Shiva at the Museum of Fine Arts

3D Model

This is part of Specterras’ “Digital Repatriation Project”, which seeks to provide access to anitquities that are not housed in their country of origin.

Shiva is known as “the Destroyer” in the Hindu tradition. While your first instinct might be one of contempt for a God evoking a destructive playtime toddler, Shiva is also the God whose destruction ushers in growth and renewal. In other words, his destruction makes beneficial changes possible. There are many ways in which Shiva seems to embody contradictory elements, like hedonism and asceticism, but Shiva is more about the interplay and necessary coexistence of opposites. The face of this sculpture is evidence of that. Here you can see “the Destroyer” with a serene smile cast on his face. He looks about as peace-loving as the Buddha.