Sorry Shiva

We are sure about Lord Krishna. The movie and TV representations give him a very clear persona. We know that he has playful disposition. He's cheerful, has a  great sense of humour, speaks with a glint in his eyes, is a hit with women and is quick on the retort. He's Giridhar "naagar" (nagar-wala), meaning he's a city-bred: suave and sophisticated. Yes, he did spend his childhood in the cowbelt but moved on so that we can actually maintain a conversation with him outside the topics of agriculture and animal husbandry. His mannerisms are of course legendary: left arm bent at the elbow and elegantly resting on his waist, right arm twirled over his flowing silk upper cloth.
When he laughs, it is a good, hearty one with the head thrown back ever so slightly and with a visible rock of the shoulders. If at all there is a confusion, there's just one: Does he have blue talcum powder all over his body and crimson lipstick a la N.T.Ramarao or does his skin look just like the rest of us the way Nitish Bharadwaj looked ? In short, he is just the celebrity (if I can take the liberty of saying that) whom we would swoon over, feel weak in the knees, flock to get a glimpse, shake his hand and get his autograph. He is your proverbial rock-star!

Lord Shiva is rightfully miffed. He is a victim of bad representation and bad marketing. Firstly, TV serials give him no good roles. He has been reduced to a side-kick who gets his two minutes of fame (that too in the background) in a three hour movie. If at all he gets a chance, he is made to stand behind cardboard cut-outs of fleecy, white clouds with very little scope for improvization. Often, the comedian who plays Narada in the serial also doubles up to play the role of Shiva which again doesn't improve Shiva's self-image.

Secondly, the renowned artiste Ravi Varma (with due respect to him) has complicated matters by painting Shiva with a moustache. We are thoroughly confused. Does Shiva sport a moustache or is he clean shaven ? We are simply not used to someone who can show up either way. That's a no-no! It happens only in movies where the hero has a double role, one good and another bad.

Another problem with Shiva's TV avatars is that he is forced to wear the most hideous of outfits. Either the TV artiste has to get used to a real snake trying to strangulate his neck so that he is forever distracted or he is forced to look comical by having a rubber imitation.

Shiva's minions (ganas) add to the complication. On TV, they need to select the most outsized human beings to play this role. He'll wear a long skirt, a pot belly to rival a ghatam, a well endowed drooping moustache, canine teeth and horns to complete the equation.
To top it, folks to the north of the Vindhyas swear that Shiva likes "bhang" and thus keep him perenially drowzy and doped.

All said and done, Shiva has been reduced to a caricature who could scarcely inspire anybody to look up to him. It seems as if there is a well hatched out global conspiracy to cut him to size and malign him to show some others in better light!  Now, don't for a moment think that this is the truth. All that you have to do is to leave the world of TV, comics and paintings and look at the sculpture of yesteryears.

Watch Mahadeva in all his grandeur at the Elephanta caves, at the Kailas temple at Ellora, the Chalukya motifs at Badami and the Chola bronzes. It is here that Shiva stands out unparalleled in representation. Sculpture has been able to capture the sublime mystique where other art forms miserably fail.

Can someone take the idea from these sculptures and come up with a persona for our TV and drama shows which can do justice to Lord Shiva ? Shiva clearly needs a makeover.