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KarmaVaani
Devotional painting: Ardhanarishvara, a single standing figure divided down the middle: the right half is Lord Shiva with pale ash-blue skin, matted hair with a crescent moon, a tiger skin and a trident; the left half is Goddess Parvati with golden skin, a jewelled braid, a red silk sari and a lotus in her hand; four arms in all; the white bull Nandi behind, snowy Kailasa in the distance

Shaiva tradition

अर्धनारीश्वर

Ardhanarishvara

Ardhanari · Ammaiyappar · Naranari

Shiva and Parvati as a single body, half male and half female: the inseparable union of Shiva and Shakti.

Abode
Mount Kailasa
Consort
Parvati
Vahana
Nandi the bull
Colour
Ash-white on Shiva's side, golden on Parvati's
Arms
4

Ardhanarishvara, the Lord who is half woman, is Shiva and Parvati joined in one figure: the right half Shiva, the left half Parvati. The form teaches that consciousness and energy, Purusha and Prakriti, cannot exist apart, and that the divine holds both masculine and feminine within it. The image appears from the Kushan period onward, and the Ardhanareeswarar temple at Tiruchengode in Tamil Nadu is dedicated to it.

Mantra

ॐ अर्धनारीश्वराय नमः

Om Ardhanarishvaraya Namaha

Salutations to the Lord who is half woman.

रूप और प्रतीक

How Ardhanarishvara is shown

One body divided down the middle: the right half Shiva, with matted hair, ash and a tiger skin; the left half Parvati, with a jewelled braid, silk and ornaments.

Trident (right side)
Shiva's power over the three gunas.
Lotus or mirror (left side)
Parvati's grace and beauty.
The dividing line
Two that are one: neither half is whole alone.
कथाएँ

Stories

Bhringi's devotion

The sage Bhringi worshipped Shiva alone and would circle only him, never Parvati. Parvati asked Shiva to let her become part of his body so that no one could separate them. When Bhringi still tried, taking the form of a beetle to bore between them, the lesson was given: Shiva cannot be worshipped without Shakti.

Related forms