Ardhanarisvara

File:Shiva Shakti.jpg

Shiva and Shakti as One

In Hinduism, Ardhanarishvara (sa. अर्धनारी; variously known as Ardhanārī, Ardhnarishwara, Ardhanarishwara Ardhnariswara, Ardhanariswara, Ardhanarishvara Ardhanaarinateshwara and Mohiniraaj) is an androgynous deity composed of Shiva and his consort Parvati or Shakti, the active, creative female energy. Together, these unified male and female halves representing the synthesis of masculine and feminine energies in the process of creation. The Ardhanari form also illustrates how the female principle of God, Shakti is inseparable from the male principle of God, Shiva. Ardhanari in iconography is depicted as half-male and half-female, split down the middle. The image of Ardhanari is one of the most universal in India, popular from Kashmir to Tamil Nadu, and is also popular in such regions as Nepal.

Origins

The term 'Ardhanarishvara' is a combination of three Sanskrit words: ardha, nari and ishvara, meaning respectively, 'half', 'woman' and 'Lord' or 'God', that is, Ardhanarishvara is the Lord whose half is woman, or who is half woman. Other scholars have suggested that the name translates as "half-man, half-woman". However, this has largely been discounted, since it implies dvaita, or a duality of existence. This would stand in direct contradiction the Advaitic philosophy which informs Shaivism; this states that Shiva and Shiva alone permeates all of existence, as it is by His will exclusively that the cosmos came into being.

Ardhanarisvara seems to be a continuation of Indo-European Aryan mythological motifs of androgyny dating back to the Vedic period. One of the earliest examples of such an pan-sexual deity is the Vedic Dyava-Prthivi, who generates the universe by dividing into distinct halves: Dyaus, the fatherly sky god and Prthivi, the motherly earth goddess. Similarly, Rg Veda 3.38.4 describes how Visvarupa, the androgynous Bull-Cow god, can self-generate. This motif was continued on in the Brhadaranyaka Upanishads, wherein the description is provided of a single body in the shape of a man. For want of companionship, this man creates the universe by splitting the body into two halves, husband (pati) and wife (patni). Each of these legends seem prototypical of Ardhanarisvara.

The earliest Ardhanarishvara images date back to the Scytho-Kusana period, around the beginning of the Christian era or a little before. The earliest of these images is a small red sandstone Kusana stele which is dated to circa 35–60 C.E. This piece pictures Ardhanarishvara, identifiable by way of a central axial division of male and female, standing alongside three other deities thought to be Vishnu, Lakshmi and Kartikeyya. Other accounts suggest that Shiva, under the label of Oesho, appeared in androgynous form on some coins during the late Kusana period. This may suggest that the notion of the male-female deity was popular very early on. Ardhanarishvara has remained one of the most prevalent forms of the Divine in Indian art ever since.

Iconography

Barring a few exceptions, the right half of the Ardhanarishvara images comprises male anatomy and the left that of the female. A few images, obviously influenced by the Shakta sect, have a reverse placement of the male and female parts also.

Ardhanarisvara is is differentiated along the central vertical axis into male and female halves. The right half comprises male anatomy and the left that of the female. The male half often has the typical features of Shiva, a crescent moon, snake ornamentations, and half of a moustache. His physique is very male, with a flat pectoral muscle, broad shoulder, wide waist and a muscular thigh. Some images from North India depict the male half as ithyphallic. He wears traditionally male earrings. Furthermore, the male side is ornamented with all the typical accessories of a Shiva image, such as draped garments or tiger-skin around the waist. Canons of iconography suggest that that right side should be covered with ashes, or else covered red to depict the Rudra aspect.

Several features are shared between the male and female sides, including the navel, chest ornaments, bracelets on the wrists, anklets, neck pieces, rings and belts. A halo often illuminates the deity from behind it's head. Sometimes the male and female halves share a third eye. The sacred thread worn by twice-born castes appears on deities from the Gupta period and later. Often, it takes the form of a serpent and crosses the upper torso of both the male and female halves.

The female half of the image is distinguished by a different hairstyle, which is either held in a braid or a bun. Her forehead bears a half tilaka or dot (bindu), which is sometimes placed below the third eye. The female half wears female-style earrings called valika. This half of the body is typically colorred saffron or parrot-green. On the whole, the left side is more curvaceous, with a smaller waist and fuller hip as well as a rounder, well-developed breast. Her ornamentation is greater and decidedly female, including a draped silk clothing which reaches her ankles, saffron body powder, anklets, bracelets and henna coloring the left foot or hand.

As regards the height perspective, dimensions of face and other parts, the male anatomy, and more so in sculptures where bolder forms are chisel's need, is the determinant, but in paintings, which look for the softer aspects, the female anatomy is found dominating the entire figure.

Despite a similar anatomy of the two parts, the female part imparts the feeling of elegance and tenderness. An elegantly modeled prominent breast is the essentiality of the female anatomy.

The Ardhanarishvara image may be endowed with two, three, four, six or eight arms. Two-armed Ardhanarisvara images are the earliest. In these images, the diety holds the male hand in the abhaya mudra, a gesture imparting fearlessness. The female hand carries either a mirror or nilotpala, a blue lotus. Four-armed images are usually divided at the elbows, one male hand remains in the abhaya mudra while the other most commonly holds a Parasu or trident. This can also be a rosary, sword, club, thunderbolt, skull or noose. On four-armed images one left arm is bent and rests on Shiva's vehicle, the Nandin, or else is held in the kataka mudra, a gesture of intellectual engagement. These hands many also hold the water pot (Kamandalu), a mirror (darpana), the lotus flower, the lute (or Vina), a drum (damaru) or else a small parrot.

Arms more than eight are the attribute of Raudra Shiva who has been conceived with as many as a thousand arms. The two-armed image is the Ardhanarishvara in lalita posture, the beautiful one in absolute ease. The male hand either rests on the bull or is let loose below the thigh. It may also be in abhaya mudra, the gesture in which the hand faces toward the devotee with fingers straight, serving to impart fearlessness. When three-armed, one is on the female side and the two on male.

Now one of the two male arms is in abhaya or varada and other one carries a trident or rod. In four-armed figures on male side it is almost the same, but the second female hand carries variously the mirror, nilotpala or pot. The male in six and eight-armed figures carries, besides the abhaya and varada, various weapons and the drum and the female, besides the mirror, nilotpala and pot, also the parrot.

The Ardhanarishvara images have broadly three body postures - the abhanga, a posture without a curve; the tribhanga, a posture with three mild curves; and, the atibhanga, a posture with extreme curves. The three are in the head, which leans to the left, the torso, which leans to the right, and the right leg, which leans to the right. While seated images of the god do exist, hey are not as common as standing ones.

Modern images of the deity pay closer attention to the contrasting complexions of his/her halves. The male half usually takes on the bluish tone typical of Shiva, while the female half is golden in color. Parvati is often pictured in proximity to her lion vehicle, while Shiva is accompanied by the bull. The images is often placed against a familiar backdrop, such as the Himalayas, where Shiva meditated upon Mount Kailasa. The Ganges, meanwhile, flows from Shiva's head in congruence with the legend.

Symbolism and Significance

Ideally, Ardhanarisvara points toward the perfect unity of male and female in the creation of the cosmos. In the figure of Ardhanarisvara Shiva and Shakti, his female energy, are non-dual and inseperable. Ardhanarisvara is an anthropomorphized manifestation of Parasiva, the abstract, formless Shiva comparable in His theological properties of Brahman, the monistic essence of the universe. Ardhanarisvara explains a fact of biological necessity, and that is the pairing of male and female in order to create life. Thus, Ardhanarisvara represents the transition from formlessness to form. The hathayoga tradition suggests that Shiva and Shakti are not separate entities but instead mutually interdependent, undivided whole. With this in mind, the goal of the practitioner in the hathayoga system is to acheive sustained of experience of Ardhanarisvara, thereby recognizing his or her true nature as divine, non-dual, and androgynous. In doing so, the kundalini-Shakti can be drawn upward from the muladhara cakra to Shiva's sahasrara cakra at crown of the head. Having done this, Shiva and Shakti are now united, and one can proceed to the final stage of liberation, identity with Shiva, which is characterized by no form.

However, some feminists have disagreed with this interpretation. Such critiques begin by pointing out that Ardhanarisvara refers to the "lord who is half woman" as opposed to a "half-man, half-woman". This phrasing suggests the inherent male nature of the deity and privileges him as Isvara — "god", "lord" or "master"; Parvati meanwhile, is simply "woman" (nari). It has also been noted that the left side of the body is commonly thought of as subordinate to the right in Hindu doctrine and iconography. Thus, the male right side gains another token of implicit privilege over the female side. Furthermore, the concept of aforementioned liberation, towards which yogic practitioners' experience of Ardhanarisvara serves as a stepping stone, is a male-identified variation of non-duality; since identity with the ultimate Parasiva, despite its formlessness, is a decidedly male principle. In this union, Shakti's vibratory manifestation is said to be quelled entirely, and so she loses her ability to act, rendering her no different from Shiva, the inactive principle. Thus, at the highest level of spiritual attainment, the female half of Ardhanarisvara seems to be subsumed into its male half, which seems incongruent with the equality of the male and female principles the deity supposedly represents.

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• Goldberg, Ellen. "The Lord Who Is Half Woman: Ardhanarisvara in Indian and Feminist Perspective" State University of New York Press, 2002. ISBN 978-0791453261
• Walker, Barbara G. "The Woman's Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets" HarperSanFrancisco, 1983. ISBN 978-0062509253
• Yadav, Neeta. "Ardhanarisvara" DK Print World Pvt.Ltd, 2004. ISBN 978-8124601693

External links

• Ardhanari in Indian Art and Philosophy
• Ardhanari

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