Lord Shiva is also called as Arthanaadeeswarar. The term Arthanaadeeswarar is made of three words namely “artha” , “nari” and “eswarar” they mean half, woman and God respectively. In this form the Lord is depicted as being half woman that is Sakthi his wife and half man that is himself.
He is also known as Ammaiappan (Motherly God). I consider this form as one of the most beautiful ones of Lord Shiva. Ardhanarishvara signifies "totality that lies beyond duality", "bi-unity of male and female in God" and "the bisexuality and therefore the non-duality" of the Supreme Being. He has taken this form to show the importance of equality between man and woman. Since this God is conceptually beyond sex, it is more appropriate to refer to the God as It rather than He/She.
Legends:
There are lots of legends regarding how Lord Arthanaadeeswarar came into being. Some of them are as follows:
1) Sage Bringi used to worship only Lord Shiva and not His wife Goddess Sakthi. Goddess Sakthi argued with Lord Shiva stating that by choosing to worship only Him, Sage Bringi is disrespecting not only her but also the equality of male and female gender. At the same juncture Sage Bringi enters Kailash and worships Lord Shiva alone. Angered by this the Goddess who is portrayed as the God of power and strength takes all the strength from the Sage. Lord Shiva aids him with a stick and this further increases the anger of Sakthi. Seeing this Sakthi Devi started following a strict Vratha to become inseparable from Lord Shiva. The Lord, who was extremely happy because of the Vratha followed by Sakthi, gave her the boon of becoming half of himself. Thus the form Arthanaadeeswarar.
2) Once while in a playful mood, Goddess Sakthi closed the eyes of Lord Shiva. Because of this the whole cosmos became dark and the world could not progress. The sages prayed to Shiva to come to aid. Lord Shiva punished Goddess Sakthi for her childishness and banished her from Kailash. After performing strict penace in various Shiva temples, Lord Shiva’s anger abated and blessed her with the boon of becoming inseparable from him in the form of Arthanaadeeswarar.
Differences in male and female halfs:
The following are some of the generally found differences in the male and female half of Athanaadeeswarar:
Headdress, 3rd eye (male) – Tilakam (female), earrings, dress, 2 hands (male) and 1 hand (female), serpent (m) – necklace (f), vahanaas nandi (male ) – Lion (female), dress and color.
Some of the sculptures depict the expressions in the female and male half extremely beautifully taking into account the characters of both the Gods.
Thiruchengode is one of the most famous temple of Lord Arthanaadeeswarar. More on this temple later.
On another note, the women’s day is fast approaching and many women are still in penace state to get their share of half the body. It is a story often repeated by a lot of wives even today. Let us pray to the betterment of husband and wife relationships of all around us. Let there be equality of both the forms. Let there not be one form ruling the other. Let there be peace. Let there be love. Let there be love for God.
Endrum avar asirvadathudan, (With his blessings)
Nidi
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