Waking up Kumbakarna

Well, all of us at one point of time or the other have been shouted at, using the sleeping giant kumbakarna as an example. Its always tough to wake up in the mornings, that too when you are a kid and the evenings are too long and the mornings are too short. But seeing this freeze of the story sculpted into stone in far off Indonesia jolted me wide awake.

Lets brush up our memories of the story from Ramayana, Ravana’s mighty brother, the giant Kumbakarna, sleeps for 6 months at a time. Well, this was actually not a curse but a boon which he himself sought ( ok with some nimble work by Indra).

Having born to mixed parents ( mother was a demon and father a high born), the children are advised by their mother to seek the blessings of Brahma, the creator. So all four, Ravana, kumbakarna, Surpanka and Vibeeshana undertake a stiff penance.

Ravana performs intense penance , lasting several years. Pleased with his austerity, Brahma appears and offers him a boon. Ravana asks for immortality, which Brahma refuses saying everyone has to die someday. Ravana then askes for absolute invulnerability and supremacy before gods and heavenly spirits, other demons, serpents and wild beasts. Contemptuous of mortal men, he did not ask for protection from them. Brahma granted him these boons, and additionally gave him great strength by way of knowledge of divine weapons and sorcery.

Next, its the turn of Kumbakarna, who is already a giant, and Indra the Lord of devas is scared stiff, that any boon would make him invincible. So he seeks the help of the Goddess of Learning, Saraswathi, who at the appropriate moment holds his tongue back. So instead of asking for endless life, he asks for endless sleep. Brahma too glady obliges by granting him this boon. The others are shell shocked and plead with Brahma, that such a boon is akin to death, so he modifies it a bit – saying he will sleep for 6 months and be awake for 6 months. However, he cautions that if he is woken up in the 6 month hibernation, he would become vulnerable.

Ok, now the story spans a few years, the main events of Ramayana are over and we are nearing the climax. Ravana fights Rama – and the brilliance of Rama’s archery makes him loose his divine weapons, chariot and Crowns, and he is left, unarmed, on the battlefield. Rama humbles him more by telling him to go back and come tomorrow with arms.

Smitten by this insult, Ravana commits a blunder by asking his troops to wake up Kumbakarana. Now this is what is depicted on the sculpture. The mountain like colossal figure of the sleeping giant, with soldiers using spears and swords to prod him, one horsemen is riding on him ( see the brilliance of the sculptor – he depicts the previous horse and rider, tired and getting off – towards the left) – we also have an elephant trumpeting into his ear and another demon blowing a conch into his ear.

Guess, my folks didn’t have to go through all this to wake me up.

Image courtesy: http://oldsite.library.upenn.edu/etext/sasia/aiis/architecture/prambanan/

First day, first show seats for Shiva’s Dance duel with kali

The previous posts on karaikkal ammai was very elaborate and short on sculpture, but had to be that way in order to introduce the great saint. Will try and make amends with this post of her sculpture, amazingly captured by the chola scuptor in Gangai Konda Cholapuram, Rajendra Chola’s amazing creation. ( An intro post for this is pending and will post shortly)

For a more detailed reading of the amazing temple, please visit Dr. Nagaswamy’s site where he has hosted his entire book on Gangai konda Cholapuram

http://tamilartsacademy.com/books/gcpuram

While the beauty of the dancing shiva, is a site to behold, his dance duel with kali in the forests of alangadu must have been quite a spectacle. Chola bronze natarajas are indeed masterpieces of art but the stone sculptor seems to have competed with his metal working counterpart to create this amazing sculpture of Adavallar ( Adal – dance, vallar – Kind or supreme exponent ) – aka Nataraja ( Nata – Dance, Raja – King).

A delightful figure of four armed dancing Siva – what a charming smile on his radiant face, holding kettle drum in the upper right arm and boon bestowing palm on the lower right. The upper left carries fire and the lower left is thrown across the body in gajahasta. The matted locks are flying in rhythm on either side. On the right is shown Ganga. By the left side of the leg is shown an eight armed dancing Kali, carrying drum, sword, trident, abhaya, dandahasta etc. A three legged figure, maybe Bringhi rishi ( we see his story in another post). He is dancing on a very fat musalagan ( the demon – or apasamara pursha – signifying ignorance – apasamara forgetfullness, purusha – man!!) and he is not been trodden to death – he is still very much alive ( see his head trying to lift himself up) but kept under check by his feet.
1924193719391942194519471950
Now, we come to the main object of this post, watch the panel just under the dancing shiva – Below the feet are three Ganas shown playing symbols and maddala, and then there is our Karaikkal Ammai, who on account of her devotion, was endowed this privileged position of being seated below the seat of the Lord, singing his Greatness.

On the west side wall is shown Surya on top. Subrahmanya seated on peacock is shown flying towards the Lord while Ganapati moves equally briskly on his rat. Further down is four armed Nandikesvara playing maddala. Chandra is shown on the top on the side wall to the east. The armed Goddess Parvati is leaning on a majestically looking bull which is a bit startled; she holds a lotus in her right arm.

The greatness of this composition is the expert depiction of emotions into stone – The nonchallant divine bliss and grace on the radiant face of the lord, the anger in the form of the bulging eyes of the dancing kali, the comic stance of the three legged bringi rishi, the enjoyment in the face of the shiva ganas and the sheer joy in Karaikkal ammai’s who is leaning up and joyfully clapping her hands, the calm grace of Parvathi compared to the bull which is a bit freaked by the dancing wrath of Kali ( watch is eye level , its seeing the fearsome face of kali)..what a magnificient creation.

Ok, have cut paste the above images to highlight the intricate details in this creation. Enjoy
19921994199619982000200220042006

Karaikkal ammai sang some of the most inspired verses on the dancing lord and especially about tiruvalangadu, quoting a few here ( ok, she has taken a ghost form – as you read in the previous posts, so her songs are a bit graphic)

11th tirumurai – 1st song

http://www.thevaaram.org/thirumurai_1/songview.php?thiru=11&Song_idField=11002&padhi=040&startLimit=1&limitPerPage=1&sortBy=&sortOrder=DESC


The breasts have dried up ; the nerves are bulging ;
Sunk are the eyes and hollow is the maw ;
Ruddy are the gums in the two rows of teeth ;
Two white teeth are jutting out ; long are;
The raised ankles : thus, even thus is she – a ghost ! ;
In the withered wood she abides screaming. ;
In that wilderness of a forest, with His flowing ;
Matted hair wafting in all the eight directions;
He – our Father -, dances carrying in His ;
Cool body, the fire. Behold Tiruaalangkaadu ! ;

Translation: S. A. Sankaranarayanan (2007)

22nd song

http://www.thevaaram.org/thirumurai_1/songview.php?thiru=11&Song_idField=11002&padhi=040&startLimit=22&limitPerPage=1&sortBy=&sortOrder=DESC

He sports a crescent in His matted crest ; He, for ever,
Dances His twirling dance ; His waist is cinctured
With a serpent. Lo, whoever, by His grace,
Is able to sing and dance out this decad
Of Karaikkaal Pey of fiery mouth and sharp teeth
That abides in the crematory,
Will be freed clean of all sins.
Translation: S. A. Sankaranarayanan (2007)

19th Song

http://www.thevaaram.org/thirumurai_1/songview.php?thiru=11&Song_idField=11002&padhi=040&startLimit=19&limitPerPage=1&sortBy=&sortOrder=DESC

It is a crematory where bodies burn crackling
And where lofty bamboos scatter white pearls !
There the huge and loud-mouthed ghouls
Of dry and dangling hair and tired bodies
Foregather and eat to their hearts’ content
The corpses ; it is in such a great crematory
The One of gramarye dances ; the Daughter
Of the Mountain witnesses this in wonder.
Translation: S. A. Sankaranarayanan (2007)

Got some better pictures
209320902096

All for a Mango – not the one you know, Karaikkal Ammai

The previous post of Karaikkal Ammai in cambodia, created quite a few responses. Many wanted to know more about her life and some on her weird features. Had left out that part in the previous post precisely to generate this interest. Her divine songs not withstanding, what better way to showcase her life story and answer all the questions by way of this tower sculpture from Tiruvalangadu temple. (thanks to Mr. V. Subramanian, who has helped me often with interesting verses from rich tamil bakthi literature)

First the sculpture, its a storyboard,showing the three main aspects of her life. From left to right, Her marriage, the mango creating the confusion and then her ascent to Shiva’s heavenly abode – Kailash, on her head!!!

Ok, the detailed story goes thus

( thanks – http://www.geocities.com/shivaperuman/karaikal.html)

In the prosperous town, Karaikkal belonging to the Chola kingdom, Punitavatiyar was born to a prosperous business man Danadattan . She grew to be a beautiful damsel and her beauty was compared to that of Goddess Lakshmi. As she grew up so did her devotion and love for Lord shiva and all his devotees.

In due course of time, she married a eligible businessman Paramatattan of Nagappatinam. They stayed in karaikkal and enjoyed all the pleasures of wedlock. The couple devoted much time in thier devotion to lord shiva and regularly served his devotees with good food and clothes.

Ok, enough of the happy days, paramatattan is given two delicious ( special) mangoes and he sends it to his wife through a servant intending to have it during his lunch. Just at that moment a hungry Saivite saint comes to her door, and since she had’nt yet prepared the side dishes, she served him plain rice with the mango ( since she had two, she must have felt her husband would have one and the other hers and hence gave hers away). The saint had his fill, blessed her and left.

Now, the husband gets back, sits down for lunch, finishes rice, side dishes and the one mango ( must be good eater like me) and since the fruit tasted heavenly, asks for the other one as well. This puts her in a fix and she goes inside as though to bring the fruit, her faith leads her to pray of the scared feet of Lord shiva -and lo behold, by the grace of her Lord , a mango drops into her hands. Full of devotion to the Lord for his infinite grace towards her, she serves the fruit to her husband.

But thats not it, the fruit ( being divine) tastes heavenly and the husband gets wind of something amiss. So he questions her, that this is not the other fruit, as this tastes out of this world. Fearing the worst, she speaks the truth. Her husband refuses to believe her and challenges her to repeat the feat. She goes inside and prays again to her lord and he who never fails his devoted subjects, graces her with another mango. She takes it to her husband but just as he takes it in his hand, it vanishes.

On seeing this he trembles with fear, and realises the godliness of his wife, but then the thought of her diviness, drew him away from her and he realised that he could not live with her anymore. So he tells her some story and goes off on a business trip never intending to return.

He lands in Pandya land, his voyages earning him lots of wealth and he decides to start life afresh. Sees a beautiful lady and marries her. They are blessed with a baby girl and he names her punithavathi in remembrance of his first wife.

she meantime, is still waiting for his return but news soon reaches her of his new life/wife. Her relatives take her to Pandya land, but on seeing her, her husband falls at her feet, saying how can he live with her now that she is a goddess – fit for worship.

On hearing her husband speaking like this, Punitavatiyar worshipped the feet of lord Siva in her mind and appealed to him to take away her physical frame which was united in wedlock to Paramatattan and bless her with the form of a ghost. Her prayers were answered and in front of the relatives and friends she got the form of a ghost. relatives wondered abd worshiped her in fear and left that place.

Punitavatiyar who got a ghostly form by the grace of God says with.’I also became one of the ghosts she sang ‘wonderful Tiru-antathi’. Then praising the qualities of Lord Siva she sang ‘Tiru-Irattai-Manimalai’.

Ever growing in devotion, she started journeying towards Tiruk-kailai, the abode of Lord Siva. Those who saw her went away from her in fear. But she thought thus : “It is sufficient if my Lord knows me, when these people do not know the truth of my having become ghost by the grace of Lord Siva. yet maybe seen in any form”. So thinking she craseed many northern states and turned her steps to kailas, and reached it. Not willing to place her feet on the sacred place, she moved along on her head.

When she thus reached the top of the mountain, Goddess, Uma wondered and asked Lord Siva about the approaching figure’s infinite love towards him. lord Siva said, “she is our devotee. She got ghostly form by my grace on her request to me.

When Punitavatiyar, in ghostly form reached him, Lord Siva called her ‘Ammai’ meaning mother. With joy she cried oh / Father / fell at his feet and worshipped him. From that moment, Punitavatiyar came to be known as the ‘Mother of Karaikkal.’ The Lord asked here what boon she wanted from him. She pleaded with God, “Oh Lord I pray for constant devotion to you. I must not have birth again, then I must be granted remembrance of you without lapse. I wish to stay at your feet always witnessing your cosmic dance”

Lord Siva granted her wishes and said that in Tiru-Alankatu she would see his dance can remain singing happily about him for ever. Accordingly she reached that place Tiru-Alankatu by walking on her head. Seeing the celestial dance of the Lord, she sang patikam(decade) beginning with the words ‘Konkai tiranki’. ‘ Enjoying the dance of the Lord and growing in devotion she sang another patikam, beginning with the words ‘Etti elavam’ How to praise Punitavatiyar who was called as mother by Lord Siva, the Father and Mother of all creation, and who was blessed to be at the lotus feet of Lord Siva for ever witnessing his divine dance? None can describe her ardent love towards Lord Siva.

Will anybody throw a beautiful harp out on the street

The previous post on the chola bronze in the Singapore museum, evinced lot of interest. Lots of freinds were eager to know about how the statue got there etc. Its true that most Museums around the globe have chola bronzes in their collections. Its a tribute to the master craftsmen for their endurance and also to many devoted people who helped to hide, bury these beauties deep into the ground ( there is a prescribed manner how this is to be done, during bad times)

Lots of times, these masterpieces take the wrong routes ending up in private collections and exhibits, the most famous one being the London Natraja case, where Dr. Nagaswamy expertly argued the case, stunning the world with his knowledge of chola bronzes and ensuring that the statue returned to home soil

Bio Data of Dr. Nagaswamy with the London Nataraja case:

OK, all that is fine, but what are we doing to the many splendid works of art that languish in India. Many are in dark cellars inside our museums, as hardly anyone visits them anymore, except the tourist and one off school educational tours. Much less can be said about them in their original residences. These are from xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx temple , pictures from Sri. Chandra of REACH Foundation:

The great poet Bharathi, immortalised by his divine compositions wrote thus…

O! Sivasakthi, the supreme creator of the Universe
You made me with sharp intellect and charm
But then, will you keep me in helpless poverty?
Will anybody throw a beautiful harp out on the street?

( tks to Dr Kannan of Min tamil for the extempore translation)

How true !!

Two amazingly beautiful 13th C chola bronzes, an impeccable Nataraja – who is all movement, grace – for he is Lord of destruction, but does it warrant keeping him amidst all this filth. The next is a sublime Shiva, if the previous form was all fluid motion, this is calm benevolence. Both left to contemplate on their plight on the ground, with white ants for company.

Do we realise our rich heritage?
( Sadly, the location xxxxxxxxxxxx out for safety reasons)

Fatal Attraction – for whom ( A guest post) ?

My friend Mr. Palaniappan Vairam, is a true gem. The right words to describe his work would be unique, being without a like or equal,unusual. I chanced on his initial posts by accident and we chatted up and thus began our almost daily interaction. One look at the subject of his blog is enough to convince you as to why i choose the above lines to describe him and his work – on Tamil Sangam works.

Vairam’s Karka nirka blog

This is not a guest post in the correct sense, for he has already posted this in his blog. But since this style suited mine, i kind of high jacked the post and arm twisted him – for how else do you showcase a key event in Ramayan, sung so beautifully by the king of tamil poetry to be so aptly sculpted in far off Parambanan ( Jog Jakarta – Indonesia) – there are many more lovely Ramayan sculptures in parambanan, which we will see in subsequent posts. Over to Vairam

I choose just a single stanza of Kamban’s Ramavatharam today:

The stags and all the other deer who saw it
came toward it with desire as great as the ocean,
like all those who fall to whores without love,
skilled at elaborately deceiving heart.

Poet: Kamban

Translated by George L. Hart and Hank Heifetz

The Situation:

Marichan, an uncle of Ravana is disguised as a golden deer to woo Rama and Lakshmana out of the way, so that Ravana can capture Sita. So Marichan takes a form of a golden deer.

The Beautiful Simile:

When the golden deer appears, all the stags and other deers around it just flock towards the golden deer with great desire/lust /passion. He employs a brilliant simile here to describe the situation. Men in old times used to visit courtesans who were well versed in all arts. They knew how to satisfy a mans need. The men usually think these women really love them and pour their wealth on them. From the courtesans perspective, they just use their art to deceive the man and earn the riches. Kamban gives this simile to make us understand that the golden deer was too beautiful to believe, a beauty that will attract every one who sees it without any doubt and yet it was deceptive beauty. When some thing seems to be too good , surely something must be suspicious about it, eg. share market, when shares sky rocket in their value suddenly there comes a jolt of a market scandal. But most
people fall for the too good to resist offer. Kamban gives you this stanza to point out that even great mind of Rama had fallen for ‘the too good to resist’.

And some thing in the style of my good friend Mr.Vijay Kumar, a sculpture from Prambanan, Java , to end my post today. Such a loively depiction of the Rama chasing the deer, letting fly his arrow and in his dying moments Maareecha gaining his true demonic form.

dont follow the ‘too good to resist’!

Vairam
(source:http://www.mountainelm.com/in-rama1.JPG)

From Tamil Nadu to Cambodia – Karaikkal Ammai


This amazing sculpture is from Khao Preah Vihear, Cambodia. We have already seen a few amazing sculptures from this, today we are seeing a very unique lintel freeze of Shiva as Nataraja. From a distance you can see the lovely depiction of shiva with his ten hands, creating a feel of the cosmic dance.

As we explore more, under him, we see a beautiful depiction of Vishnu as Sesha sayana – reclining of his seprent anantha, with his consort lakshmi lovingly massaging his feet ( badly damaged though). You can also see brahma seated on his lotus pedestal that emerges from Vishnu’s navel. To their right are two cute parrots, and on top of them a mythical beast and a rider. To their right we see two monkeys?

Thought of stopping at this, but as we look closer at the dancing Shiva, we see two spectators ardently enjoying his dance, though their heads have broken off – the statue maybe headless but not clueless, the body parts of the person on to his right – show that its a lady. Now our task becomes is simple, how many ladies have been granted the privilege of watching shiva dance – it could only be the famous Karaikkal ammaiyar. We have some magnificent bronzes from the cholas. Leaves us in no doubt as to who is depicted. We will see the legend of this great devotee in a coming post, but she did ask for her beauty to be taken away by the lord. Maybe this was part of the disfigurement. She is often called as the ghost lady.

We will see in another post, the detailed life history of the great lady and why she got the ghost form




But how did such a very south Indian character ( sadly even many tamils would not be able to remember her) reach Cambodia. Could it be the handiwork of our craftsmen, chances seem remote as the facial features of these sculptors are more south east asian than indian. Maybe they were trained under the same canons of art or the religious scriptures, verses, literature traveled that far.

images courtesy
http://www.sundial.thai-isan-lao.com/phanom_rung.html

Exotic Meat for the Lord – A monitor Lizard

We had earlier seen how Kannappar defied conventional practise by wearing sandals. Today we are going to see him present a monitor lizard to Shiva. Again, the Tanjore Big temple sculpture – the deeds of the shaivite saints so en captured the fertile mind of Raja Raja Chola, that he loved their amazing lives and depicted them on the walls of his great temple.
1880188718901884
Its a small sculpture, more like a story board of sculptures depicted the story of Saint Kannappar, but what interested me was this depiction of him presenting this meat ( being a hunter you can see him still clinging on to his boy and arrow, plus his hunting dog comes into the frame as well). The divine bliss resplendent on his radiant face, as he, with total devotion, presents the meat to the shiva lingam.

Is there a devaram reference to this,ofcourse there is, how else would the chola sculpture depict such an act!!
Eleventh Thirumurai

As per the verse out of his extreme love for the lord, he presents a fat uncooked lizard to him.

For more of this amazing story and depiction in the big temple, please read this lovely post of Mr. Gokul ( watch the Priest Siva Gochariar, hiding behind the tree, in the climax scene)

Gokul’s lovely post

Images courtesy: www.varalaaru.com

Enchanting Ascetic, Mesmerising Mohini

One of our viewers commented on the post of Sri Dhivakar, as to why despite lots of Shiva Bhikshadana forms being present, why i chose to depict only a few? A very good question and the answer is, inorder for the depth and beauty of his post to reach the audience, i kind of underplayed the sculptural content. Well it does give me a chance to run a sequel to that post.

So here you have Shiva Bhikshanda, you heard the story previously, now see how the master sculptor not only depicted the main form but also brought in the entire scene into his sculpture.

The Kailasantha temple in kanchi, is the grand creation of the great pallava kind Raja simhan, the temple was addressed as the big stone temple, but Great Raja Raja chola himself. Coming from someone who built the grandest of temples it quite a compliment and its not an exaggeration.. Every panel in the magnificent creation is sheer poetry and a delight to watch. Lets take the great shiva bhikshadana panel in long shot. Its beautifully framed by the famous prancing lion yaalis of raja simha. What grace and what artistic brilliance. Before we go into the main sculpture, we can see the left hand index finger of shiva pointing up – whats is it pointing to, the amazing dance of shiva ( see the similarity in the depiction to the one we saw in the mallai olakaneshwara temple)

Ok, lets come back to the composition. Shiva is the charming ascetic, the form of the sculpted youth exudes youth, vitality, the nakedness of his lower body, the grace of his bent knee, the slight flex of his left foot with the sandals, the broad shoulders, the nonchalant manner in which is right hand rests on his staff, the begging bowl stuck into his palm, the mischievous grin on his face – all portray youthful exuberance.


Not being content with this masterly depiction, the sculptor continuous with his story board, two rishi wives, are charmed by shiva, captivated by his grace and prostrate at his feet. Seeing this an angry rishi is rushing at shiva, raising his left hand to strike him.

Is there a reference in verse to this, yes there is.
4th Tirumurai

has the instruments such as kokkarai, cymbals and vīṇai to measure time when the youth dances.
adorns his waist with chank beads.has a cobra of five hoods.
remove the snake-bite, 5 he is in vakkari a shrine nāka īccaravaṉār has a form in which the waist is naked without cloth and caused the wives of the sages of tārukāvaṉam to be infatuaged with love.
Translation: V.M.Subramanya Aiyar–Courtesy: French Institute of Pondichery / EFEO (2006)

Ok, but what about the Mohini we saw earlier -thats from the Kanchi Devarajaswami temple pillar. Her you can again see the skill of the sculptor and more so his playfull intelligence.

The rishis are not only drunk on the bewitching charm of Vishnu as mohini, but are also getting drunk on the beverage which she is serving. They are thus shown in various stages of intoxication.

Is there a reference in verse to this, yes there is

2nd Tirumurai


you spread yourself into many living beings and worlds you absorbed them into you at the end of the world you created all the living beings which had a short respite, to be born again, in order that they may be get respite for a short while from their Karmams yourself and the noble-minded Māl who bent the wild lime tree got separated and joined together you desired the cremation ground where corpses come and felt joy in staying there
Translation: V.M.Subramanya Aiyar–Courtesy: French Institute of Pondichery / EFEO (2006)

Mallai Olakkaneswara temple

170116991757
Today we are going to see a unique structure in mallai, sadly not many go to view this amazing place, not just for its beauty but also for its great view. With the new lighthouse ( which itself was commissioned in 1887 !) offering a nice offset, lot of people do capture this structure albeit in long shots. Kind of Old vs new but its more sad since this is probably one of the most unique structures of Mallai.

Why we call it unique, is because its a structural temple and not a rock cut/cave temple like the rest of the sculpture and unlike the shore temple, its build on top of a small hillock. Today the structure is in pretty sad state – nature and the british ( using it as a lighthouse) have taken its toll on the structure. ( images courtesy British library)16891686
168016831692
From the pictures you could get a good idea on the location, it can reached by climbing a flight of steps adjoining the Mahishasuramardhini cave.
1724172217651762
But the temple is still braving the odds and has some very unique sculptures. The rajasimha lions / vyala’s are there on the corner pillars of Garbha Griham and ardha mandabam, and a few of our favorite shiva ganas – amazingly funny and endearing characters these dwarfs.( like children waiting for their dad to come back from work with trinkets)
16971703170717511754
Now the name, i learnt it after reading Mr. Swaminathan’s work on mallai ( shortly coming out as a book and a must read)

Quote”
We understand that it was the practice in those days of collecting a measure of oil (Uzhakku-ennai) from the community for the permanent light of this temple. Thus it came to be called Uzhakku-Ennai-Isvarar Temple. Olakkaneswra is its corruption is a view.”
1705 170917651767
There are three relief sculptures on the outer walls: on the south is Dakshinamurti, Siva as a teacher, heralding a practice in all Siva temple then on, Siva as the divine dancer ( visitors to Kanchi kailasanatha would recognise this )on the eastern wall and finally, on the north side, an exquisite relief of Siva subduing Ravana who had the temerity to lift Mount Kailasa.”
169517181711
The beauty of this sculpture is amazing, you can still see the crescent moon gracing shiva’s locks and the scream emanating from ravana’s mouths.

Sadly our modern day Kings and their consorts have decided that these creations should be graced with their names as well. A thousand year heritage being defaced thus, cant they find better avenues to exhibit their love.
17131716

( Thanks to Mr. Swaminathan for taking the time to do the Mallai trip for Ponniyin selvan friends and pictures by Sri. Shriram, Sri. Plastics Chandra and Sri. Vinjamoor Venkatesh)

She came to life and I became metal

We have mostly seen stone sculptures till now, just taking a break to showcase another master creation – in bronze, not just any bronze but a famed chola bronze.

A chance Advt in the local Tv channel led me to go to the Asian civilizations museum in Singapore last june (07). Btw Its located just off raffles MRT across the Singapore river.

The entrance fees were not steep ( sgd 8 for adults and 4 for children) -I was greeted at the entrance itself by a large cut out of a chola bronze – an 11th C Uma Parameshwari. ( my son strikes a pose)

There were a couple of other chola bronzes ..incl one of young Sambandar dancing. There was also a beautiful stone sculpture of Subramaniar ( Chola Period).

After having seen the cutouts of the bonze, couldn’t wait to see the piece in person. So i kind of rushed through all the other exhibits and almost ran to the main hall. The piece de resistance – the Uma paramershwari idol was a special exhibit

I was stunned into silence on the viewing the exhibit. True you have often seen temple bronzes and Panchaloka idols, the small sized but delightfully detailed processional images – but to view a true
masterclass authentic chola Bronze, cast a 1000 years ago,by the lost wax method,a painstaking yet breath taking process – wherein each image is unique, crafted by the expert fingertips of the master sculptor first into bee wax, then covered is special grade sand/clay, fired then in a kiln that melts the wax, leaving the sand cast, then hot metal is poured and then the cast is broken – that’s what I meant by each image is unique.

The exquisite green sheen lent it an aura of mystic, transcendental beauty, transporting me back in time, I couldn’t just step aside, my total attention riveted and arrested,stunned,for a full ten minutes, maybe such was the greatness of the immovable object in front of me that it poured its characteristics into me,locking me into it,turning me into a statue. My bodily functions, my senses all ceased to respond, all energies focusing instead to highlight the visual overdose that was overpowering, yet casting me into a sense of sheer bliss. The magnificence of this piece was breathtaking yet at the same time poetic, a strange aura of genuine happiness, of seeing the handiwork of a gifted artist over 1000 years ago, surviving and continuing to do its duty – of blending art with spirituality, the mastery of craftsmanship – the statue was at best 2 feet in height, but the detailing was exquisite, the grace and calm of her face and love in the smile,the sharpness of her nose, offsetting the immaculate eye brows, the enchanting eyes, the lovely locks of her hair falling into rolling tresses over her shoulders, the intricate ornaments on his neck, the grace of her poise – the gentle sway accentuating the narrow waist, the beautiful and elaborate work on her lower garments,her hands and fingers bring life to the figurine, she came to life and I became metal. That is the power that a chola bronze can wield over you.

http://www.acm.org.sg/exhibitions/eventdetail.asp?eventID=184