Son of Lord Shiva or Mine — A child is always a child!
As most Indians, we grow up reading and learning about mythology and Hindu iconography from our grandparents, parents, Gurus, Amar Chitra Kathas. Those into the arts, in particular classical dance, grow up learning about the various Gods and Goddesses of the Hindu pantheon through the various items that they learn. As a child, I never questioned why a particular God looked and behaved a certain way. We were just taught to know and accept the iconography of every God for what it was — whether he had four hands, three eyes, wore snakes on his neck, rode a mouse or played the Vina — each of them was unique, supernatural, Godly and fascinating in their own way. However, only much later, when I started teaching, I began to question everything that I had taken for granted in my growing years. And in my quest to seek answers to the many questions I had on mythology and iconography, I delved deeper to fathom it all.
My search opened up a fascinating esoteric world of Hinduism’s highest philosophies. Aligning with this search, I created works steeped in spirituality. However, this esoteric depth of meaning, though highly profound, isn’t necessarily accessible to everyone. Unless one values the spiritual path, these concepts may not resonate with the everyday person. I wondered if there was a way for iconography to be made accessible — by using fresh metaphors and accessible interpretations?
Throughout our literature, Krishna as a God has been made accessible — we have understood him as a child, lover, prankster, at the same time the God that preached the ultimate truth in the form of the Gita. However, to me, Shiva as a God wasn’t as accessible. He felt distant and hard to fathom for the longest time.
Even though Shiva is a householder, a father to two children; why did he feel so distant?
Last year I came across a beautiful set of poems which had a very interesting take on Shiva’s form. The iconography in discussion here is the concept of “Ardhanareeshwara- the male-female (purusha-prakrthi) principle”. This concept offers a vast scope for visualization in Natyam and has been expressed in myriad ways by many an artiste. The “Ardhanaari Ashtakam” of Shankaracharya and the grand Kriti “Ardhanareeshwaram” of Muthuswamy Dikshitar, being some fine examples of poetry that does full justice to this complex symbolism in Hinduism.
However, apart from the stunning visualization of a concept so profound, have we ever wondered what it would be like for the children of Shiva & Parvati to know of this androgynous form of their parents? Not as God Ganesha and God Muruga, but just as mere off springs of theirs? Could they truly understand the enormity of this concept?
Would an 8-year old Muruga be completely bewildered seeing this fused form of theirs? Would he, just like any other 8-year old, want to sleep in between his parents?Would he seek the help and understanding of his big brother, the learned Ganesha, on this different looking form that somewhat resembles half of each of his parents? Would he be confused if this form was indeed his mom or dad, or perhaps a third gender that he didn’t know about? Would the child Muruga care about the profundity of his parents’ persona? Would he throw a tantrum like any other 8-year old? What if all he cares about is whether his parents could tuck him to bed and if he could sleep all night in between their warmth?
How we view anything in life depends entirely on our perspective. Our perspective of Hindu philosophy, mythology & iconography depends entirely on our maturity, experience and worldview. Everyone shares a perspective so unique to their own understanding and experience of life. The beauty of our iconography is just that — the fact that it is open to multiple perspectives and interpretations.
To a child; it doesn’t matter what the stature of her parent is in society; it doesn’t matter whether the parent has an important World Economic Forum meeting to attend to, or if she’s the president of the nation making decisions on war, or if he is God Shiva himself. To a child, the parent is always a parent first! All the child wants, is to cuddle in the warmth of his mom and dad!
“guha-sampramOha — Guha’s bewilderment!” - Presented this and more as part of my repertoire for Margazhi 2018.
