The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 18, 2025

Light brown sandstone sculpture, roughly rectangular in shape, depicting Shiva sitting next to and looking at Parvati, figures a fifth their size clustered around. Shiva's left leg folded up, his right hangs off the bench pressing into a platform below which a ten-armed demon crouches, flanked by more figures in a symmetrical composition. Shiva has a halo behind his head, his and Parvati's faces worn. The upper left corner of the sculpture has broken off.

Ravana Shaking Mount Kailasa

700s

Central India, Madhya Pradesh, Chandela Dynasty, 8th century

sandstone
Overall: 139 x 72 cm (54 3/4 x 28 3/8 in.)
Sundry Purchase Fund 1971.173
Location: Not on view

Description

According to followers of the branch of Hinduism that considers Shiva to be the ultimate, original creator of the universe, he takes on a mythological form and resides in his created world. His home is in the Himalaya Mountains, on Mount Kailasa, where he lives with his wife Parvati. In one episode of Shiva's mythology, he presses down his big toe to quell the ten-armed demon Ravana, who tried to steal Mount Kailasa and take it away to his island. As Ravana was trying to shake the mountain loose, Parvati turned and clung to Shiva in fear— the moment depicted in this magnificent sculpture, which once formed part of a temple exterior. It is thought that Shiva created the world for the sake of his own enjoyment, his lila or divine play, and emanated himself into all the beings of creation: gods and demons, humans and animals. He shrouded their awareness of the reality that they were in essence the god Shiva himself, so that they would perform the actions of his cosmic drama.
  • ?–1971
    (Roland Do Huu, Paris, France, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
    1971–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 301 archive.org
    Donaldson, Thomas E. Síva-Pārvatī and Allied Images: Their Iconography and Body Language. New Delhi: D.K. Printworld, 2007. Reproduced: p. 196, fig. 110
    Quintanilla, Sonya Rhie. "Indic Art Returns." Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine 53, no. 5 (September/October 2013): 16–17. Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 176 archive.org
  • {{cite web|title=Ravana Shaking Mount Kailasa|url=false|author=|year=700s|access-date=18 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1971.173