Ardhanarishvara (half male-half female God) Note the sculpture's left is female and the right is male, depicting Shiva and his consort Shakti/Parvati. The photo is taken at the Elephanta caves in island clusters off Bombay (Mumbai) city, India.

In Hinduism, Ardhanari (sa. अर्धनारी Ardhanārī) or Ardhanarishvara (sa. अर्धनारीश्वर Ardhanārīśvara), is an androgynous deity composed of Shiva and his consort Shakti, representing the synthesis of masculine and feminine energies. 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 best sculptural depictions of Shiva as Ardhanari are to be seen in the sensuous Chola bronzes and the sculptures at Ellora and Elephanta. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (447x800, 111 KB) Summary (photographed by self) Licensing Licensing File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (447x800, 111 KB) Summary (photographed by self) Licensing Licensing File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Carvings line the walls inside the caves. ... This article or section should be merged with Mumbai Mumbai (previously known as Bombay) is the worlds most populous conurbation, and is the sixth most populous agglomeration in the world. ... Hinduism (Sanskrit/Hindi: ; also known as Sanatana Dharma - , and Vaidika Dharma - ) is a worldwide religious tradition that is based on the Vedas, and is generally regarded as one of the oldest religions still practised in the world. ... If referring to a flower, see disambiguation under bisexual Androgyny is the state of indeterminate gender, or characteristics of gender. ... Shiva (Sanskrit: शिव or श्रीशिव (when used to distinguish lordly status), and written Åšiva in the official IAST transliteration, pronounced as shιvÉ™) is a form of Ishvara or God in the later Vedic scriptures of Hinduism. ... This article is in need of attention. ... Iconography is the study and interpretation of images in art. ... The Cholas were the most famous of the three dynasties that ruled ancient Tamil Nadu. ...

Origins

Ardhanarishvara is one of the most prevalent forms of the Divine in Indian art since around the beginning of the Christian era or a little before. The earliest Ardhanarishvara images are reported from the period of Kushanas (circa 35–60 AD). A miniature, Kishengarh, Rajasthan The vast scope of the art of India intertwines with the cultural history, religions and philosophies which place art production and patronage in social and cultural contexts. ... Anno Domini (Latin: In the year of the Lord), or more completely Anno Domini Nostri Jesu Christi (in the year of our Lord Jesus Christ), commonly abbreviated AD or A.D., is the designation used to number years in the dominant Christian Era in the world today. ... Boundary of the Kushan empire, c. ...

Doctrine

The term 'Ardhanarishvara' is a combination of three 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. Some scholars interpret the term as meaning 'the half male' who is Shiva and 'the half female' who is Parvati. Such interpretations are suggestive of dvaita, the duality of existence, and thus contradict the Advaita Vedic stand in the matter. Such contentions also contradict the Shaiva philosophy of advaita, which is very emphatic in its assertion that He alone is the cause of the entire existence, as it is by His will and out of Him that the cosmos came into being. In the Shaivite hymn 'Ekohum bahusyami' (Shiva Purana), that is, I am One, but wishes to be many, there echoes the Rigvedic perception of the single egg splitting into bhuta and prana. Otherwise also, most interpretations of the Vedas widely favor the principle of monogenic existence. Besides its emphasis on the unity of the outward duality, the Rigveda acclaims, 'He, who is described as male, is as much the female and the penetrating eye does not fail to see it'. The Rigvedic assertion is explicitly defined. The male is only so much male as much he is female and vice versa the female is only as much female as much she is male. The maleness and femaleness are the attributes contained in one frame. Shiva (Sanskrit: शिव or श्रीशिव (when used to distinguish lordly status), and written Śiva in the official IAST transliteration, pronounced as shιvə) is a form of Ishvara or God in the later Vedic scriptures of Hinduism. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... Dvaita, a school of Vedanta (the most widespread Hindu theology), founded by Shri Madhvacharya, stresses strict distinction between God (expressed as Vishnu) and souls. ... Advaita Vedanta is probably the best known of all Vedanta schools of Hinduism, the others being Dvaita and Vishishtadvaita. ... Śaivism, also transliterated Shaivism and Saivism, is a branch of Hinduism that worships Siva as the Supreme God. ... The Shiva Purana is one of the Hindu purānas. ... In Hinduism, Prana is the infinite matter of which energy is born. ... Veda redirects here. ... The Rigveda (Sanskrit: , a tatpurusha compound of praise, verse and knowledge) is a collection of hymns (, plural ) counted among the four Hindu religious texts known as the s, and contains the oldest texts preserved in any Indo-Iranian language. ...

Iconography

Barring a few exceptions, the right half of the Ardhanarishvara images comprises of male anatomy and the left that of the female. A few images, obviously influenced by Shakta cult, have a vice versa placing of the male and female parts also. A Shakta, pronounced shaakt, is a follower of a sect of Hinduism which worships the Mother Goddess, or Shakti, in any of her various manifestations. ...

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. 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 female hand carries either a mirror or nilotpala, a blue lotus. The male hand either rests on the bull or is let loose below the thigh. It may also be in abhaya mudra, the gesture imparting fearlessness. When three-armed, one is on the female side and the two on male. To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Lalita (sometimes written Lalitha) is another name for Devi and means elegant or beautiful. ...

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.

Variations in the name of this Deity:
-Ardhnarishwara
-Ardhanarishwara
-Ardhnariswara
-Ardhanariswara
-Ardhnari
-Ardhanarishvara
-Aldernalisuvara, mostly applied by Japanese, sometimes abbreviated to Alder.

See also

• Hindu views on God and gender

In Hinduism there are diverse approaches to the understanding of God, of Brahman, which is reflected in the gender by which God is addressed or described. ...

External links

• Ardhanari in Indian Art and Philosophy

• Ardhanari

Hinduism | Hindu mythology | Itihasa
Male Deities: Brahma | Vishnu | Shiva | Rama | Krishna | Ganesha | Indra | Lakshman | Hanuman | Surya | more...
Female Deities: Gayatri | Lakshmi | Saraswati | Durga | Devi | Sita | Radha | Kali | Parvati | Shakti | more...
Texts: Vedas | Upanishads | Puranas | Ramayana | Mahabharata