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G768 SHIVA LINGHAM STONE (NARMADESHVARA LINGHAM)
CENTRAL INDIA, MADHYA PRADESH
PROBABLY FROM ONKAR MANDHATA ON THE NARMADA RIVER
20TH CENTURY
H. 40 CMS, 15 ¾ INS (Including stand)
A large and spectacular, ovoid, greenish-grey and reddish-brown naturally tumbled lingham stone, with a highly smooth and polished surface.
The Narmada River at Onkar Mandhata, is one of India’s seven holy sites. Villagers gather this unique cryptocrystalline quartz from shallow riverbeds and hand-polish them to produce a stone with perfectly balanced proportions. The Shiva Lingham is a symbolic representation of the Hindu god Shiva and believed by Hindus to have sacred life-affirming properties.
Comparable examples were included in the important Tantra exhibition held in London at the Hayward Gallery in 1971. For two related examples see nos. 163-164 in Philip Rawson, The Art of Tantra, London: Thames and Hudson, 1978.
Provenance: Private French collection.