Returned to lender The Met accepts temporary loans of art both for short-term exhibitions and for long-term display in its galleries.
Aiyanar
Not on view
This princely figure seated at ease, supported by a meditation strap, likely represents the minor Hindu god Aiyanar (“lord,” in Tamil). Aiyanar emerged as a non-Vedic cult figure in southern India as early as the third century, when he was worshipped as a village guardian. He was perhaps a huntsman who, over time, was deified, first as a local hero (vira), then, with the gradual Sanskritization of southern India, as a secondary deity closely aligned with Shiva. He wears long dreadlocks in the manner of Shiva. The upper torso is rendered with uncanny naturalism.
cat. no. 103