καιρός remembered

or Shiva and Parvati The blissful union of Shiva and Parvati finds its ultimate expression in the combination of their sexes. In an earlier post you can read a short citation from the Brhaddharma Purana explaining the essence of the lingam and yoni idea. It is the form in which life, creation, the universe, is venerated by hindus…

In last few weeks’ posts we have identified the creative aspect of Shiva in his ithyphallic representation. But without his female half, Shiva is incomplete and deprived of his creative powers. In the image above, Shiva’s consort Parvati is seated next to him. Together they are the two complementary poles of one whole, and it…

In last week’s post we saw the ancient sculpture of an ithyphallic dancing Shiva inside Kalinjar Fort in Uttar Pradesh. Here we have one on a 9th century temple in Bhubaneshvar, Orissa. It is better preserved, with the erect phallus clearly visible. This may be due to its high placement on the temple wall, out…

Kalinjar means ‘the destroyer of time’ and thus refers to Shiva, who next to Brahma, the creator, and Vishnu, the preserver, takes care of this part in the eternal cycle of creation, preservation and destruction. However, apart from being the destroyer, Shiva is at the same time very much regarded as creator, which explains his prominent…