My Painting is influenced by the Thangka School of Art and it's Subject is Ardhnarishvar - A combined form of Lord Shiv and Goddess Parvati.
In Indian Philosophy, they represent the male and female energies.
A similar concept in Chinese Philosophy is that of Ying and Yang. Many natural dualities such as dark and light, female and male, low and high , cold and hot are viewed in chinese thoughts as manifestations of yin yang. Ying Yang are complimentary opposites within a greater role. They constantly interact never existing in absolute, but giving rise to each other as they inter-relate to one another.
Ardhanarishvar represents the creation of a Complex Whole by combining masculine and feminine energies of the universe (Purush & Prakriti). It’s an illustration of how Shakti, the female God, is inseparable from Shiv, the male God. Ardhanarishvara can also be interpreted as a symbol of Shiv's omnipresent nature.
The posture of Ardhanarishvara is tribhanga ((tri-bent standing body pose)– bent in three parts: head (leaning slightly to the left), torso (to the right) and right leg in the sthanamudraposition (straight). In my painting, Ardhnarishvara is standing on a lotus pedestal. This position is called samapada. The right side of the body is the male Shiva and the left is the female Parvati. The male half wears a jata-mukuta(a headdress formed of piled, matted hair) on his head, adorned with a crescent moon. Jata-mukuta
is adorned with serpents,skulls and the river goddess Ganga flowing through the hair. The right ear wears an ordinary kundala ("earring"). The female half has karanda-mukuta (a basket-shaped crown) on her head and well-combed knotted hair. The left ear wears a valika-kundala (a type of earring). In this depiction, Shiv's bull vahana(Nandi) is seated behind his foot, while Goddess Parvati’s lion vahana is near her foot.
Ardhanarishvara is interpreted as an attempt to combine the beliefs of the two principal Hindu sects, Shaivism and Shaktism, dedicated to Shiv and Durga.
An interesting mythological story that lays the foundation of Ardhnarishwar is the one that involves Sage Bringi’s intense devotion for Shiv. Such was his devotion towards Shiv, that he offered all his prayers to Shiv and only Shiv, completely ignoring Parvati. As a sign of devotion, he tried to do Parikrama(Revolve) around Shiv only, without encircling Parvati. This act of Bhringi agitated Parvati, and in order to make sure that Bhringi doesn’t ignore her, she sat on Shiv’s lap. But Bhringi was adamant in his decision of being solely a Shiv Bhakt. So, he transformed himself into a bee, and tried to complete his parikrama around Shiv by flying through the small gap between Shiv and Parvati. Infuriated by this act of Sage Bhringi, Parvati infused herself completely with Shiv, resulting in incarnation of Ardhnarishvar, thereby compelling the Sage to offer his devotion to both Shiv and Parvati, i.e., offering respect to both masculine and feminine energies of the universe.
Mythology aside, the actual interpretation of this story in the modern world would signify the interdependence of Nature and Man. It can also signify the interdependence of a Man and a Woman in a relationship. A Woman completes a Man and vice versa. A Man’s manhood represents intellectual decision making, path to righteousness, humanity, a good role model and entrepreneurial skills. A Woman is a representation of compassion, eternal cycle of rebirth, sensitivity, passion, emotions and tenderness. In order for a successful survival of a relationship or of the Nature and Man, there’s no doubt that these two entities cannot exist in singularity. These two cannot compete with each other and cause destruction, rather they have to infuse together and complement each other to create a harmonious environment. That’s the purpose of Ardhnarishvar Symbolism–infusion resulting in congenial dwelling.
As per Hindu Vedas (Sacred Books), Woman is a symbol of Nature, one who pro-creates and sustains life on Earth. She is the ultimate symbol of Power (Shakti). A Man prospers and flourishes under the influence of this Nature, the one and only one source of all the resources for him to live a well-nourished life. He should always be aware of the fact that he is not here to exploit the power he’s derived from Nature and that when his ambitions and overzealous disposition starts eroding his other half – Nature, the symphony of existence becomes endangered. Similarly, if there is no Life (Human) on a planet, there’s no one to appreciate the nature around, a fact visible from the discovery of Diamond Planet by Yale University. The planet — called 55 Cancri e— has a radius twice Earth’s, and a mass eight times greater, making it a“super-Earth”,But has no water at all, and appears to be composed primarily of carbon (as graphite and diamond), iron, silicon carbide, and, possibly, some silicates. The study estimates that at least a third of the planet's mass — the equivalent of about three Earth masses — could be diamond. But still this planet is of no value as it doesn't sustain any life. This emphasizes the importance of co-existence of the two.
There are several interpretations of Ardhnarishvar in Hindu sacred books as Hinduism includes such a wide spectrum of laws and prescriptions for inscribing morality in our day to day lives based on karma, dharma and social norms. The Puranas (Sacred hindu Books) also infer that worshipping of Ardhanarishvara by devotees is to attain union with Shiv upon dissolution of the world and thus attain salvation- the ultimate goal of a devotee, a goal to unite with Shiv just like Parvati is united with him in the Ardhanarishvar form.
Hinduism also symbolizes this aspect by comparing Shiva and Shakti with a grain’s seed (CHANAKA). A seed has two halves so closely linked that they seem one, and the cover of the grains wraps them around. Symbolically, these two halves represent Shiva and Shakti, and the cover represents Maya (the cosmic illusion). The two halves are separate, when the cover’s on, and the cover goes off when the seed is about to germinate, thus unifying the two halves into one.
It’s up to us, how we want to interpret it. The main goal should be to abide to Shiv’s teachings and rules – to sustain harmony for every living creature.
A little info about the Thangka School of Art – It's a Nepali/Tibetan Painting that is done on cotton or silk with embroidery. Few Characteristics of Thangka paintings/Tibetan art are:
Thangkas are intended to serve as a guide for contemplative experience and to focus the mind during meditation. Over the last decades the thangka changed from an object of religious veneration to an art object that is appreciated by collectors and art friends worldwide.
In Indian Philosophy, they represent the male and female energies.
A similar concept in Chinese Philosophy is that of Ying and Yang. Many natural dualities such as dark and light, female and male, low and high , cold and hot are viewed in chinese thoughts as manifestations of yin yang. Ying Yang are complimentary opposites within a greater role. They constantly interact never existing in absolute, but giving rise to each other as they inter-relate to one another.
Ardhanarishvar represents the creation of a Complex Whole by combining masculine and feminine energies of the universe (Purush & Prakriti). It’s an illustration of how Shakti, the female God, is inseparable from Shiv, the male God. Ardhanarishvara can also be interpreted as a symbol of Shiv's omnipresent nature.
The posture of Ardhanarishvara is tribhanga ((tri-bent standing body pose)– bent in three parts: head (leaning slightly to the left), torso (to the right) and right leg in the sthanamudraposition (straight). In my painting, Ardhnarishvara is standing on a lotus pedestal. This position is called samapada. The right side of the body is the male Shiva and the left is the female Parvati. The male half wears a jata-mukuta(a headdress formed of piled, matted hair) on his head, adorned with a crescent moon. Jata-mukuta
is adorned with serpents,skulls and the river goddess Ganga flowing through the hair. The right ear wears an ordinary kundala ("earring"). The female half has karanda-mukuta (a basket-shaped crown) on her head and well-combed knotted hair. The left ear wears a valika-kundala (a type of earring). In this depiction, Shiv's bull vahana(Nandi) is seated behind his foot, while Goddess Parvati’s lion vahana is near her foot.
Ardhanarishvara is interpreted as an attempt to combine the beliefs of the two principal Hindu sects, Shaivism and Shaktism, dedicated to Shiv and Durga.
An interesting mythological story that lays the foundation of Ardhnarishwar is the one that involves Sage Bringi’s intense devotion for Shiv. Such was his devotion towards Shiv, that he offered all his prayers to Shiv and only Shiv, completely ignoring Parvati. As a sign of devotion, he tried to do Parikrama(Revolve) around Shiv only, without encircling Parvati. This act of Bhringi agitated Parvati, and in order to make sure that Bhringi doesn’t ignore her, she sat on Shiv’s lap. But Bhringi was adamant in his decision of being solely a Shiv Bhakt. So, he transformed himself into a bee, and tried to complete his parikrama around Shiv by flying through the small gap between Shiv and Parvati. Infuriated by this act of Sage Bhringi, Parvati infused herself completely with Shiv, resulting in incarnation of Ardhnarishvar, thereby compelling the Sage to offer his devotion to both Shiv and Parvati, i.e., offering respect to both masculine and feminine energies of the universe.
Mythology aside, the actual interpretation of this story in the modern world would signify the interdependence of Nature and Man. It can also signify the interdependence of a Man and a Woman in a relationship. A Woman completes a Man and vice versa. A Man’s manhood represents intellectual decision making, path to righteousness, humanity, a good role model and entrepreneurial skills. A Woman is a representation of compassion, eternal cycle of rebirth, sensitivity, passion, emotions and tenderness. In order for a successful survival of a relationship or of the Nature and Man, there’s no doubt that these two entities cannot exist in singularity. These two cannot compete with each other and cause destruction, rather they have to infuse together and complement each other to create a harmonious environment. That’s the purpose of Ardhnarishvar Symbolism–infusion resulting in congenial dwelling.
As per Hindu Vedas (Sacred Books), Woman is a symbol of Nature, one who pro-creates and sustains life on Earth. She is the ultimate symbol of Power (Shakti). A Man prospers and flourishes under the influence of this Nature, the one and only one source of all the resources for him to live a well-nourished life. He should always be aware of the fact that he is not here to exploit the power he’s derived from Nature and that when his ambitions and overzealous disposition starts eroding his other half – Nature, the symphony of existence becomes endangered. Similarly, if there is no Life (Human) on a planet, there’s no one to appreciate the nature around, a fact visible from the discovery of Diamond Planet by Yale University. The planet — called 55 Cancri e— has a radius twice Earth’s, and a mass eight times greater, making it a“super-Earth”,But has no water at all, and appears to be composed primarily of carbon (as graphite and diamond), iron, silicon carbide, and, possibly, some silicates. The study estimates that at least a third of the planet's mass — the equivalent of about three Earth masses — could be diamond. But still this planet is of no value as it doesn't sustain any life. This emphasizes the importance of co-existence of the two.
There are several interpretations of Ardhnarishvar in Hindu sacred books as Hinduism includes such a wide spectrum of laws and prescriptions for inscribing morality in our day to day lives based on karma, dharma and social norms. The Puranas (Sacred hindu Books) also infer that worshipping of Ardhanarishvara by devotees is to attain union with Shiv upon dissolution of the world and thus attain salvation- the ultimate goal of a devotee, a goal to unite with Shiv just like Parvati is united with him in the Ardhanarishvar form.
Hinduism also symbolizes this aspect by comparing Shiva and Shakti with a grain’s seed (CHANAKA). A seed has two halves so closely linked that they seem one, and the cover of the grains wraps them around. Symbolically, these two halves represent Shiva and Shakti, and the cover represents Maya (the cosmic illusion). The two halves are separate, when the cover’s on, and the cover goes off when the seed is about to germinate, thus unifying the two halves into one.
It’s up to us, how we want to interpret it. The main goal should be to abide to Shiv’s teachings and rules – to sustain harmony for every living creature.
A little info about the Thangka School of Art – It's a Nepali/Tibetan Painting that is done on cotton or silk with embroidery. Few Characteristics of Thangka paintings/Tibetan art are:
- rich in meaning
- beautiful aesthetic achievement
- the harmonious use of bold, vibrant colors
Thangkas are intended to serve as a guide for contemplative experience and to focus the mind during meditation. Over the last decades the thangka changed from an object of religious veneration to an art object that is appreciated by collectors and art friends worldwide.