This piece has a very unique style to it. There are many examples of Shiva in this form however never have we seen him quite like this. He is tall and thin. His hips, unlike other examples of Shiva, are thin and manly rather than womanly. His face has a lean, long and has a youthful appearance. Shiva looks like a true Indian thin man!
His legs are long and thin. There is some oxidation on his legs which add to the character of the piece. Oxidation is natural and is not damaging the piece.
In this pose Shiva is known as Vinadhara (translated "Veena Player"), the Lord of Music. A title he borrows from Saraswati. The pose is called is called "Veena Player" because Shiva's two front hands are in the position they would be if he was playing a veena or guitar. The veena is missing as it is in all Vinadhara sculpture.
In Shiva's other two hands he holds an axe as well as a deer. The deer shows how all animals see Shiva as their lord and revere him.
On the Tiruvadiral festival day, Shiva comes forth from the main shrine in the guise of a beggar. the iconographic form of this bronze is known as Bhikshatana or Enchanting Mendicant, and it refers to a well-known narrative of Shiva's manifestation in the Pine Forest hermitage. In order to convert a group of Vedic forest-dwellers to a more efficacious form of worship, the story goes, Shiva once took on the appearance of a naked, ash-smeared beggar and showed up unexpectantly in their ashram. Despite his unprepossessing appearance, the mendicant proved irresistible to the wives of the Pine Forest sages. The women sang, danced and clung to him in erotic abandon. Failing to recognize the disguised deity, and enraged by this invasion of their austere lives, the sages tried to attack the beggar, but all their curses and sacrificial weapons were useless against the god. Finally, in a verbal confrontation, Shiva tore off and threw down his penis (linga) before the astonished hermits and disappeared. In the end, the sages became successful practitioners of the new rites of worshipping the Shiva-linga.
According to tradition, the ultimate boon sought by a Siva devotee is that he be set free from the shackles of life and allowed to remain forever in the presence of Siva. While granting this boon, Siva assumes the form of Vrishavahana, appearing to the devotee in the company of his consort with his diving vehicle, the bull Nandi. (Bull and Uma are missing from the sculpture.)
The sublime Siva has his body bent in a flowing curve. His right hand once rested on the missing Bull. His lower garment is fastened to the waist with a broad band; his matted locks swirl around his head arranged like a turban, and his eyes shine with inward joy.
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