One-Faced Linga (Ekamukhalinga), 7th-8th century, East India, Bihar, Medieval Period, Pala Dynasty @ The Cleveland Museum of Art Unlike the other Pala sculptures (see 1935.146 and 1970.10), which were Buddhist, this one is a Hindu image representing a phallic emblem of Shiva, a symbol of his procreative energy. During the medieval period in India, when Hinduism was a dominant religion, linga(s) were the most sacred and revered images placed in the innermost sanctums of temples. The version seen here is known as mukhalinga, where the linga is adorned with one or several heads of Shiva. In some instances it may be adorned with as many as five heads. In this case the front of the linga has only one head, so it is referred to as ekamukhalinga. The linga seen here is square at the base, octagonal in the middle of the shaft and round at the top. Originally probably only the topmost cylindrical part of the linga, and possibly its octagonal portion, was meant to be seen, while the base was buried or set into a yoni (a symbol of the female generative organ) that served as a pedestal for a linga. That is why the square base shows definite chisel marks and was left rough and unpolished. Today the octagonal portion also shows signs of burial in the form of earthy encrustation. Contrary to that, the top-most, visible part was highly polished and it still retains this finish today.The god wears a high symmetrically arranged chignon (jatamakuta) with his symbols: a crescent in his hair and a snake, both of them on the proper right side of the head. He has a large third eye in the center of his forehead.The full, sensuous facial features stillretain a great deal of Gupta feeling about them, at the same time revealing a certain degree of sharpness found in Pala and later Sarnath sculptures. Shiva wears heavy earrings of the makara-kundala type, in the form of an aquatic monster, and a single-string beaded necklace (ekavali) with a prismatic bead in the center. S.C.
Posted on: Mon, 08 Sep 2014 11:21:13 +0000
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