Shiva as Mahesha - New York City, NY
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Metro2
N 40° 46.762 W 073° 57.762
18T E 587529 N 4514782
The Hindu god Shiva is formless and yet takes many forms. Here he is depicted as Mahesha, the third form with four arms.
Waymark Code: WMN56A
Location: New York, United States
Date Posted: 12/28/2014
Views: 4
This sculpture is located at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
The Museum's website for this piece (
visit link) provides the following information:
"Shiva as Mahesha
Period: Chola period (880–1279)
Date: 10th century
Culture: India (Tamil Nadu)
Medium: Granite
Dimensions: H. 58 in. (147.3 cm); W. 32 in. (81.3 cm); D. 16 in. (40.6 cm)
Classification: Sculpture
Credit Line: Egleston Fund, 1927
Accession Number: 27.79
On view in Gallery 240
This statue is part of a group of unusual large stone carvings in the round from the Chola period. They all portray the same deity, long identified as Brahma but now thought to be Mahesha, a form of Shiva. Shiva's worshipers believe that he manifests himself in three stages, which move from the abstract to the concrete. The first stage is symbolized by the undecorated linga (the phallic emblem of Shiva); the second, by the linga with one or more faces emerging from its shaft. The third and final stage is Mahesha. From him are born the other two great Hindu gods, Brahma and Vishnu. Mahesha is shown with four faces: the one on the right represents Brahma; in the center, Shiva; on the left, Vishnu; and on the back, Rudra (perhaps the predecessor of Shiva). The attributes associated with Brahma, Shiva, and Vishnu are on their respective sides."