Image of Vinayaki on the walls of the Harsha Bhairon shrine
Image of Vinayaki on the walls of the Harsha Bhairon shrine
Description:
This is a rare image of Vinayaki, the feminine aspect (consort in some traditions) of Vinayaka or Ganesha. This is one of the several images, once contained in the lost temples of the hill, which were later affixed on the walls of the Harsha Bhairon shrine complex. Only a partial image is visible as the lower portion was subsumed by the stairways built next to it. She is holding a cup in one of her hands, an attribute found in many of the Shaiva and Shakta images of the site and associated with the tantric tradition. She is likely a tantric Shakti and suggests a syncretic fusion of the Ganapatya and Shakta traditions. Locals wrongly identify this image as Ardhanarishvara-Ganesha, which they believe to be a fusion of Shiva, Shakti and Ganesha. She is holding a cup in one of her hands, an attribute found in many of the Shaiva and Shakta images of the site and associated with the tantric tradition. She is likely a tantric Shakti and suggests a syncretic fusion of the Ganapatya and Shakta traditions.
Location:
Sikar
Date_accepted:
2024-05-13T12:14:58Z
Modified:
2024-05-14T14:05:29Z
Type:
Image
Creator:
Temples of India Project Team
Contributor:
Anchit Jain
Publisher:
Jio Institute
Rights:
http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
References:
Sikar, Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), Harshnath Temple, Shakambhari Chahamanas , Rajasthan, and Temples of India