A full grown tusker marching majestically is a sight that will always inspire you. No doubt it inspired the Pallava artist as well. But then the greatness in him that he breathed life into the hardest of stone and left us this superlative herd of elephants. They have been exposed to the elements for a 1000 years ( ok 1300 years), yet they still retain their essence inside this maze of characters in the great penance panel.
Inorder to truly appreciate this, we need a series of pictures. How much the pallava artist observed the elephant, to not just depict it in stone - meaning like a fixed sculpture, but to show it with grace, elegance, the majestic walk, the slight twist of the trunk, the fullness of the tusk, the delicate flap of the ear….the bump of the forehead.
Well, a friend did me a favor by framing these goats, to give new viewers an idea of space and dimension of the panel.
Compare this with a live elephant picture may assist in appreciating his craft more
Throw in the cute babies of the family happily sporting under the protective masses of their parents…not a full body, just a profile, a head here, a small cute trunk there. enough to bring you cheer. Its fills your heart with joy, love. truly a moving composition, a timeless beauty.
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The Mahabalipuram penance panel which we saw in the last post is the largest open air bas relief sculpture. Just prior to embarking on such a massive sculpt, the sculptors seem to have tested the concept nearby…the little known test panel - but does it give any clues to the mystery of whether the Penace panel depicts - Arjuna’s penance ( to get the pasupatha astra from shiva) or Bagiratha’s penance to bring the ganges down to resurrect his ancestors!!
Lets analyse the test panel - the depiction of the lighthouse will give you a rough idea on its location. Similar to the Main penance panel, the artist chose a cleft in a boulder to depict his theme - but here the two boulders are split into two.
Why we call it a test panel is the story is carved in low relief.
The majestic elephants have not yet been obviously brought into the theme, though a few heads do appear.
The flying celestials are all these, but seem to be moving away form the boon giving area towards the descending ganges - to witness this great spectacle. So its a definite give away as to the main story of the test panel - thankfully the boon giver and seeker are much farther away from the cleft ( infact their positions are transposed - left to right)
The most important clue is the absence of the weapon in Shiva’s hands!
So if this were to be seen in isolation, its a pure story of the descending ganges and thus bagiratha’s penance. This story has been delightfully mixed with Arjuna’s penance in the main panel to come up with a puzzling combo…or is it just two in one or is there another twist to the plot….is it three in one..!!
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