This is a narrative bronze, depicting a scene from a Puranic story. It depicts Shiva and Parvati as a Kirata couple. Kirata refers to people who live in a mountainous region.

Narrative bronzes are not uncommon. Some of the popular ones are Mahishasuramardhini, Veerabhadra and Kaliyamardanam. The subject of this blog is a rarer one.

The story: The scene is from the Vanaparvan of the Mahabharata. Given the imminent war with the Kauravas, Arjuna was advised to augment his arsenal by acquiring the Pasupata Astra (powerful bow and arrows) from Lord Shiva. Arjuna undertakes penance to win over Shiva.

To test Arjuna, Shiva sends Mukasura, in the form of a pig, to disturb Arjuna’s tapas. Annoyed with the disturbance, Arjuna reaches for his bow and arrow. Before Arjuna could complete the act, Shiva, appearing in the form of a hunter, released his arrow and felled Mukasura. Arjuna gets into an argument with Shiva, which soon turns into a physical altercation.

Soon, Arjuna realises he is fighting a superior being and seeks blessings. Shiva and Parvati appear as the Kirata couple, and Shiva bestows the Pasupatha Astra to Arjuna.

The bronze: The figures on the front of the pedestal tell the story. From our left: it is four-armed Shiva kneeling to shoot the Mukasura, bull Shiva’s vahana, Arjuna reaching for his arrow, a dog that accompanies the hunter Shiva and Mukasura as a pig.

On the pedestal, Shiva and Parvati are depicted as a hunter and a huntress. A Prabhavali with a Kalasa on top frames the action.

The silver-inlaid eyes, the prabhavali design, and the perforated front suggest this bronze is from Central India. This bronze is about 10.5 cm tall.

Going by the wear, the bronze may be dated to the seventeenth century.

There are several temples in South India where Kiratarjuna is worshipped. In those cases, Kiratarjuniya is portrayed as Shiva and not as a hunter.

Fun fact: I sent a picture of this bronze to my collector friend SM before meeting him. SM responded, saying, ‘We will have an interesting discussion on this bronze. I landed at his house, and he shared some of his acquisitions. And then came a bronze almost similar to the subject of this blog. Well, it still is a rare bronze.