The Story of Ardhanarishvara

Ardhanarishvara is the form in which Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati are joined as one being, split down the centre: one half the ash-smeared ascetic Shiva, the other the graceful, jewel-adorned Parvati.

The form arose to teach that Shiva, pure consciousness, and Shakti, the creative power, are inseparable, two aspects of a single reality. Without Shakti, it is said, Shiva cannot even stir.

In one body the masculine and the feminine, the still and the dynamic, the knower and the known are perfectly balanced and whole.

The Meaning

Ardhanarishvara is among the most beautiful teachings in form: that the divine is neither only male nor only female, but the union of both. It honours the feminine as equal and essential to the masculine, and reveals that all the pairs of opposites we see are, in truth, one undivided whole.