This is Sambandar, a Tamil Saivite saint. Sambandar is one of the sixty-three Nayanmars. They were instrumental in starting and popularising the Bhakti (devotional) movement in Tamil Nadu. Sambandar is a historical figure who lived between 630 and 646 CE, only for sixteen years.

What is unusual in this Vigraha, is his iconography of holding cymbals. His more popular iconography is holding a cup and/or pointing up, in the direction from which Siva and Parvathi appeared. For that story see another blog on Sambandar.

The book Slaves of the Lord: The Path of the Tamil Saints by Vidya Dehejia has an example with cymbals, Figure 20, and that Vigraha is dated to the 15th-16th century.

Another odd feature is his sporting loin cloth (copwpina) while wearing a crown and Srichakra. A crowned ascetic!

The Vigraha is about 11 cm tall and is from Tamil Nadu or its neighbouring region. It may be dated to the eighteenth century.

The above picture shows the three iconographic variations of Sambandar, the classical pose of him dancing while pointing upwards, with cymbals given by his father (the subject of this blog) and the earliest version of him holding a cup while pointing upwards. All three variations are in this collection.

Sambandar lived only for sixteen years and the episode of his getting milk from Siva and Parvathi happened when he was a toddler. It is not unusual for toddlers to be portrayed naked, the rightmost picture. But somewhere ‘the proper way’ got introduced and hence the lower garment, as in the leftmost one.