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Panel
Unknown - Enlarge image
Panel
- Place of origin:
Cochin, India (made)
- Date:
19th century (made)
- Artist/Maker:
Unknown (production)
- Materials and Techniques:
Polychromed wood
- Museum number:
IS.2564A-1883
- Gallery location:
In Storage
This is one of series of carved teakwood ceiling panels with reliefs of various Hindu deities. They came from a temple hall demolished in 1874 in Cochin, south-west India. Such halls (‘mandapa’) were used for theatrical, dance and music performances within a temple compound.
This panel shows Shiva, flanked by two representations of Nandi, the bull-calf. Here Shiva appears as a seated figure holding the axe and antelope, attributes he assumes as the divine hunter Kiratarjunamurti. S hiva's associations with hunting are ancient and link him to Rudra, the wild hunter. He presided over the forest animals and was given the title Pasupati, Lord of the Animals, an epithet later assumed by Shiva.
Kiratarjunamurti was favoured form of Shiva in the early period and appears in a 1st-century BC anthropomorphic linga (phallic symbol of Shiva) at Gudimallam. It was especially popular in south India.
