Cambodia & Arts & Culture: The beauty of the Banteay Srei temple, the mythical couple Shiva and Uma

At the National Museum of Cambodia in Phnom Penh, one of the pieces that is a favourite with many visitors, because of its unique beauty, is the Shiva and Uma couple, known as Umamahesvara (Mahesvara is another name for Shiva, considered to be the most divine of all the Hindu gods).

The mythic couple Shiva and Uma

As a couple, Shiva and Uma are often depicted riding the bull Nandin, but in this polished sandstone sculpture, Shiva's little wife is sitting on his left knee and in his right hand he is holding a lotus.

An omniscient third eye can also be seen on his forehead. Uma's legs are bent to her left, while her right hand rests in the middle of her husband's back. The same image of the royal couple can be seen on the lintels and pediments of temples and on bronze statues.

“She is magnificent in her simplicity”

It is one of the most beautiful pieces to have been saved from the small temple of Banteay Srei, twenty-five kilometres north-east of the Angkor temples.

It was removed from the western gopura in 1914 by Lieutenant Marec, who was the first to report the existence of the temple, buried under a mound of earth and vegetation.

The mythic couple Shiva and Uma

As is well known, Banteay Srei is now considered by many to be the perfect temple for its fabulous relief sculptures. Marec brought the 10th-century sculpture to Phnom Penh for safekeeping and it was then installed in the collection for the opening of the Albert Sarraut Museum (which later became the National Museum) in 1920.

Sadly, Uma's head disappeared, snatched by a thief, when it was on display at the museum in the 1970s.

Andy Brouwer - with permission from the National Museum of Cambodia.