Shiva and Uma

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From a 10th century image from Banteay Srei now in the Phnom Penh Museum. One of the earliest and most popular Hindu gods represented in Khmer iconography. In the pre-Angkor period he appeared as Harihara (who was half Vishnu, half Shiva). In the early Angkor period several temples – Phnom Bakheng, Baksei Chamkrong, Banteay Srei, Bakong, Lole and Preah Ko – were dedicated to him. Early representations were in the form of a linga. The phallic meaning associated with it in India is less pronounced in Khmer, where it is a symbol of the ‘creative energy of the powers of nature.’
Shiva as linga is widely represented in Angkor, but he also appears in some human forms in Khmer art. He is most often depicted as a benevolent god, and his fierce aspect so popular in India, is rarely found at Angkor.
Shiva lives on Mount Kailasha in the western Himalayas with his wife Uma (Pavarti) and two sons – Skanda, the God of War and Ganesh, the God of Knowledge. His mount is the bull Nandin, who is ‘white as the Himalayan peaks’.
His main weapon is a trident, an indestructible weapon that represents absolute truth. Shiva has a chignon separated into strands of loops in tiers, a Brahmin cord over his shoulder and has a third eye in the middle of his forehead, representing universal balance.

Uma, also known as Parvati, ‘daughter of the mountain’. She is Shiva’s consort and is the daughter of the god of the Himalayas. She often carries a trident of Shiva and is seen on a lotus pedestal. Her mount is a tiger. Each Hindu god is accompanied by its shakti, the female projection that symbolises creative energy.