This artifact, a brass cast but with the look of gold-plated copper rusted over a long period of time while lying in some ancient temple’s old cellar, is a contemporary work but with the character of bygone days, both in its appearance and style of modelling, is a votive Shiva-ling with the seven hooded Great Serpent Shesh canopy-like unfolding its hood over it.
Being Ananta – without an end, it's another name, Serpent Shesh is conceived with any number of heads from five to a thousand, and with a body, manifest or unmanifest, as large as covering the entire creation.
Here in this votive ‘ling’ icon Shesh binds the root of the ‘ling’, an entity beyond time and space and beyond Brahma and Vishnu who, as various myths have it, tried to trace the ling’s origin but could not. Basically the essence of Vaishnava iconography Serpent Shesh is often perceived as emerging with Vishnu carrying him on its coils after the Great Deluge has taken place. Mythically, while all beings perish in the Deluge Ananta continues as ever.
Not so much the mythical, Ananta’s association with Shiva is deeply symbolic. Though to re-appear in the course of time, Vishnu and Brahma are scheduled to perish with the Great Deluge, Vishnu re-appearing as a child floating on a fig leaf or emerging from the Kshirasagara couched on the coils of Serpent Shesh, and Brahma, riding a lotus rising from Vishnu’s navel.
Shiva is beyond the entire process. Even the Great Deluge is merely his aspect. He presides over the entire cycle from dissolution to creation and back, and manifestly or unmanifest, Ananta, the Great Serpent, is his constant companion, though unlike Vishnu who it cradles or supports on its coils, in Shiva’s case Shesh is in his constant attendance and service.
In Shaivite thought Shiva’s personalised forms represent his one act or other, each bound to time and form; the timeless, formless, imperishable Shiva is ‘ling’ – ‘jyoti’, the column of light without a beginning and beyond an end. It is this eternal form of Shiva to which Ananta bows and it is as the eternal ‘ling’ that Shiva enshrines most of the sanctums dedicated to him.
All twelve ‘pithas’ – seats of worship, venerated as the highest in the Order, are ‘ling-pithas’. In divine iconography the icons of the Great Serpent Shesh are hence invariably associated with Shiva only when he has been represented as ‘ling’. Serpent forms are the essence of entire Shaivite iconography whether in his personalised form or as ‘ling’ but only as his attributes and for widely different mythical reasons. Even as in attendance and service, Shesh, being Ananta, the endless, has a stature parallel to Shiva and is, hence, often represented as crowning his ‘ling’ icons.
This description by Prof. P.C. Jain and Dr. Daljeet. Prof. Jain specializes on the aesthetics of literature and is the author of numerous books on Indian art and culture. Dr. Daljeet is the curator of the Miniature Painting Gallery, National Museum, New Delhi. They have both collaborated together on a number of books.
How to keep a Brass statue well-maintained?
Brass statues are known and appreciated for their exquisite beauty and luster. The brilliant bright gold appearance of Brass makes it appropriate for casting aesthetic statues and sculptures. Brass is a metal alloy composed mainly of copper and zinc. This chemical composition makes brass a highly durable and corrosion-resistant material. Due to these properties, Brass statues and sculptures can be kept both indoors as well as outdoors. They also last for many decades without losing all their natural shine.
Brass statues can withstand even harsh weather conditions very well due to their corrosion-resistance properties. However, maintaining the luster and natural beauty of brass statues is essential if you want to prolong their life and appearance.
In case you have a colored brass statue, you may apply mustard oil using a soft brush or clean cloth on the brass portion while for the colored portion of the statue, you may use coconut oil with a cotton cloth.
Brass idols of Hindu Gods and Goddesses are especially known for their intricate and detailed work of art. Nepalese sculptures are famous for small brass idols portraying Buddhist deities. These sculptures are beautified with gold gilding and inlay of precious or semi-precious stones. Religious brass statues can be kept at home altars. You can keep a decorative brass statue in your garden or roof to embellish the area and fill it with divinity.
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