Marriage of Shiva and Parvati
Relief
Dated by inscription 1766 (made)
Dated by inscription 1766 (made)
Artist/Maker | |
Place of origin |
Relief depicting the marriage of Siva and Parvati witnessed by Visnu and Laksmi (Kalyanasundara, ‘The Wedding of the Charming One’). Visnu officiates, pouring a lustration blessing (abhiseka) over the couples open hands from a gold pot. Siva displays two attributes, a deer (mriga) (deer) and an axe (parasu). He is attended by one of his dwarfish attendants, a gana. In acknowledgement of the occasion, Siva holds a spray of flowers in his lower hand. All in attendance are richly bejewelled and wear high hair-crowns (jatamakutas).
This subject is popular in south India, especially in Madurai where it is assumes a local character, Siva marrying Minaksi, the princess of the Pandyan royal household, thus effecting a union of local traditions with Sanskritic culture. This Divine Marriage is re-enacted there and at other temples each year as part of the annual Panguni Uttiram temple festival, performed with processional icons of the couple. The priests enact the rituals of marriage to the delight of a large audience, mostly female devotees.
A number of centres in south India were renowned for ivory carving in the Nayak period, most especially workshops associated with the Vaisnava temple at Srirangam, and the Minaksi-Sundaresvara temple at Madurai. This relief represents an end panel to a casket, possibly serving as a jewellery box, engraved with the date ‘Samvat 1823 (1766 CE). Although this date cannot be accepted definitively (it could have been add later by a subsequent owner), it broadly fits with our understanding of mid-18th century Nayak decorative arts.
This subject is popular in south India, especially in Madurai where it is assumes a local character, Siva marrying Minaksi, the princess of the Pandyan royal household, thus effecting a union of local traditions with Sanskritic culture. This Divine Marriage is re-enacted there and at other temples each year as part of the annual Panguni Uttiram temple festival, performed with processional icons of the couple. The priests enact the rituals of marriage to the delight of a large audience, mostly female devotees.
A number of centres in south India were renowned for ivory carving in the Nayak period, most especially workshops associated with the Vaisnava temple at Srirangam, and the Minaksi-Sundaresvara temple at Madurai. This relief represents an end panel to a casket, possibly serving as a jewellery box, engraved with the date ‘Samvat 1823 (1766 CE). Although this date cannot be accepted definitively (it could have been add later by a subsequent owner), it broadly fits with our understanding of mid-18th century Nayak decorative arts.
Object details
Categories | |
Object type | |
Title | Marriage of Shiva and Parvati (generic title) |
Materials and techniques | Carved ivory, with traces of tamarind juice |
Brief description | Marriage of Shiva and Parvati, ivory, Madurai, south India, 1766 |
Physical description | A relief depicting the marriage of Shiva and Parvati ('The Wedding of the Charming One'). This relief may well be associated with the city of Madurai whose Great Temple celebrates this marriage. The ceremony (Kalyanasundaramurti) is witnessed by Vishnu and Lakshmi. They stand at the left, Vishnu holding together with the normal attributes, a golden pot, from which he pours at the moment of uniting the couple. Shiva and Parvati, wearing jatamakutas (high crowns) and royal ornaments, offer their hands with palms open. Shiva bears his attributes of a mriga (deer) and parashu (battle-axe) and in his addition holds a flower or spray of flowers in his lower left hand. |
Dimensions |
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Style | |
Production | Madurai, Tamilnadu, south India |
Subjects depicted | |
Summary | Relief depicting the marriage of Siva and Parvati witnessed by Visnu and Laksmi (Kalyanasundara, ‘The Wedding of the Charming One’). Visnu officiates, pouring a lustration blessing (abhiseka) over the couples open hands from a gold pot. Siva displays two attributes, a deer (mriga) (deer) and an axe (parasu). He is attended by one of his dwarfish attendants, a gana. In acknowledgement of the occasion, Siva holds a spray of flowers in his lower hand. All in attendance are richly bejewelled and wear high hair-crowns (jatamakutas). This subject is popular in south India, especially in Madurai where it is assumes a local character, Siva marrying Minaksi, the princess of the Pandyan royal household, thus effecting a union of local traditions with Sanskritic culture. This Divine Marriage is re-enacted there and at other temples each year as part of the annual Panguni Uttiram temple festival, performed with processional icons of the couple. The priests enact the rituals of marriage to the delight of a large audience, mostly female devotees. A number of centres in south India were renowned for ivory carving in the Nayak period, most especially workshops associated with the Vaisnava temple at Srirangam, and the Minaksi-Sundaresvara temple at Madurai. This relief represents an end panel to a casket, possibly serving as a jewellery box, engraved with the date ‘Samvat 1823 (1766 CE). Although this date cannot be accepted definitively (it could have been add later by a subsequent owner), it broadly fits with our understanding of mid-18th century Nayak decorative arts. |
Bibliographic references |
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Collection | |
Accession number | IM.70-1930 |
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Record created | December 15, 1999 |
Record URL |
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