in his upper right hand. In his upper left hand, he holds a staff surmounted by a decomposing head of the god of creation, Brahma. The soft contours of the face, complete with third eye of knowledge, temper his ferocity and create a gently alluring figure. A three-hooded cobra winds its way up the shaft, while another slithers through the sockets of the skull.

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