Shiv_Parvati_MDI

Shiva and Parvati

Mandi, c1740-70

Size: 272 * 170 mm

Victoria & Albert Museum, London

Rothenstein Collection

Artist: Unknown

 

The Master Painter has rendered a beautiful vision of the eternal couple with Shiva’s loving face glancing at Parvati, his consort, who prays with folded hands and submits to her lord. This image not only represents an ideal couple that any husband and wife might emulate, it is a symbol of the very nature of God, for they are the reflection from the synthesis of the masculine and feminine energies of the universe manifested in two forms separately. Yet, they are inseparable and are the root and womb of all creation. The image also confirms that God is not a lone isolated atman or spirit but a reflection into an adoring and a cheerful couple with physical love also being integral part of that Supreme Being. In the physical parlance, the union of Shiva and Parvati is a narration of a love marriage just like in a modern day context. Parvati as a maiden is  in extreme love with a man who is indifferent and it is Kamadeva, the lord of desire, who plays cupid and pierces the heart of Shiva, with his five arrows of love. Shiva is aroused and gets enchanted with her feminine beauty. The marriage which is pure, auspicious and in complete equilibrium takes place for the mankind to replicate.

The painter builds the image with firm lines and mild colour giving the entire picture a holy and a pure look as if the couple is presiding in an old Shivala or temple of the hills. Shiva wears a leopard skin with a garland of mund-mala (human heads) and his much liked bilva-patra (Bael leaves). A  crescent moon adorns Shiva’s forehead with his face filled with joy looking at Devi Parvati. The matted hair flowing downwards makes him jatajootdhari. He carries a trident and a damru (Drum) in his right hand and a crimson coloured skull for begging in  the left. His arms are bejewelled with Rudraksh (Elaeocarpus) bangles and a white black coloured Cobra loops across him. The third eye  which burns Kama, the lord of love, to ashes is half closed and at peace. Devi Parvati wears a neutral coloured skirt with pale crimson veil. She stands barefoot, in a divine thought, while Shiva wears khadaoon (wooden slippers) on his feet. Nandi, the bull, stands behind Mahadev. The foreground of the painting is plain uncoloured with whitish blue band at the top merging into a dark blue sky. Tiny birds fly above in the sky.

Shiva is a paradox. He is the God of the yogis, self controlled and celibate, while at the same time a remarkable lover of his spouse. His iconography  itself gives a wide and a deep meaning to the questions of life in the cosmic universe.   A great ascetic and also a master of fertility, Shiva is shown fair like a camphor smeared with ashes or bhasma representing that all material existence is impermanent, comes to an end and the pursuit of eternal soul and spiritual liberation is ultimate in life. Similarly, the munda-mala conveys the message of  continual creation and destruction cycle of human existence. Shiva takes the name of Chandrashekhar from the beautiful crescent moon on his forehead and the waxing and waning phenomenon of the moon symbolises the time cycle through which the creation evolves. His trident symbolically represents the unity of the three worlds that a man faces – his inside world, his immediate world and the overall world. At the base of the trident all three forks unite into a single non-dual plane of existence, that is bliss alone. The damru represents the shabda Brahama – OM from which all languages are formed. He wanders the universe as a kapali mendicant, begging alms with Brahmas’ Kapala or the skull. This symbolises his form of Bhikshatana where he atones for his sin of serving Brahmas fifth head. He is the lord of the universe and yet he carries no ego by reducing himself to a beggar. The serpent represents the ahankara (ego) as an ornament because it does not find space within the body. Nandi, the bull and vehicle of Shiva represents Dharma – the righteousness.

Parvati, also known as Shakti, is Shiva’s power and strength. She represents the primordial energy, supreme will and absolute ecstasy. She is the goddess of love and romance. She is a loving wife when Shiva longs for her and a yogini when Shiva is absorbed in Yoga. She also takes many forms and when she is Uma she is the Goddess of motherhood. When she is Durga she is the Goddess of justice and when she is Kali she is the Goddess of death of evil.

The Master Artist creates a true image of Shiva and Parvati who are shown without the ‘valued attributes’ of this world. Because they are beyond what is ‘merely just’ beautiful and ‘merely just’ auspicious. The ancient Sanskrit hymn from the Yajurveda (1200-800 BCE) and popularly recited in the temples of Mandi must have resonated in the mind of the painter while drawing this image;

 

“Karpur Gauram Karuana Avtarama

Sansar Saram Bhujgendra Haram

Sada Vasantam Hridyarvinde

Bhavam Bhavani Sahitam Namami”

 

(The one who is as pure as camphor, the embodiment of compassion;

The one who is essence of the world, with the serpent king as his garland;

Always residing in the lotus like heart;

Accompanied by the Goddess Bhavani, I bow;)

 

This painting belongs to the second or the middle phase of Mandi Hand painting style that stretches from the second half of the reign of Raja Sidh Sen (1684-1726)  upto that of his grandson Raja Shamsher Sen. The first impression one gets from this phase is that of coarseness in style and application of pigments without much glaze. But what is important during this phase is the creation of unique ‘lakshanas’ or a sense of character in the paintings  without getting influenced and affected by the next door painters from Kangra, Guler or Bilaspur etc.. There was firmness in style with the painters working naturally and unconsciously as he spoke his mother tongue not aware of the skills or lack of it in his own or his contemporaries work. After all Beauty is a state and there is no general principle to define what seems to be beautiful to one and ugly for another. This style had a deep connection with a 'source of inspiration' and which is far more important.  

Missing Link in Pahari Paintings - Lokinder Bisht