Collections-Virtual Museum of Images and Sounds

Site Name:

Date: ca 1000-1100 CE

Subject: Back, Siva

Site Name:

Date: ca 950 CE

Subject: Uma, Consort of Shiva: Profile, from right, Devi Uma Parameshvari, Great Goddess Uma

Site Name:

Date: ca 950 CE

Subject: Uma, Consort of Shiva: Profile of head and torso, from left, Devi Uma Parameshvari, Great Goddess Uma

Site Name: Jodhpur

Date: ca 1825 CE

Subject: This painting was done for Maharaja Man Singh II who felt slighted when the Maharana of Mewar refused to let him marry a daughter promised to his late predecessor. The princess finally committed suicide to preserve the honor of all participants. [Sati Throws Herself in the Sacrificial Fire of Her Father Daksha to Avenge a Slight to Her Husband Shiva]

Site Name: Kolhapur/Colapore

Date: 1870 CE

Subject: Photo Source: Captain Edward W. West, ed., Diary of the Late Rajah of Kolhapur during his Visit to Europe in 1870, London: Smith, Elder & Co, 1872, photograph tipped in book opposite pp.132. The young Maharaja Rajaram had unexpectedly died during this trip and his adopted successor Shivaji V also fared poorly. Maharaja Shivaji V of Kolhapur had clear-cut symptoms of an episodic bipolar disorder. During a violent altercation in 1883 with his English custodian Green, the Maharaja's spleen was ruptured and he died. The lives of many princes were adversely affected by palace intrigues. Many were wrenched from their parents to be adopted by princes without legitimate heirs. Often they were adopted posthumously. In this case, the widow went through a 'birth" ritual by smelling the boy's head at the suture lines. [Maharaja Shivaji V (r. 1871-83)]