In this dynamic, double-sided painted banner from Nepal, designed to be carried high over the heads of the crowd during a religious festival, the Hindu God Shiva dances on his bull, Nandi, who turns his head upward to look lovingly at his Lord. This may represent Shiva as Nataraja, Lord of Dance, who is often depicted dancing atop his bull in Nepal. The other side depicts Durga, Shiva\u2019s shakti (energy), dancing on a white snow lion.<\/p>\n
The remarkably well-preserved painting is enlivened by the bold colors and vibrant textile patterns, the sashes flying out in all directions, and the swag at the top framed by flaring tassels. Large, striking flowers are scattered against the background. In his upper arms Shiva holds his traditional attributes the trident and the rosary (rudrakshamala)<\/em>. He holds a Buddhist stupa (burial mound) in one lower hand\u2014an unusual attribute\u2014while his other forms the vitarka mudra<\/em> (teaching gesture). That a Hindu deity should hold a Buddhist stupa illustrates the non-sectarian, all-encompassing nature of religious devotion in Nepal.<\/p>\n","short_description":null,"dimensions":"95 \u00d7 71 cm (37 3\/8 \u00d7 28 in.)","dimensions_detail":[{"depth":null,"width":71,"height":95,"diameter":null,"clarification":null}],"medium_display":"Pigment and gold on cotton","inscriptions":null,"credit_line":"Kate S. Buckingham Fund","catalogue_display":null,"publication_history":"Pal, Pratapaditya, 1999. \"Himalayan Art: Selected New Acquisitions.\" Arts of Asia 29, 3 (May-June), p. 77, figs. 7-8.","exhibition_history":"Himalayan Paintings in the Collection of The Art Institute of Chicago, Gallery 140, December 8, 2008-August 24, 2009. \n\nHimalayan Paintings in the Collection of The Art Institute of Chicago, Gallery 140, August 24, 2009-April 14, 2010.","provenance_text":"James Singer, London; sold to the Art Institute of Chicago, Oct. 16, 1995.","edition":null,"publishing_verification_level":"Web Cataloged","internal_department_id":8,"fiscal_year":1996,"fiscal_year_deaccession":null,"is_public_domain":true,"is_zoomable":true,"max_zoom_window_size":-1,"copyright_notice":null,"has_multimedia_resources":false,"has_educational_resources":false,"has_advanced_imaging":false,"colorfulness":0,"color":{"h":40,"l":50,"s":40,"percentage":0.00040951409544978223,"population":242},"latitude":null,"longitude":null,"latlon":null,"is_on_view":false,"on_loan_display":null,"gallery_title":null,"gallery_id":null,"nomisma_id":null,"artwork_type_title":"Painting","artwork_type_id":1,"department_title":"Arts of Asia","department_id":"PC-7","artist_id":null,"artist_title":null,"alt_artist_ids":[],"artist_ids":[],"artist_titles":[],"category_ids":["PC-7","PC-837"],"category_titles":["Arts of Asia","Arts of Asia 100"],"term_titles":["Himalayan","thangka","painting","asian art"],"style_id":"TM-5376","style_title":"Himalayan","alt_style_ids":[],"style_ids":["TM-5376"],"style_titles":["Himalayan"],"classification_id":"TM-16428","classification_title":"thangka","alt_classification_ids":["TM-9","TM-26"],"classification_ids":["TM-16428","TM-9","TM-26"],"classification_titles":["thangka","painting","asian art"],"subject_id":null,"alt_subject_ids":[],"subject_ids":[],"subject_titles":[],"material_id":null,"alt_material_ids":[],"material_ids":[],"material_titles":[],"technique_id":null,"alt_technique_ids":[],"technique_ids":[],"technique_titles":[],"theme_titles":["Arts of Asia 100"],"image_id":"6847bea2-8d1a-cc2e-c9ae-da6be0ae8192","alt_image_ids":["7889dbde-6528-68e5-db40-9a5ae819ceb8"],"document_ids":["0b2f2d39-b4e4-670a-34be-5c10793f1e71","909516db-4ae1-9fb8-7bf5-cda33453cd22","5351f751-3a9e-0acd-f0fc-d3676b7c2ef1"],"sound_ids":[],"video_ids":[],"text_ids":[],"section_ids":[],"section_titles":[],"site_ids":[],"suggest_autocomplete_all":[{"input":["1995.268a-b"],"contexts":{"groupings":["accession"]}},{"input":["Double-Sided Painted Banner (Paubha) with God Shiva"],"weight":1132,"contexts":{"groupings":["title"]}}],"source_updated_at":"2026-01-22T10:42:59-06:00","updated_at":"2026-03-03T05:21:14-06:00","timestamp":"2026-09-06T05:53:20-05:00"},"info":{"license_text":"The `description` field in this response is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Generic License (CC-By) and the Terms and Conditions of artic.edu. All other data in this response is licensed under a Creative Commons Zero (CC0) 1.0 designation and the Terms and Conditions of artic.edu.","license_links":["https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/publicdomain\/zero\/1.0\/","https:\/\/www.artic.edu\/terms"],"version":"1.15"},"config":{"iiif_url":"https:\/\/www.artic.edu\/iiif\/2","website_url":"http:\/\/www.artic.edu"}}