Figure group

Shiva is seen seated in lalitasana, with a meditation cord (yogapatta) around his legs. With his lower hands he expounds the divine knowledge (vyakhyana-mudra) whilst embracing Parvati with the other; in his upper hands he holds a rosary (mala) and his weapon, the trisula. His pendant foot is supported by a lotus, beside which Nandi sits restfully. Parvati gently rests her extended hand on Shiva’s foot, whilst apparently pointing with the other to their son Kartikeya who tugs at her pendant belt. Her feet are supported by a lotus, her lion below her left foot. Both gods are richly bejewelled, including tripartite diadems, and wear finely patterned skirt-cloths.

Beneath the lotus-throne appear the dancing skeletal figure of Camunda, Kartikeya on his peacock, and a seated obese figure, now damaged, but probably representing their second son, Ganesha. The composition is filled with other attendant and laudatory figures, including leonine beasts and makara throne uprights supporting a framing prabha of exuberant scrolling foliage, further enlivened with garland-bearing devas. A diminutive kneeling female figure, partly concealed behind Parvati’s foot, may be accepted to represent the donor of this image. That a woman was the patron is not surprising – it is a remarkably skilfully conceived scene of intimate and tender domesticity.