Only two South Indian female divine figures are known to have a parrot perched on their hands. They are Andal, one of the twelve Vaishnavite saints, and Meenakshi, the presiding deity of Madurai.

As one would expect, Meenakshi, as a Goddess, wears a crown. The subject of this blog is likely to be Andal, the only female Alwar. This blogsite has an example of Meenakshi.

Here Andal is accompanied by an attendant, an unusual feature. The attendants’ hair arrangement, similar to that of crawling Krishna from Tamil Nadu, makes this even more intriguing.

The patterns on the lower garment and the casting quality are signs of a master-class craftsman.

Andal and the attendant are standing on a Bhadrapeetha, a rectangular platform.

This bronze is 12 cm tall, and it is from Tamil Nadu. This may be dated prior to the sixteenth century.

In my research, I came across three different examples of similar iconography. Two were from auction houses Christie’s and Bonham and one is in Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA)

Note: This is one of the treasures in my collection.