Tirupati, September 23, 2013: Lord Siva is generally worshipped in the ‘Linga’ form, but His images are available in umpteen poses and styles.

While mythology and folklore create iconography, it is the sculptor or painter’s creativity and vivid imagination that makes an art piece wonderful enough to behold. Siva and Parvathi are joined in a single image called ‘Ardha Naareeswara’, but the image at Chintala Venkataramana Swamy temple in Tadipatri (Anantapur) shows the duo in seated form, playing a Veena. Siva is known as a master dancer, but the Pushpagiri (Kadapa) temple shows Him as tying his anklet. Siva is known to adore ‘Abhishekam’, but the Lepakshi (Anantapur) temple portrays him as ‘Svabhisheka Murthy’, i.e., pouring water over himself with six hands.

“Nandi is known to be a carrier, but Siva presents himself as a bull called ‘Vrishabhavathara Murthy’, kicking the heads of demons as if they are footballs,” says D. Kirankranth Choudary, a professor of ancient Indian history and the Dean (Arts) at Sri Venkateswara University. Similarly, Dakshinamurthy is a bachelor, but he is shown in the company of the goddess at Surutupalli (Chittoor), and the deity is called ‘Devi Sahita Dakshinamurthy’. The images are complex in nature, but it needs a strong knowledge of mythology to unravel the facts, he says.

Dr. Choudary is awarded D.Litt. in History for his study on ‘Siva in mythology and art’ at Berhampur University under the guidance of Dr. R.C. Misro, thus becoming the first in SVU to bag a D.Litt. in social sciences. The comparative study is focused extensively on the Pallava, Chalukya, Chola, Rashtrakuta, Nolumba, Kakatiya and Kalinga art forms. “The mythology is same, but the iconography and physiognomy depends on the regional beliefs and sculptor’s creativity,” he explains. Dr. Choudary did his doctorate under the great epigraphist and Sanskrit scholar S. Sankara Narayanan, while he worked briefly under the noted historian Romila Thapar (JNU) for a study on ‘Buddhism in Andhra’.

Dr. Choudary believes that a comparative study, factoring in the regional and chronological aspects, will yield amusing facts. His work will soon be published as ‘Siva in Indian art’ by Agam Kala Prakashan (Delhi).

Source: The Hindu, September 23, 2013