Shiva Dakshinamurti

Dakshinamurti, the "Lord who faces South", represents Shiva as the supreme teacher of yoga, music, jnana (divine knowledge) and all the arts and sciences. Each of these four aspects is distinguished iconographically. This image, with a rosary and flame in the upper hands, is Vyakhyanamurti, Shiva as the expounder of the shastras. Four-armed Shiva is depicted with the uncut hair of an ascetic, seated in the virasana (heroic) posture, the lower right hand raised in the gesture of teaching in silence (chinmudra). The rocky landscape upon which he sits is an allusion to his Himalayan retreat where he instructs through mind-speech the secrets of the shastras to the holy men (rishis). With his right foot he suppresses the dwarf-like figure of Apasmarapurusha, the demon embodying ignorance and forgetfulness. The wild animals of the mountain, carved in low relief, gather around him to hear his profound message.