Ardhanarishvara

Ardhanari
Devanagari	अर्धनारी
Tamil script	அர்த்தனாரி

In Hind

Ardhanari

uism, Ardhanari (Kannada:ಅರ್ಧನಾರೀಶ್ವರ, Tamil:அர்த்தனாரி, Devanāgarī अर्धनारी, IAST Ardhanārī) or Ardhanarishvara (Template:Lang-sa, Ardhanārīśvara), is an androgynous deity composed of Shiva and his consort Parvati, representing the synthesis of masculine and feminine energies. The Ardhanari form also illustrates how the female principle of God, Shakti, is inseparable from the male principle of God, Shiva. Ardhanari in iconography is depicted as half-male and half-female, split down the middle. The best sculptural depictions of Shiva as Ardhanari are to be seen in the sensuous Chola dynasty bronzes and the sculptures at Ellora and Elephanta. Many remarkable carvings of ardhanArIshwara can be found at Pattadakal, Badami and Aihole during the time of Chalukyas

Variations in the name of this Deity:

• Ardhnarishwara
• Ardhanarishwara
• Ardhnariswara
• Ardhanariswara
• Ardhnari
• Ardhanarishvara
• Ardhanaarinateshwara
• Mohiniraaj
• Aldernalisuvara, mostly applied by Japanese, sometimes abbreviated to Alder.

Iconography

Depictions of Ardhanari

• 
  Drawn depiction of Ardhanari as half Shiv with his bull and half Shakti with her tiger
• Chola bronze from the 11th century Tamil Kingdom. Shiva and Parvati in the form of Ardhanarisvara.
  Chola bronze from the 11th century Tamil Kingdom. Shiva and Parvati in the form of Ardhanarisvara.

See also

• Shakti
• Shaktism
• Harihara

External links

• Ardhanari