Goddess of the week : Bhairavi & Bhairava

[Guest guest]

Now we should not forget the other aspect of Bhairavi right !

 

Several scholars interpretes Bhairavi as the female version of Shiva

in his destructive form as Kala-Bhairava in which he punishes people

both living and dead.

 

Pictures of Bhairava, in the Group album. Downloaded by me sometime

back. Click on group photos/shivan.

 

a) Siva riding on a parrot. Punjab Hills. Kangra Style painting.

This is Shiva as an ascetic, with matted and coiled up hair decorated

with the crescent moon and with skulls around his hair and neck. He

also carries a skull cup in one hand. The ascetic character of the

god is emphasized by the dog which being the most inauspicious

animal, is usually associated with the wandering mendicant Bhairava.

 

The twining and flowering trees in the background are trademarks of

Kangra Paintings.

 

b) Shiva as Bhairava. Punjab Hills, Kangra style painting too.

The placement of the wild figure in a beautiful landscape of

exquisitely flowering trees is typical of the paradox seen in the

mythology and philosophy of Siva. The presence of the skull cap in

his right hand recalls the Shaiva ascetics, the Kapalika, who uses

skullcups for the collection of alms and who deliberately indulge in

contrary behaviour to demonstrate their passage beyond the

difference of opposities.

 

c) Shiva as Bhairava. Paintings on European Paper watermarked

1820. South Indian. Tanjore or Tiruchirapalli. In this beautifully

composed paintings, Bhairava accompanied by his dog Vahana, is

depicted as a wandering ascetic, with matted dreadlocks and garlands

of skulls.

 

 

Om ParaShaktiye Namaha