This is Govinda Bhairava, a syncretic form Vishnu (Govinda) and Shiva (Bhairava). His rear hands are holding Vishnu’s attributes Chakra and Shankha.  Staff and begging bowl in the lower hands are Shiva’s attributes. This is similar to another Govinda Bhairava on this site. This bronze is more tribal in nature as opposed to the folkish style of the other bronze.

The identification is based on H K Sastri’s book  South Indian Images of Gods and Goddesses page. Edward Moor’s book on Hindu Pantheon, published more than 200 years ago, has several examples of this form.

There is very little information regarding the significance of figures on the base. In this example, the figures include a Ram, a heap of five spherical objects, Linga, a square, a cup, a tortoise and a ram. In front of the base, you see ten human-like figures and a pair of feet.

The Prabhavali sports Sun and Moon signs. This bronze is more complex than what you see in Hindu bronzes.

This bronze is about 10 cm in height and it is most probably from Central India. One interesting thing about this bronze is there is no incision. The way the details are added seems to be similar in the process, using wax thread, to what we see in Dhokra bronzes or Kerala bronzes.