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Pitt Rivers Museum

1909.12.17.2

Representation of male & female, a religious object

On display


1909.12.17.2

Digital asset copyright: Pitt Rivers Museum, University of Oxford

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Collection type
Object
Description
Representation of male & female, a religious object
Person
Field collector William Theobald
PRM source Mrs William Theobald
Date / Period
Date made: Before 1909
Date collected
By 1909
Acquisition information
Donated: 1909
Materials and processes
Material Plaster
Dimensions
Width: max 70 mm
Object numbers
Accession number: 1909.12.17.2
Research and responses

Linga and yoni are symbols of male & female. Linga, the phallus, is the symbol of the god Shiva, worshipped as an emblem of generative power. Yoni is the representation of the female sexual organ and the symbol of the goddess Shakti, consort of Shiva. The two together are a reminder that “the male and female principles are forever inseparable and that together they represent the totality of all existence”. [Encyclopædia Britannica Online; “linga” & “yoni”] [CF 21/12/99]

Search terms: Religion, Religious Object