Shiva, Uma, and Their Son Skanda (Somaskandamurti)
Somaskandamurti is one of the most popular religious images in South India. The four-armed Shiva holds a battle-ax and a deer in his upper hands and a citron in his lower left hand. His lower right hand is raised in abhayamudra (the gesture that allays fear). His consort, Parvati, clasps a water lily in her right hand. Between them stands Skanda, their infant son, bejeweled and with a lotus in his right hand. Four rings at the lower corners of the pedestal allowed the sculpture to be secured to a platform in order to be carried in processions.
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