Some bronzes do not yield themselves easily. This is one of them. A collector-friend of mine sold this as Bhairava. After buying it, I started having second thoughts about the identification. The sword (broken) and the shield led me to think it may be Veerabhadra.

Both Bhairava and Veerabhadra are manifestations of Shiva. But Bhairava is a ‘closer manifestation’ of Shiva. With that premise, I looked at the bronze again.

That did the trick. The earrings are Sarpakundala. The hair is jata; see the back view. He is wearing a chain on his right leg, and the knee-length garland is a Mundamala. One of the five skulls, the one closer to the shield, has discernible features.

All the above are features of Shiva, and I agree with my collector friend’s attribution. It is Bhairava.

Several features are worth noting. The dagger tucked into his waist belt and the decoration of the dagger’s sheath are outstanding features.

For some reason, there is a bell hanging in his genital region. Strange, is it not? I have never seen anything like that before.

This Vigraha is about 14 cm tall, and it may be dated to the seventeenth century. The back is not worked on, and that is typical of bronzes from the Kolhapur region. This Vigraha is from the North Deccan.