Indian Temples & Iconography

Surprizing as it may sound, and very rightly deduced by J C Harle, there is a very high likelyhood that this ratha was attributed to none ot...

The mystery of the draupadi ratha has indeed made me post again. Dwelling into the tantric cult of west bengal, here is something of intere...

This is a deviation from my marathon on the Rathas, but i am just floored to see the amazing similarity between the jatamukuta( head gear of...

Arjuna ratha: Dedicated to Lord Shiva, this ratha speaks a lot about Shiva iconography and dravida style of architecture. It seems to be gov...

This very clearly represents a hut from a rural area, largely from bengal. Its part of a museum of architecture which also emphasizes in all...

The Rathas: Interesting evidence shows that the rathas were indeed earlier in chronology as compare to the Kailasanatha temple at Ellora. ...

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...