Linga with Face of Shiva (Ekamukhalinga)

Art Historical Context

Behold the *Linga with Face of (Ekamukhalinga)*, a striking 7th-century stone from ancient Kashmir (modern Jammu and Kashmir, India Carved from stone to a height of 14 inches (35.5 cm), this piece features the sacred linga—an abstract, cylindrical form symbolizing Shiva's creative energy—adorned with a single, serene face of the deity emerging from its surface. Housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Art Department, it exemplifies early medieval Hindu devotional art. In Hinduism, the linga represents Shiva's infinite, formless essence, while the ekamukha (single-faced) variant humanizes th...