Below is a
picture of the famous Sadāshiva
Maheshamūrti at the Elephanta Caves, uploaded by “Sailko” on Wikimedia Commons.
This is
basically a depiction of Shiva.
I have added
some text to the image, pointing out the hairstyles of the three heads of Shiva,
ª
the Right one
(viewer’s right) being Feminine (lotus) – and endowed with ringlets, and
ª
the Left one
being Masculine (serpent) – endowed with curls.
In Indian art, Shiva invariably has
what are known as “dreadlocks”.
The central
head, representing balance, serenity, and dispassion – is endowed with these
high-piled ropey dreadlocks.
Shiva doesn’t usually wear an intricately carved high
(cylindrical) crown, but rather a sort of elaborate diadem around a pile of
dreadlocks, or curly hair, or ringlety hair.
Different forms,
or heads, of Shiva may be endowed with different hairstyles.
Below one can
see the different styles on the different heads of Shiva carved on a Shiva Liṅga, from the Chaturmukha
Mahadeva Temple at Nachna, Madhya Pradesh.
The images, released into Public Domain, have been taken from Wikimedia Commons.
Arrows & Text have been added by me.
“Dreadlocks” are
generally understood to be African.
But I see no
reason to associate them exclusively with Africa.
Indian Nāga Sādhus sport
dreadlocks to this day.
Yes, naturally
curly hair is not a typical Indian attribute, though there are many, many curly-haired Indians.
I’m curious to discover how prevalent this ropey, dreadlock-pile hairstyle is.
It’s very common
in India, and is found in Hindu, Buddhist as well as Jain statues.
I do not think it is prevalent in Ancient Greece & Rome.
Many Ancient Greek & Roman statues have curly hair, but most of it is wavy hair, not the tight, round, spirally curls seen in Africa and in Ancient Indian sculpture.
I will come to Christian art sometime later, heavily influenced as it seems, by Indian art.
In most of European-Christian high art, angels are depicted with very lush, flowing, curly hair.
Even Jesus may be given very elaborate, lush, luscious hairdos.
To what extent these are original conceptions, to what extent they might have been inspired by other cultures, is still to be determined.
The motifs, undoubtedly, are NOT original.
The hair-pile of ropey/rope-like dreadlocks is very prevalent in India, and I do not recollect many European-Christian art figures endowed with it.
However, curly hair is by no means a rare phenomenon, and even Mesopotamian-Babylonian figures have curly hair.
Is it because curly hair was considered artistically more desirable & aesthetic?
Is it for the simple reason that there were people with curly hair everywhere?
Or that people across the world chose to curl their straight hair, because it looks beautiful?
Or these styles came from a common community, or a common source?
As of now, we should simply note the similarities and observe how different cultures portrayed the same hairdos, or variations of the same hairdos.
Beneath is a figure, most probably Buddhist, from one of the many Ellora Caves, photographed by me in 2011, with the same rope-like, dreadlock hairstyle as that of Shiva, piled up high in a very elaborate way.
