Shiva and Parvati — Ardhanari’s Halves

Shiva and Parvati seated together on Kailash, turned toward one another in conversation. Original pen and ink drawing, signed, framed and ready to hang.

They are seated close, turned inward, looking at each other. Her hand rests on his shoulder. His arm lies across a bolster; her fingers hold a lotus bud between them. Neither is looking out of the picture.

Shiva is drawn with everything the earlier drawings in this series gave separately — the jata knotted high with the crescent set into it, the serpent at the throat with its hood raised, the rudraksha falling in long strands, the tripundra and third eye at the brow. The trishul stands planted to the left with the damru tied at the shaft. Parvati wears her hair coiled and ornamented, the bindi at her forehead, heavy strands at her neck, and a sari worked in fine parallel hatching that follows every fold across the lower half of the sheet.

Around them, forest. Willow branches fall from the top right, drawn in thousands of light flicked strokes. Scrub and grass fill the left. Behind, the hatched peaks of Kailash. Almost no paper is left untouched anywhere in this drawing, which sets it apart from the rest of the series — the earlier works breathe through emptiness, and this one fills the frame.

The subject is not power or asceticism. It is domesticity between two people who happen to be gods. In a series otherwise concerned with symbols and solitude, this is the drawing where somebody else is present, and where Shiva is looked at rather than looking.

Tone is built entirely by hand through hatching and cross-hatching in ink, one line at a time, with no shading, no wash and no correction possible. Two faces, two sets of hands, two figures in drapery — the most demanding drawing in the collection.

Suited to a puja room, a living room, an entrance hall, or as a wedding or anniversary gift. Being tonal rather than coloured, it sits against any wall colour, and it rewards being hung where people can stand close to it.

Original pen and ink on artist-grade paper. Signed by the artist. Supplied mounted and framed under glass with a certificate of authenticity. One of a kind — no reproductions of this drawing are sold.

Specifications
Subject: Shiva and Parvati on Kailash
Medium: Pen and ink on paper
Type: Original, one of a kind
Size: 29.6 × 42 cm (unframed)
Orientation: Vertical (Portrait)
Framing: Mounted, framed under glass, ready to hang
Signed: Yes, by Aditya Kumar
Dispatch: 3–5 working days with tracking

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