A Sandstone Group of Shiva as Bhairava with River Goddess Ganga, Central India, 8th/9th Century

Property From the Collection of Howard and Jane Cohen, Baltimore

A Sandstone Group of Shiva as Bhairava with River Goddess Ganga

Central India, 8th/9th Century

Height 16 in. (40.6 cm)

with Ganga in graceful tribhanga at right, wearing a long striated dhoti, her hair tied in a low chignon, accompanied by an attendant and a child at center, Shiva in the form of Bhairava to the left with wrathful expression holding a staff topped by a grimacing skull and a kapala, all standing over a mythical river serpent with a scrolling tail