Pancamukhi Shiva

Shiva is one among the trinities in the pantheon of Hindu gods who is always engaged in the five divine acts of creation, preservation, destruction, concealment and revealing. The five faces related to these cosmic activities are Sadyojata, Vamadeva, Aghora, Tatpurusha and Ishana pointing to the directions of north, west, south, east and space respectively. 

The Basohli artist conceived this tantric form of Shiva with five faces and ten arms. There is a creation myth associated with Shiva. The sacred syllable ‘Om’ emerged from the playing of Shiva’s drum while he performed the ‘Anandatandava’ during the creation. The entire universe was created from that primordial sound. A classical musical instrument veena symbolically placed in this painting suggests this act of Shiva. 

He holds different attributes in his ten arms: garland of skulls, bowl of elixir, arrow, flag, sword, drum, bow, shield and axe. The tenth arm is left in his lap indicating a meditative gesture. His five faces are emphatically depicted by the artist, with the central one in three quarters and the remaining four in profile. His body is coiled by many snakes and smeared with the sacred ashes. He is seated on a sprawling  corpse of an elephant as he is also known by the name Pashupati. The figure occupies the entire part of the painting while the artist tries to accommodate narrow strips of sky and foreground following the traditional style.