Indian Temples & Iconography

This is truely one of the most spectacular sculptures found here, a little north of Chennai. It is known to date back to the 1st century BC,...

Shiva's dance involves all of 108 poses, some of which have been sculpted in bronze as well as stone on temple walls. Here at the Brihad...

Before we jump to the temples of the Cholas we need to understand what brought about their forms and the prototypes for the same. Their pred...

The Cholas were Shaivite follower though they were tolerant towards other sects. Their Kuladeivam was Lord Shiva in whose honour they are kn...

The Cholas ruled in South India from the 9th century to the 13th century. Along with the Pandyas they defeated the Pallavas, who finally dis...

they called this the dancing skanda. i still think this is shiva himself ( the jattas probably give him away). but having come upon skanda, ...

Bhagirata was the renowned king and forefather of Rama of Raghu Vamsa. His forefathers known as Sagaras were burnt down due to a curse. In o...

Mother goddess Shakthi was reborn as parvati, the daughter of the king of Himalayas. As a young child, she was not interested in playing wit...

The Nataraja is definitely one of the most popular sculptures, brought to the lime light under the Cholas. The form had been sculpted before...

This story of Shiva portrays him as a mendicant who went through the villages and seduced wives of brahmins. It was this yogic personality t...

What is evident from looking closely at the themes that best describe shiva at Elephanta is that they all belong to his "soumya rupa...

The Elephanta Nataraja re-emphasizes the beauty of sculpture. Here mostly destroyed Nataraja carries the following attributes. In a Nataraja...

The misconception of this sculpture being a part of the trinity is age old. The assumption is that the preserver as seen in Elephanta is Vis...

This is indeed an extremely interesting sculpture. What typically is known as the Ardhanarishwara has been treated differently here at Eleph...

Western india is famous for a string of rock cut temples ranging in date from the 2nd century BC to the 12th cen AD.around Mumbai. within a ...

Here is more on Lord Shiva. I know i sound religious, but to be honest i have been really fascinated with this diety. he is truely amazing a...

To the untrained eye, Elephanta is all but a tourist spot, known to have a few sculptures which are almost reduced to dust now. Elephanta ca...

The Linga shrine in the cave temple of Shiva is unusual in having four entrances, one at each cardinal direction. Beautiful dvarapalas guard...

This is a silent cave, built by the Vakatakas and located off the Mumbai coast,which is dedicated to Lord Shiva. Strange but true, its one o...

Bhringi, a great devotee of Lord Shiva, is shown sculpted here on the walls of a Shiva temple in the Vijayanagar period. The story of Bhring...