THE SUBRAHMAṆYA IN THE ALLENTOWN MUSEUM OF ART

The gray stone image of a young Brāhmaṇa warrior in the Allentown Museum of Art (Allentown, Pennsylvania, USA) presents Subrahmaṇya, god of eternal youth (Plate 1). This deity is High God Śiva’s younger son, also known as Skanda, Kumāra or Kārttikeya. According to the donors, this piece of sculpture was called “Candrama the Moon God” which is an error. However, the assumption that it was once placed in a niche of an outer wall of a medieval Drāviḍa-style temple is probably correct.1 The purpose of this article is to analyse the age, style, meaning and origin of the sculpture. As to the dating and geographic origin of the image, the bodily shape and attire of the sculpture may indicate particular stages of evolution in dynastic and geographic styles helping to find the approximate terminus post quem and terminus ante quem. As to meaning, a deity itself is generally known by the attributes, involving the ‘weapons’ (āyudha) in his two, four, six or more hands, or by the attire, bodily shape and facial features typical of the individual deity. Ultimately, all these factors together may reveal the role of the image as a part of a larger iconographic whole, or part of a cult.