καιρός remembered

Lingam novelty Can an old dismantled water pump and the drainage space around it be regarded as a lingam and yoni? A certain resemblance cannot be denied. The person who has placed the tiny flower in the middle of the pump plate has nicely made his point. For the last 8 weeks I have taken you…

In all shapes and sizes Shiva’s creative presence can be felt everywhere in nature, not just in the temples and shrines dedicated to him. A rock may inspire someone to carve a relief of a lingam and yoni into it, as we can see in the photograph above, complete with worshippers on either side. Any…

Lingam cult The lingam and the yoni are worshipped in thousands of temples and shrines dedicated to Shiva throughout India. Devotees come there, bring flowers and other offerings, perform a puja, pray and then leave again. Sometimes they bathe the lingam in milk, rub it with ash and other ingredients, pour water over it and…

Showing off This priest can boast of looking after the largest lingam and – its counterpart – yoni in Hampi, once the capital of the ancient Vijayanagar Empire. It seems as though he is weighed down by the heavy responsibility resting on his shoulders. At Kalinjar Fort in Uttar Pradesh (see previous post), I was…

Lingam and yoni 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…

Shiva and Parvati 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…

Ithyphallic Shiva Nataraj 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…

Kalinjar Fort 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…