Somaskandamurti (Shiva, Uma and their son Skanda)

Copper alloy

India (Tamil Nadu)

Chola period, early 11th century

 

Somaskandamurti is one of the most popular religious images in South India. The four-armed Shiva holds a battle-ax and a deer in his upper hands and a citron in his lower left hand. His lower right hand is raised in abhayamudra (the gesture that allays fear). His consort, Uma, holds a water lily in her right hand. Between them stands Skanda, their infant son, bejeweled and holding a lotus in his right hand.

 

Metropolitan Museum of Art

NYC

 

Done