Shiva Saint: Manikkavachakar (1100s–1200s): Art, History and Details

Shiva Saint: Manikkavachakar (1100s–1200s) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

During the 7th through 9th centuries in south India there was a devotional movement of saints who experienced personal mystical encounters with their god. They then composed poems and songs in their native language of Tamil that described the ecstasy and experiences of the interaction. Manikkavachakar was one of these saints; he lived during the 9th century and composed some of the most popular Tamil devotional hymns about his visions of Shiva. In his left hand he holds the pages of texts that refer to his poetry and songs.

Object facts

• Title: Shiva Saint: Manikkavachakar
• Date: 1100s–1200s
• Culture: South India, Tamil Nadu, 12th-13th century
• Type: Sculpture
• Technique: bronze
• Dimensions: Overall: 33.5 x 9.1 cm (13 3/16 x 3 9/16 in.)
• Collection: Indian Art
• Department: Indian and Southeast Asian Art
• Accession number: 1967.148

Collection credit

John L. Severance Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• “Year in Review.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art, vol. 54, no. 10, 1967, pp. 302–346.
• The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969.
• The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.