Shiva, the lord of the inner self, embodies the three aspects of divinity: creator, preserver, and destroyer. The oldest deity worshiped since prehistoric times. He is venerated as the previous birth of the Gautama Buddha, the Lord of Yoga, and the patron God of renunciate and ascetic.

In this gilt bronze Shiva in a Lalitasana above a roaring lion, the God’s youthful figure sculpted with realism. He is adorned with arm bracelets, a strand of beads on his chest, and two finely chased cobra earrings by his dreadlocks that fall around his shoulders. He displayed a no-fear mudra with his right hand, which held a lotus flower with a wisdom sword. His left hand on the lion tail held a lotus flower with a trident. There is a hieratic countenance in his realistic facial features, and a Bindu in the Ajna chakra symbolizes the wisdom to annihilate desire. The sun and moon pinned to his three-knotted braid that symbolizes perfection. The iconographical attribute of Shiva on Lion is known as Sharabha subduing the Lion Narasimha (Avatar of Vishnu). The two figures are mounted on a rectangular lotus pedestal, consecrated and sealed with a Viswavajra copper plate.