Shiva India, Rajasthan, Gupta dynasty, late 500s stone, 18 3/4 inches (47.6 cm) high Funds from Ruth Luby, Dorothy Heitler, Fay Shwayder, and Norma Degan in memory of their parents, Nellie and Jesse Shwayder, and from Acquisition Challenge Grant 1982.15

This fragmentary image of a four-armed Shiva has the idealized form developed by Gupta-period sculptors to portray sacred figures. His youthful appearance is an expression of his physical and spiritual beauty. There is little attempt to represent musculature. Instead, the smooth modeling captures the force of the god's inwardly held breath (prana), the essence of life.


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