Bhikshatana Shiva
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Tanjore Painting Bhikshatana Shiva
Size (WxDxH) : 34.5" x 5" x 40.5" Inches (Frame Included)
Painting only Size: 29" x 34" Inches
Bhikshatana or Bhikshatana-murti(Bhikṣāṭanamūrti) is an aspect of the Hindu god Shiva as the "Supreme mendicant" or the "Supreme Beggar". Bhikshtana is depicted as a nude four-armed man adorned with ornaments who holds a begging bowl in his hand and is followed by demonic attendants.
Bhikshatana is considered a gentler form of Shiva's fierce aspect Bhairava and a gentle phase between Bhairava's two gruesome forms, one of which decapitates one head of the four headed god Brahma and the other of which kills the god Vishnu's gatekeeper.
Bhikshatana is the form of Bhairava that Shiva assumes to atone for his sin of severing Brahma's fifth head. He wanders the universe in the form of a naked Kapali mendicant, begging for alms with Brahma's kapala (skull cup) as his begging bowl, until his sin is expiated upon reaching the holy city of Varanasi.
