Stolen ‘parrot lady’ sculpture surfaces in Canada

The ‘parrot lady’ is a sculpture of a naayika or heroine seen at several medieval temples in central and southern India. The sculpture typically denotes a woman in a dancing or preening pose, talking to a parrot that is perched on her hand or shoulder, with the bird appearing as a friend (sakhaa) or confidant of the naayika.

“The ‘parrot lady’ is a certain representation of a naayika, several examples of which are known to Indian art history. It is often described as a “shukasarika”, a “shuka” being a parrot, and is seen at many early medieval temples. A woman with a parrot is an important motif in Indian literature, poetry, art and architecture,” Dr Parul Pandya Dhar, professor of art history at Delhi University, said.

“In one particular representation, a parrot is shown perched on the lady’s head, with its beak touching her hair. This is inconographically different and unusual,” Dr Dhar said.

Naayikas have been represented at Hindu, Buddhist and Jain temples, and became especially popular in the medieval period, when they began to be regarded as auspicious. “The naayikas became an object of reverence as well as a celebration of the female body,” Dhar said.

In his book Woman in Indian Sculpture, Manohar Laxman Varadpande writes that depictions of women with birds are common in the temples of Orissa and central India, especially in the Khajuraho complex. “In Indian mythology, the parrot is considered the vehicle of Cupid or Kamadeva, the God of Love,” Varadpande writes.