Lord Shiva coming out of a deep meditation.

A very interesting sketch of Shiva coming out of a deep meditation. He seems to be near a cremation ground, there is a pyre in the top right. Also He is holding a skull in His hand. To me, this shows that He has pondered very deeply on the question of Life and Death and beyond. On "this world" the "other world" and beyond. The snakes are in rapt attention to hear what their Lord may be transmitting. Perhaps this indicates that snakes are accredited in India for a great past association and memory, they are supposed to be the keepers of esoteric knowledge in their own world...
i am reminded of a Dialogue from The Yogi and the snake which i will share with you all:

" I now wish to improve your understanding about the Shiva conscious. Snakes do not bite each other for survival. They are shunned on wrong notion. Lethal, as their bites can be, they are rarely an aggressor tribe. They only use their fangs if grossly intruded upon. My chief adornment is the King Cobra. One, who has learnt by mere posture to ward off the evil of malafide intrusion”. The snake observed that even Shiva’s trident was only parked beside him.
“My snakes never actually Bite venom to their creator, they only discharge roles that are allotted to them, sometimes vomiting venom when they were, infact aiding the production of Ambrosia. I want you to understand this well before you are turned to man again. For the Shiva conscious man has a greater task than the Shiva conscious snake, he must partake a little venom spilled by the Shiva conscious snake.
Remember one last thing about the wandering snakes” , said the Yogi with a diamond gaze, “they always reach their homes in their woods where no one disturbs the harmony of others. They do not just lose skins and get nowhere. They outgrow skins and lose them along the way. They do not lose the way itself.”