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Shiva as an Ascetic

Northern Cambodia

Not on view

This lifesize sculpture of an ascetic probably represents Shiva. The figure is dressed in the manner of a rishi in a short loincloth, has long dreadlocks, and displays a vertical third eye on the forehead—features consistent with this identification. He holds an ascetic’s water bottle (kundika), a feature of anthropomorphic representations of Shiva from the early Gupta period in northern India. A cult icon of Shiva of this type is without precedent in Cambodia. The merging of Shaiva imagery with that of the Pashupata ascetic may account for this unique creation and be a clue to the identity of the patron who commissioned it.

cat. no. 96

Shiva as an Ascetic, Sandstone, Northern Cambodia

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Shiva as an Ascetic, Sandstone, Northern Cambodia
Shiva as an Ascetic, Sandstone, Northern Cambodia
Shiva as an Ascetic, Sandstone, Northern Cambodia
Shiva as an Ascetic, Sandstone, Northern Cambodia
Shiva as an Ascetic, Sandstone, Northern Cambodia

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