{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O24930"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O24930/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AU5770/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AU5770/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2006AU5770","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2017JU6346","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2016JA3276","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2016JA3634","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2016JA3635","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O24930/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O24930","accessionNumber":"IM.5-1931","objectType":"Figure","titles":[{"title":"Shiva Ardhanarishvara","type":"generic title"}],"summaryDescription":"This red sandstone carving shows a knee-length composite figure in high relief. It represents Shiva in the <i>Ardhanarishvara Murti</i>, the name of the androgynous form in which Shiva is depicted as 'the Lord who is Half-woman'. This form was among the earliest anthropomorphic sculptures of Shiva to appear. In this manifestation, Shiva reveals himself in a form that is both male and female, divided vertically, with his consort Parvati occupying his left-half. This example, from the early Kushan period, is amongst the earliest known occurrences of this subject. In addition to these all too rare examples of Kushan period Ardhanarishvara figures, this subject also appears as one of the Shiva’s faces on some of the earliest <i>caturmukhalinga</i> (‘four-faced linga’). These depictions, important from the beginnings of anthropomorphic representation of the Brahmanical gods, give form to concepts already expressed in the most ancient compendium of Indian religious thought, the Rigveda.\n\r\nCarved in high relief, the composite figure stands in a relaxed manner, with a vertical division separating the two entities. Shiva’s form is on the right, distinguished by a taut muscular and ‘masculine’ form and the aroused penis which projects upwards from his waist-cloth. Shiva’s third eye is vertically divided and only half represented; similarly, the hair styles differ, set apart by this vertical divide. Parvati’s half is more rounded and ‘feminine’ in its form, and displays a single breast, long tresses of hair and a decorated girdle, clearly distinguished from Shiva’s simple waist cord. Parvati’s hand appears to hold a flower; the missing arm of Shiva presumably was gesturing protection <i>(abhayamudra)</i>, as seen on other surviving examples of this subject.\n\r\nThe figure stands against a <i>linga</i>, Shiva’s emblem. It is trapezoidal in shape. On the reverse the carved anatomical markings suggest phallic associations. A demonic face is also carved in low relief, perhaps a depiction of Rudra the ‘howler’, the wild Vedic god from whom Shiva (‘’the auspicious”) claims his ancestry.","physicalDescription":"Shiva in his half-male, half-female form - the female side representing his consort Parvati. Carved in high relief, the composite figure stands in a relaxed manner, with a vertical division separating the two entities. Shiva’s form is on the left ( his proper right side), distinguished by a taut muscular and masculine form and the aroused penis which projects upwards from his waist-band. Shiva’s third eye is vertically divided and only half represented. He has a curling moustache and a long earlobe, and his matted locks are piled up in ribbed ridges on his head. The only jewellery he has is a beaded necklace round his neck.  His torso is otherwise bare but his sacred thread is delineated by two simple lines. Parvati’s half is more rounded and feminine in its form, displaying a single rounded breast, adjacent to a decorative cord which morphs into Shiva's sacred thread on his side. Her hair is shown in the feminine Kushan style with a flat oval bun in front and the remainder of her hair pulled back in ribbed tresses. She is wearing a heavy tasselled earring and numerous wrist and arm bangles. Below her waist she wears a girdle  with scalloped decoration over a diaphanous lower garment. Parvati’s hand appears to hold a flower; the missing arm of Shiva presumably was gesturing protection (<i>abhayamudra</i>), as seen on other surviving examples of this subject.\r\n     The figure stands against a <i>linga</i>, Shiva’s emblem. On the reverse, anatomical markings seem to make phallic associations explicit. A demonic face is also carved in bas-relief, perhaps a depiction of Rudra the ‘howler’, the wild Vedic god from whom Shiva ('the auspicious') claims his ancestry.\r\n","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Unknown","id":"A1848"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"red sandstone","id":"AAT11398"}],"techniques":[{"text":"carving","id":"AAT53149"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Carved red sandstone","categories":[{"text":"Sculpture","id":"THES48896"},{"text":"Hinduism","id":"THES48941"},{"text":"Gender and Sexuality","id":"THES48940"}],"styles":[{"text":"Kushan","id":"AAT18886"}],"collectionCode":{"text":"SSEA","id":"THES48598"},"images":["2006AU5770","2017JU6346","2016JA3276","2016JA3634","2016JA3635"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"001","id":"THES404217"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Figure","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"No","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Mathura","id":"x34788"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"Late 2nd century","earliest":"0150-01-01","latest":"0200-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"27","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"10.5","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Depth","value":"7.8","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Height","value":"33.5","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":"(including base)"},{"dimension":"Width","value":"12.2","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":"(of base)"},{"dimension":"Depth","value":"8.6","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":"(of base)"},{"dimension":"Weight","value":"3873","unit":"g","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":"(including base)"},{"dimension":"Weight","value":"2443","unit":"g","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":"(including base)"}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"Purchased from Imre Schwaiger in 1931, RP 1931/5401\nThe Shiva Ardhanarishvara image can be read as a syncretism of Shiva and Shakti (female personification of a male god's energy) cults. It is a statement of inclusiveness, of the completeness of Shiva's creation and as a symbol of his omnipotence is the closest conceptually of any of the Shiva icons to the <i>linga</i> form itself.","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Shiva Ardhanarishvara, sandstone, Mathura, north India, late 2nd century","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"G.Kreisel, <u>Die Siva Bildwerke der Mathura Kunst</u>, Stuttgart, 1988, Pl. 114 a,b\n\n\n\r\n\n"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"This object features in 'Out on Display: A selection of LGBTQ-related objects on display in the V&A', a booklet created by the V&A's LGBTQ Working Group. First developed and distributed to coincide with the 2014 Pride in London Parade, the guide was then expanded for the Queer and Now Friday Late that took place in February 2015."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Guy, John, <u>Indian Temple Sculpture</u>, V&amp;A Publications, 2007, pp.141-142, pl.158"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Guy, John (ed.). ‘<u>L’Escultura en els Temples Indis: L’Art de la Devocio</u>’, Barcelona : Fundacio ‘La Caixa’, 2007. ISBN 9788476649466. p.98, cat.48."},{"reference":{"text":"Jansari, S. and Muthukumaran S., <i>Ancient India: Living Traditions</i>, London: The British Museum Press, 2025","id":"AUTH410830"},"details":"pp. 175-176, Fig. 4.22","free":""}],"production":"Mathura, Uttar Pradesh, India","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[{"text":"Hinduism","id":"AAT73727"}],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[{"text":"6. The Hindu God Shiva as Ardhanishvara\r\n(Lord Who Is Half Woman)\r\n150–200\r\nKushan period\r\nSandstone\r\nNorthern India (Mathura, Uttar Pradesh)\r\nMuseum no. IM.5-1931","date":{"text":"06/06/2011","earliest":"2011-06-06","latest":"2011-06-06"}}],"partNumbers":["IM.5-1931"],"accessionNumberNum":"5","accessionNumberPrefix":"IM","accessionYear":1931,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":["2025PD5504","2025PD3058","2025PD3057","2019LN4832","2019LR3030","2019LT4473","2019LW9585"],"recordModificationDate":"2026-03-29","recordCreationDate":"2000-02-13","availableToBook":false}}