SOLD Dancing Shiva With Kali 16"
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Statue Details
Total Height Including Base: 16" inches
Base Width & Depth: 12 x 4 inches
Weight: 10 pounds
The Story Behind the Wild Thandavam: Kali was the patron goddess of Thillai Forest. Lord Shiva came to the forest to dance for two of his devotees, Patanjali and Vyaaghrapaada who worshipped the svayambhu-linga, now in the inner sanctum of the temple. Kali challenged Shiva to a dancing contest on the condition that the loser had to leave the forest. The contest was judged by Lord Vishnu. The dance contest went on for hours with every one of Shiva's dance postures being matched by Kali. Shiva performed a posture with his left leg lifted over his head in the Ananda Thandavam exposing his genital area. Kali, being a respectable woman, was unable to go into this compromising position. Thus, Kali admitted defeat and left the forest.
About Gorora Stone: Gorora stone or Red marble is a wonderful stone for sculpture because of its wide color range. It is rarer than most soft stones and must be shipped into Tamil Nadu from Uttar Pradesh in the north. The stone has wonderful cream/yellow/green veins in it contrasting to the beautiful deep red to sometimes pink natural coloration of the stone. The stone is extremely glossy. When a red marble statue is polished it has a disarming shimmer.
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.
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