Images

There are numerous depictions of Hari-Hara (a combined form of Shiva and Vishnu) but it is relatively rare to see a combined form of Surya and Shiva. The right half of this sculpture is Surya, the Sun God. He is holding lotuses: a fully bloomed...

From a wall of one of the temples at Khajuraho. The bottom half has gods such as Ganesha and Agni while the top half has snapshots of human life. Khajuraho, Madhya Pradesh, India, 11th CE

Some help is always appreciated when tying on (or untying) those heavy anklets bells. Khajuraho, Madhya Pradesh, India, 11th CE.

Kamadev, the god of love, and his wife Rati. Kamadev holds his sugarcane-and-bees-stringed bow and flower-tipped arrow. Khajuraho, Madhya Pradesh, India, 11th CE.

Surya, the Sun God. He holds lotuses, a mace, and a water pot. Not visible clearly in this picture is a also a time wheel that's in one of his bottom left hands. He wears a breastplate. His charioteer, Aruna, sits at the front. Khajuraho...

Ganesha dancing, his pendulous belly moving with the beats of the drummer almost hiding behind. Khajuraho, Madhya Pradesh, India, 11th CE.

Vishkanya. They were courtesans, brought up since they were little on increasing doses of poison. A grown Vishkanya would be fatal to anyone getting too close, and they were, therefore, often used as honey traps by the state. Khajuraho, Madhya...

Agni, the fire god. He holds a sacrificial altar, the Vedas, and a water pot, and is surrounded by four smaller fires, their skeletal forms showing the effect they have on humans. Khajuraho, Madhya Pradesh, India, 11th CE.

A small bust of Akhenaten (r. 1353-1336 BCE), pharaoh of Egypt in the 18th Dynasty. He is wearing the crown of Egypt. Cairo Museum.

An incense burner of a deity with a headdress of the rain god Tlaloc. Produced by the Tarascan civilization which flourished in western Mexico between 1350 CE and 1522 CE. (Snite Museum of Art, Indiana)