Women in Sri Lankan Sculpture and Painting

Ardhanarisvara, hermaphrodite, Half god and half goddess

Ardhanarisvara--Goddess

Bronze sculpture--National Museum (Colombo, Sri Lanka)

Hermaphroditism in art

The Ardhanarisvara, half god and half goddess is an expression in art of the essential unity of the male and female in cosmic terms. Belonging to this class of images is an Ardhanari bronze discovered at the Abhayagiri Vihare, Sri Lanka, during excavations connected with the Cultural Triangle Project in 1982. The image is vertically divided into a male on the left and a female half on the right which is unusual. Judging from a tubular knob at the back, it seems to have fitted into a socket in some part of a building. This miniature statue, cast in a dance pose can be seen at the Colombo National Museum. A date between the 6th and 9th centuries A.D. has been suggested.

Sirima Kiribamune

Abhayagiri Vihare, Sri Lanka.

Between the 6th and 9th centuries A.D.

Period of study: 1986-1987

Version: 01/12/2012

Co-Author: Seneviratna, Harsha

Technical Officer: Wijesinghe, Lalith

Technical Assistant: Jayasundare, Subhashini

Photographer: Madanayake, I.S.

International Center for Ethnic Studies, Kandy, Sri Lanka

Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation

American Institute for Sri Lankan Studies, Colombo

All rights reserved by International Center for Ethnic Studies, Sri Lanka.

Forms part of Photographic documentation of Women as depicted in early Sri Lankan sculpture and painting / Slide in present collection

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