Mukha-Linga, Cobra head / Artist Unknown, India, South India
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About this Item
Record Details
- Accession Number
- 1981/2.52C
- Title
- Mukha-Linga, Cobra head
- Artist Nationality
- Indian
- Medium and Support
- bronze
- Object Creation Date
- 18th century - 19th century
- Object Creation Place
- Asia (continent)
- India (nation)
- Creation Place 1
- Asia (continent)
- Creation Place 2
- India (nation)
- Style/Group/Movement
- folk bronze
- Dimensions
- 25.8 cm x 17.6 cm x 8.9 cm (10 3/16 in. x 6 15/16 in. x 3 1/2 in.)
- Century
- 18th-19th century
- Primary Object Classification
- Sculpture
- Primary Object Type
- figure
- Secondary Object Classification
- Ritual Objects
- Secondary Object Type
- figure
- Physical Description
- This phallic representation of the god Shiva appears as a columnar head placed on a base with two rounded moldings on top of a series of square ones. His neck is fully cylindrical and the face is modeled on that cylinder. The eyes are wide open and a bow shaped eyebrow curves over them. He has a flared nose and luxuriant moustache over a narrow but full lips and a short ball like chin. A ‘U’ shaped element consisting of lines and a pearl motif probably represents his beard, perhaps held up in a tight net. His forehead is decorated with three raise lines that go straight across and his crown is basically flat over his hear decorated with a bunch of peak forms in the center with a finial surmounting the whole. His ears fan out almost like handles to a jar and are decorated with stylized arabesques. A five-headed snake hood rises behind the head and has a rib down its center and scale motives incised towards the bottom an ‘S’ shapes t denote the cobra ‘eyes’ to each side.
- Subject Matter
- Shiva is often worshipped in his aniconic form of the linga, a representation of the creative power of the phallus. Often the form is quite abstract, being a simple shaft with lines representing a formalized glans penis. But in many cases the shaft is decorated with a face of the god, mukha meaning head and can be seen as eka (one) or sometimes at catur (four) facing the cardinal directions: hence we find ekamukhalingas and caturmukhalingas as well as lingas that are totally plain. A snake hood acting as a canopy over the linga is also very common, adding sanctity to the image. Snake symbolism reflects ancient pre-Hindu religious practice and was absorbed into a number of religions that developed in India.
- Secondary Keywords
- animals
- animals and creatures
- associated concepts
- hinduism
- people
- people (agents)
- people and culture
- people by state or condition
- religions
- religions and religious concepts
- reptiles
- reptiles and amphibians
- snakes
- the natural world
- Rights
- If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please visit https://umma.umich.edu/about/services/request-image/ for more information and to fill out the online Image Rights and Reproductions Request Form.
Technical Details
- Collection
- University of Michigan Museum of Art
- Image Size
- 1510 x 2544
- File Size
- 160 KB
- Record
- 1981/2.52C
- Link to this Item
-
https://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/musart/x-1981-sl-2.52c/1981_2.52c.jpg
Rights and Permissions
Related Links
IIIF
- Manifest
-
https://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/i/image/api/manifest/musart:1981-SL-2.52C:1981_2.52C.JPG
Cite this Item
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- Full citation
-
"Mukha-Linga, Cobra head; Artist Unknown, India, South India." In the digital collection University of Michigan Museum of Art. https://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/musart/x-1981-sl-2.52c/1981_2.52c.jpg. University of Michigan Library Digital Collections. Accessed April 23, 2024.
