SOLD Boat with Hindu Gods Pala Museum Piece 37"

Description This piece is a direct copy of a Pala period piece in the Dhaka museum in Bangladesh considered to be a masterwork of Pala bronze.  The sculpture is a wealth of figures and artistry.  In total there are 12 figures which are individually made and able to viewed 360 degrees around.  From the back to front are two women, and a turtle.  One of the women holds the body of the dead king and is offering it to the other.  Narasimha killing the demon King Hiranyakashipu.  Durga with ten arms raised sitting on her vehicle the lion.  Two cobras, a symbol of Shiva surrounding a Shiva lingam.  And lastly Shiva sitting with his guardian, the white bull, Nandi.

The front of the boat is magnificent.  The torso of a woman is stretched out holding a conch.  The conch represents "Om", the first sound of creation and also the beginning of matter, since sound and matter are consider to be synonymous.   The head of the boat is a mythical animal with the nose of an elephant and the head of a bird with a fish half way into it's mouth.

An interesting story about this piece:  While exporting bronze pieces from Bangladesh there is along process where you must get the approval from the archeological department saying that the bronze pieces are not antiques and can be let out of the country.  It is illegal to smuggle antiques from Bangladesh.  The archaeological department spent a lot of time looking over this piece.  They all agreed it was not antique yet because the pose is so unique to Bangladesh, it being a direct copy of a piece in the museum in Dhaka, they were unsure as to if they should let it out of Bangladesh.  After a brief discussion they agreed that it could be let out of Bangladesh and brought to America.

About Shiva 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.

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