Provenance:
John Eskenazi, London, 2005
Anthony d’Offay Collection, London
Published:
Pratapaditya Pal, The Arts of Kashmir, Asia Society exhibition catalogue, New York, 2007, p. 74, fig. 67
Exhibited:
"The Arts of Kashmir," Asia Society, New York, October 3, 2007-January 8, 2008
This charming relief panel has been intricately carved on both sides. One side depicts the well-known story of Shiva and Parvati playing chaupar, and the other depicts, in the top panel, an animated scene of Surya riding in a horse-drawn chariot with his retinue, and, in the lower panel, a more stately scene of linga worship. Surya (also known as Aditya) is the Hindu god of the Sun and is considered the creator of the universe and the source of all life. He is the supreme soul who brings light and warmth to the world as he travels across the sky each day in his golden chariot pulled by seven horses and driven by red Aruna, a personification of Dawn.
Dr. Pal notes: “The humorous post-wedding night episode of Shiva and Parvati playing dice when Shiva loses his bull, who is being dragged away by his dwarf attendants, is rare and one of the earliest narrative representations in Kashmiri art.”
Early Kashmiri sculpture reveals stylistic and iconographic links with art from the neighboring region of Gandhara (present-day Pakistan and Afghanistan). By the seventh century, however, the distinct theological trends and local artistic traditions in Kashmir had resulted in unique sculptural forms. By the early centuries of the Common Era, the Kashmir Valley became home to devotees of the Hindu deities Shiva, Vishnu, and Devi. Shaivism, the worship of Shiva, dominated Kashmir's religious landscape and had a large community of followers. To devotees, sculptures were not only representations of the deities, but were actual manifestations of the spiritual as it was envisioned through verbal chants and meditation.
Kashmir has existed as a major artistic and intellectual center since the early centuries of the Common Era. The Kashmir Valley was a destination for both Buddhist and Hindu pilgrims and several esoteric strains of the two faiths, including Tantrism and Vajrayana
For related examples of portable shrines, see M. Lerner and S. Kossak, The Lotus Transcendent, Indian and Southeast Asian Art from the Samuel Eilenberg Collection, Metropolitan Museum of Art exhibition catalogue, New York, 1991, pp. 109-111.
