BRONZE FIGURE OF THE HINDU GOD OF WAR
SOUTHERN INDIA, LATE 19TH CENTURY
£4,536
Auction: 13 September 2023 at 11:00 BST
Description
multi-armed and multi-headed, standing on a square low plinth with a peacock at his feet, each hand holding a symbolic war element
Dimensions
60cm high
Provenance
Provenance: Purchased at auction in Sri Lanka in 1973 by the present vendor's family
Footnote
Note: Karttikeya, also known as Skanda, Subrahmanya, Shanmukha, Murugan, and Seyyon is the Hindu god of war. He is the son of Parvati and Shiva, the brother of Ganesha and a god whose legends have many versions in Hinduism. Karttikeya has been an important deity in the Indian subcontinent since ancient times, worshipped as Mahasena and Kumara in North India and is predominantly worshipped in the state of Tamil Nadu and other parts of South India, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Malaysia and Mauritius by Tamils as Murugan.