Though
this statue of Shiva is not among the Top 10 exhibits at the Angkor
National Museum, he’s well worth a post of his own. He’s currently on
display at the ANM though from the
time he was found in northeast Cambodia near Stung Treng in 1946, he’s
bounced around between the Angkor Conservation Depot and the National
Museum before finding a home back in Siem Reap when the ANM opened in
2007. This particular image of Shiva, representing the most divine of
all the Hindu gods and the destroyer of evil, was found a long way from
Angkor, at the remote temple of Prasat Trapeang Khnar in the Thala
Borivat area of northeast Cambodia, near Stung Treng and a few hundred
meters from the Mekong River. Bearing all the hallmarks of a two-armed
statue carved in the 12th century, in the Angkor Wat art style, he’s
missing both feet and both hands, but has the tell-tale vertical third
eye incised into his forehead. In Khmer art, Shiva can also be seen in
the form of a linga, in footprints (Shivapada), conjoined with Vishnu as
Harihara, or with his consort Uma sat on his knee. In this standing
pose, Shiva is at his most elegant, wearing a tall intricately-patterned
diadem and topped by a conical-covered chignon. The face is elaborated
with straight-line eyebrows, open eyes, rakish moustache and beard with
elongated earlobes. His sampot is enhanced by a double-anchor panel at
the front, a side pocket on his left thigh and a butterfly bow above a
belt, both back and front. He stands just over three feet in height but
is devoid of his main attribute, a trident, or a crescent moon in his
headdress.
