A COPPER ALLOY FIGURE OF SHIVA BHAIRAVA


SOUTH INDIA, TAMIL NADU, VIJAYANAGARA PERIOD, CIRCA 1550 7 1/8 in. (18.1 cm) high
|This striking sculpture depicts Shiva subduing a mythic enemy in his terrifying Bhairava form; Shiva Bhairava is presented with fangs and flames about his headdress. With his two back hands he holds a bow and reaches for a quivered arrow. With his front two hands he holds a shield and presses his sword to the neck of his foe. Pal suggests the sculpture may refer to the myth of Shiva destroying the titan Andhaka, who attempted to steal the heavenly Parijata tree. However, the sculpture might instead represent a form of Shiva known as Virabhadra, in which he subdues the titan Daksha for slighting him. The sculpture's iconography supports this alternative reading, including the garland of bells around the hips, the skulls on each knee, and Shiva's sandals. Gopinatha Rao publishes a related 15th-century Vijayanagara stone pillar depicting Virabhadra, and says that images of Virabhadra serve to remove all great sins and to cure people of all their ailments (Gopinatha Rao, Elements of Hindu Iconography, Vol.2, New York, 1968, pp.186-8, pl.XLIV, fig.2). Published Pal, The Elegant Image: Bronzes from the Indian Subcontinent in the Siddharth K. Bhansali Collection, New Orleans, 2011, p.173, no.94. Exhibited Hindu, Buddhist and Jain Bronzes from the Indian Subcontinent in the Siddharth K. Bhansali Collection, New Orleans Museum of Art, 5 August - 23 October 2011. Provenance Collection of Siddharth K. Bhansali, New Orleans Acquired in London between 1978-83