Ardhanari Shiva, Ardhanarishvara, Shiva Shakti, Hindu God Half Man Woman

Ardhanari or Ardhanarishvara is an androgynous Hindu God composed of Shiva and his consort Shakti, representing the synthesis of masculine and feminine energies. In on the form of Ardhanari the female concept of the goddess is inseparable from the masculine form of the god in Shiva. Ardhanari in sculpture is depicted as half-male and half-female, split down the middle.
Shakti is always on the left side with Shiva on the right side of the figure. Shakti¹s wears no garments on her upper half exposing a ripe breast. Her unabashed revelation of her breast personifies her woman hood and makes a huge contrast to the masculine side of Shiva. Shakti also wears a hoop earring typically worn by woman and wears long leggings. She is sometimes accompanied by her vahana or vehicle a lion. Her face has half the vertical mark of a bindi on it. The right side of the form of Ardhanari is Shiva. He wears a tiger skin for a loincloth. He usually has a cobra on some portion of his body. He can hold an axe, or trident. In his head dress there can be a skull and cobra. His earring is one worn by a man in Chola times in India. There are three horizontal lines across his forehead, which are the markings of a follower of Shiva.

 

 

 

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