Description
Cast brass. Depicts Lord Shiva, one of the three major gods of Hinduism, and his consort, Parvati, seated atop Nandi (bull). As the story goes, Shiva, appearing as an old man, and Parvati, appearing as his beautiful young wife, were traveling with their bull, Nandi. Parvati was riding atop Nandi when they traveled through the first village. All the people in the village were gossiping, saying “look at that young woman, how selfish she is to ride the bull while that old man walks!” Hearing this, Parvati got off the bull and Shiva got on to ride Nandi. Upon traveling through the second village, all the people were saying “look at that man making his young beautiful wife walk!” So, hearing this, Parvati got on Nandi with Shiva. As they traveled through the third village, the villagers all said “oh look at that poor Bull having to carry two people at once!” When Shiva and Parvati heard these cries, they both got off Nandi and walked through the fourth village alongside their bull, where they heard people laughing and saying “how stupid! This couple has a bull and neither are riding on it!” Finally, Shiva and Parvati had enough, realizing they would never please everyone and decided to do as they pleased and ignore the voices of everyone else. They both got on Nandi and traveled through the sky.
This is an old piece from India that was used in worship. You can see that Parvati’s face has been worn down by being touched during prayer.
