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Unique 2 Metal Standing Ardhanari Statue 16"

Unique 2 Metal Standing Ardhanari Statue 16"
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Materials: Lost Wax Method Copper & Polished Bronze

Total Height Including Base: 16 inches

Base Width & Depth: 5 x 5 inches

Weight: 14

Item # 40b14

  • Description
  • About Shiva
  • Care

  • Ardhanari is the synthesis of Shiva and Parvati into one androgynous form. Shiva is the right side with Parvati is the left side.

    Shiva is often referred to as being the ideal husband. He always wears one male and one female earring. In this form he even shares his body with his lover! Shiva has two arms, one which holds an axe and the other with a cobra wrapped around the forearm. He is wearing a Brahmin's thread as well as tiger skin, loin cloth. His dreadlocked hair is much like Shiva in the form of Nataraja and carries the goddess Ganga.

    Parvati's side is cast from copper. She has long leggings, large hoop earring. The Shiva side is cast from polished south Indian bronze.  Both sides of the sculpture have extraordinary carved jewelry particularly the bracelets on the wrists and rings on their fingers. Their is also fine carving on the biceps. The necklace and head dress are both carved to perfection!

    This bronze sculpture is made from multiple metal castings. The polished bronze side (the Shiva side with the hair and cobra) is created in wax. It is then cast first. A wax mold is made of the missing copper side on the completed polished bronze side. The piece is then covered with an earthen molded again and fired. The copper is poured into the cast. The reason the polished bronze is cast first is because polished bronzes' melting point is higher than the melting point of the copper. The integrity of the first casting, the polished bronze, can be maintained while the copper side is being cast. Great care must be given to the temperature so that the copper does not melt and combine with the polished bronze during the second firing.

  • Shiva the Destroyer (Sanskrit: Auspicious One), or Siva, is one of the main Deities of Hinduism, worshipped as the paramount lord by the Saivite sects of India. Shiva is one of the most complex gods of India, embodying seemingly contradictory qualities. He is the destroyer and the restorer, the great ascetic and the symbol of sensuality, the benevolent herdsman of souls and the wrathful avenger.
    Shiva was originally known as Rudra, a minor deity addressed only three times in the Rig Veda.  He gained importance after absorbing some of the characteristics of an earlier fertility god and became Shiva, part of the trinity, or trimurti, with Vishnu and Brahma.
    Shiva wears a snake coiled around his upper arms and neck symbolizing the power he has over the most deadly of creatures. Snakes are also used to symbolize the Hindu dogma of reincarnation. Their natural process of molting or shedding their skin is symbolic of the human soul's transmigration of bodies from one life to another.
    Shiva's female consort and wife is Parvati; because of his generosity and reverence towards Parvati, Shiva is considered an ideal role model for a husband. The divine couple together with their sons - the six-headed Skanda and the elephant headed Ganesh - reside on Mount Kailasa in the Himalayas. 
    His guardian is Nandi (the white bull), whose statue can often be seen watching over the main shrine.  The bull is said to embody sexual energy, fertility.  Riding on its back, Shiva is in control of these impulses.
    He often holds a trident, which represents the Hindu trinity of Brahma, Shiva and Vishnu.  It is also said to represent the threefold qualities of nature: creation, preservation and destruction, although preservation is usually attributed to Vishnu.
    As the destroyer, Shiva is dark and terrible, encircled with serpents and a crown of skulls.
    Shiva often wears sacred Rudaksha beads, perhaps a reference to his earlier name Rudra.
    The crescent moon Shiva wears on his crown, besides being a symbol of Kama the goddess of nightly love, also represents the bull, Nandi, a fertility symbol.
    Shiva holds a skull that represents samsara, the cycle of life, death and rebirth.  Samsara is a central belief in Hinduism.  Shiva himself also represents this complete cycle because he is Mahakala, the Lord of Time, destroying and creating all things.
    Shiva is represented in a variety of forms.  One such form is as a lingam.  The ovoid shape is a representation of the absolute perfection of Lord Shiva - if that which is beyond form had to be given form, the lingam would be the closest form to the mystical experience of the absolute perfection of Shiva.   Shiva is often pictured in a pacific mood with his consort Parvati, as the cosmic dancer Nataraja, as a naked ascetic, as a mendicant beggar, as a yogi, and as the androgynous union of Shiva and Parvati in one body (Ardhanarisvara).
    Another example of Shiva's apparent synthesis of male and female attributes is seen in his earrings.  He wears one earring in the style of a man and the other as a female.
    Shiva's third eye is a symbol of higher consciousness.  It is also a weapon he uses to destroy his enemies by emitting a fire missile which has the power to incinerate the three worlds.  He can also kill all the gods and other creatures during the periodic destruction of the universe.  Shiva's third eye first appeared when Parvati, his wife, playfully covered his other two eyes, so Shiva opened his third eye emitting his destructive missile endangering the three worlds.

     

    Click here to learn more about Shiva

  • Regular dusting should keep the piece clean. Over the years the golden polish will fade. In order to keep the piece shiny you can use a cotton rag and some coconut oil to regularly clean the piece. You can also use lemon or tamarind juice to wipe the piece down. The acid from the lemon/tamarind removes any patina.