SOLD Brass Trishul, Shiva's Trident 63"

Description "The trident, Shiva's prime attribute, serves him as a weapon in feats of cosmic destruction, but, in addition, it is invested with deep philosophical meaning.  It is this layer of meaning that led to the production of tridents and to the ritual of ayudha puja or weapon worship that is a regular feature of temple rites.  A variety of Shaiva texts instruct worshipers to think of the trident and other ayudhas not as everyday tools of violence but rather as weapons of grace, whereby, Shiva destroys the bonds that ensnare the human soul.  For instance, the text of the eleventh century Kamika Agama states that the trident's three prongs stand for the three gunas, or qualities, of purity (sattva), activity (rajas) and lethargy (tamas)."
from the Sensuous and the Sacred, Chola bronzes of South India

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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