Page 55 - Bonhams NYC Indian and Himalayan Art March 2019

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A COPPER ALLOY FIGURE OF SHIVA BHAIRAVA Vijayanagara stone pillar depicting Virabhadra, and says that images of
SOUTH INDIA, TAMIL NADU, VIJAYANAGARA PERIOD, Virabhadra serve to remove all great sins and to cure people of all their
CIRCA 1550 ailments (Gopinatha Rao, Elements of Hindu Iconography, Vol.2, New
7 1/8 in. (18.1 cm) high York, 1968, pp.186-8, pl.XLIV, fig.2).

$20,000 - 30,000 Published
Pal, The Elegant Image: Bronzes from the Indian Subcontinent in the
This striking sculpture depicts Shiva subduing a mythic enemy in his Siddharth K. Bhansali Collection, New Orleans, 2011, p.173, no.94.
terrifying Bhairava form; Shiva Bhairava is presented with fangs and
flames about his headdress. With his two back hands he holds a bow Exhibited
and reaches for a quivered arrow. With his front two hands he holds a Hindu, Buddhist and Jain Bronzes from the Indian Subcontinent in
shield and presses his sword to the neck of his foe. the Siddharth K. Bhansali Collection, New Orleans Museum of Art, 5
August - 23 October 2011.
Pal suggests the sculpture may refer to the myth of Shiva destroying
the titan Andhaka, who attempted to steal the heavenly Parijata tree. Provenance
However, the sculpture might instead represent a form of Shiva known Collection of Siddharth K. Bhansali, New Orleans
as Virabhadra, in which he subdues the titan Daksha for slighting Acquired in London between 1978-83
him. The sculpture’s iconography supports this alternative reading,
including the garland of bells around the hips, the skulls on each knee,
and Shiva’s sandals. Gopinatha Rao publishes a related 15th-century

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