Articles — Ardhanarishwara

Shri Ardhanarishwara Stotram was composed by Sri Adi Shankara bhagavatpada. Creator and Creation are One ~ Ardhanarishwara, composite of Shiva and Shakti together in one body. This form reminds us that Shiva is beyond gender, yet encompasses both genders. Shiva represents the unmanifest and Shakti the manifest; Shiva the formless and Shakti the formed; Shiva consciousness and Shakti energy, not only in the cosmos as a whole but in each and every individual. Ardhanarishwara form also illustrates how the female principle of God, Shakti, is inseparable from the male principle of God, Shiva. Ardhanarishwara in iconography is depicted as half-male and half-female,...