Urgh...

[silversolitaire]

I wish people would stop calling Shiva a she. So yes, he undergoes a bunch of sex changes now and then and he does have a female shape, but then it's Kali, and Shiva Nataraj is always male! >_<

/rant

Comments

[no-ron.livejournal.com]

Shiva is very strongly associated with the masculine principle; personified - being quite sexual himself, typically depicted with his consort (Shakti, Parvati, Devi), sometimes even in intercourse.
though, i don't really buy into the lingam being a phallic symbol. i think that's just a modern debase.

[silversolitaire.livejournal.com]

I agree! For me Shiva never ever is female, but I did see some depiction of him in a female form and I just don't feel like being contested by someone who absolutely loves those. But to me they don't count. Some people see Kali as an embodiment of Shiva, but I don't. Just like to me Vishnu and Krishna are two different deities (which they are!). Not the same thing, of course. Eek, I'm babbling. Where was I? Ah, Shiva, yes. He's very male, definitely. He's the Lord of the Dance after all! XD

What I like about Shiva is his ambiguity. He's a warrior, a creator, an ecstatic dancer, a destroyer, a lover. I love this about him.

[no-ron.livejournal.com]

and an ascetic too. :)

indian art must be pure confusion for the dull western mind, i'm sure.
most of the symbology comes from the deeper understanding of the Supreme Being, the non-dual, that which is beyond.
they were not much concerned with gender, as they understood the divine as genderless, or unifying both principles; masculine and feminine being just the manifestations of that same which is both and none. from that comes the symbology of Ardhanaishvara (like Shiva embodying aspects of both sexes simulatneously).

[silversolitaire.livejournal.com]

Ack! I forgot the ascetic! When I told my friend about him today I had that in too! >_< LOL

I'm so glad you're saying that! So many people don't understand that. I could go crazy when I hear all this crap with Yin and Yang being equated with male and female and they don't understand that it's not about gender and that the binary thinking is such a Western concept. Yin and Yang isn't about black and white at all. People disregard the tiny spot of white and black there that says "There's a bit of everything in everyone."

That's one of the reasons why I like the Greek Gods so much too, especially Apollo. The ambiguity is in there, too, but just like the Hindu Gods the black/white issue is so unimportant. There's no good or bad, there's grey. Apollo does great things, but he's also very cruel and senseless. And there's no straight or gay, there's just love and desire. The latter rather applies for the Greek Gods though. I'm trying to think now... I don't think that concept is part of the Hindu religion... *thinks*