Shiva Bhikshatana

Kailasanatha Temple, Kanchipuram

Shiva the Enchanting Mendicant, with sandals, unbound hair, and carrying his few possessions on a staff, is shown as a youthful ascetic, being worshiped by the wives he seduced. A disenchanted husband raises his fist in the upper left corner. The poise and gestural language of these figures (the flexion of Shiva's left leg and sandaled foot, his upward-pointing left hand, the outraged husband's martial stance, and the kneeling adoration of the seduced wives) lend vitality to the composition. Shiva's upward-pointing left hand is echoed, a couple of centuries later, by the upward-pointing right hand of his disciple Sambandar (Sambandha).