In search of Angada – no not the Vaanara Prince

God knows when mankind’s obsession with ornaments began. From cowry shells to pottery beads to Palm lead ear rings, there has been quite a steady progression, till the yellow metal with its gem stone companions decided to up the ante. After that there was no looking back but today we are going back in time, when Rulers donated elephant loads of Gold and not stopping at seeing how their lockers would look like, we are going to look at how they dressed up their Gods. Why this sudden obsession you may ask, the objective is to seek out a rare ornament, a reclusive jewel, that shares its name with the famous Prince of Kishkindha – Angad.

We are aided in our search by two magnificent Chola bronzes – both from Newyork – one from the Metropolitan Museum and the other from the Brooklyn Museum.

Both are dated around the 10th C CE, we have Shiva as Chandrasekara and Vishnu – both are in Samabanga ( straight profile) with their characteristic attributes in their upper hands ie. Shiva his Axe and Deer while Vishnu has his Discus and Conch.

The Brooklyn Museum has a interesting account of how it sourced this fantastic bronze ( thanks to the link for the photo credits)

We will start with the Vishnu from the Met first.

The crown – Krita is exquisite and there is a small band that goes just at its base – this is called the Pattika. Depending on the kind of embellishments that go on it – it can be called a Rathna Pattika etc.

Being a Chola bronze, assigned to the 10th C CE ( 970 CE – am not sure how such a sure date can be assigned), the sacred thread falls in a pretty straight forward manner over the chest to the waist ( compare with the early Vishnu Bronzes post where the thread goes over the right forearm – called the niveeta manner of wearing it )

Then comes the characteristic stomach band – not essentially a belt to hold the lower garment but more like fashion accessory worn just around the floating rib – the Udara Bandana,. ( btw, the belt is called the Kati Bandana)

We cross over to the hands to see if we can spot the elusive ornament. This arm band is called the Keyura.

Thanks to Rajesh & karthik’s excellent illustrations on their site Aakruti , we have access to some wonderful Iconographic illustrations to help us understand them better.

The things to note are the belt buckle – the Simha Mukha and the lose stylishly flowing U shaped lower garment is the Kati Vastra.

Notice the right hand held in the protective Abhaya Hasta

The left hand hangs loosely and rests on the left hip in a stylish mudra – called the Katyavalambita pose with the hand resting as the Kati Hasta.

Still no sign of the Angada?

Let us see if we can spot it in the Chandrasekara Bronze.

The right hand is held in the Abhaya Hasta as in the Vishnu bronze but the left hand is different.

There are two very similar poses, the Kataka hasta and the Simha karna Hasta.

There is not much between the two, except for a slight extension on the middle finger in the Simha Karna. The Kataka Hasta however, is normally seen in bronze figurines of Goddesses, usually to hold a flower ( fresh flowers inserted in the hands of the deity). So, when we analyse the posture, we do spot the slight extension on the middle finger, we could possibly identify as Simha Karna. ( Sri Gopinath Rao in Elements of Hindu Iconography kind of uses both almost interchangeably – need to refer more works to differentiate / define)

Now for our elusive Angada – its a arm ornament, but we did not spot any so far. Well, its because it is well hidden. We actually need to go behind to notice it.

Do you spot it – yes, its the Angada. An upper arm ornament !

Picture courtesy: Aaakruti, Brooklyn Museum and the Metropolitan Museum.

An amazing bronze of Kalinga nardhana

Prasad is no new comer to us, we have seen his gifted art in our pages many times. But today he takes on a new avatar and coinciding with Janmastami – the birthday of Krishna, he teams up with Ashok, who has been kind enough to share his wonderful pictures of an amazing Bronze, to create a post on the famed Kalinga Nardhana of Oothukadu.

There is no introduction required to the immense and sublime brilliance of Chola artisans of the tamil country. Fully knowing that words cannot capture the essence of my experience, I shall try to lead the readers towards having this divine experience themselves. I shall today humbly attempt to describe, share and perhaps motivate some of you to enjoy this immense wealth even more keenly. I begin with an invocation to the almighty and pray to him to bestow upon me the power to describe what I feel as something that can be better experienced than described.

Today we shall see a sculpture of kalinga Mardhana Krishna, an epic dance to subdue a snakes arrogance captured most exceptionally in metal.

Let us look at the sculpture first as a whole, he is represented as performing his divine dance atop the head of Kalinga, evidently teaching a lesson to the monstrous snake about humility and at the same time showing to the world who he really is. The chola artist are masters in capturing action, its force and also encapsulating a story into it. They are so good at it that one look at the sculpture and the ensuing sequence of actions is completely captured in minds eye.

So let us follow an aarthi starting at the sculptures right foot., only in the opposite direction in which an aarthi it is generally performed. Let us start appreciating the mastery of the sculptures by looking at it not just as a static pose. It is actually a part of the sequence of actions and the perhaps captures the force of the moment most magnificently.

Observe the raised foot, can you now visualize how the foot will land on the head of the snake in a few seconds? Can you feel the immense pressure that step is going to exert, not a death blow but something that will send strong message to the arrogant snake.

Perhaps this is how it might land on the snakes head.

Let us now observe the left hand, grasping the tail of the snake ever slow elegantly. Please try to imagine how your hand will be when you are trying to hold something heavy (wriggling uncontrollably) at shoulder height, Imagine how stiff and strained the muscles will be, imagine the discomfort, but what do we see here?

A bent hand, holding the tail of the snake as if it were a piece of silk, can you now vizualize that this very posture indicates child’s play. To him this snake is no big deal, all he needs to do is hold this giant snake’s tail like a small piece of cloth. However, when you see the whole composition in context, you will understand the complexity of depiction vs actual modelling dynamics.

Next we observe the face. The bewitching smile indicates that he is not intending to hurt the snake nor does it show an ounce of arrogance, anger, strain or pride, all it radiates is pure child like glee. Also observe that he is not looking at the snake nor is he looking at anything specific, his gaze spans the whole universe. His face is slightly bent, here again we need to visualize the force or the grace of his dance. His head sways gently behind before he stamps his foot again on the head of the snake.

How the classical dancer’s body moves, the slight sway of the head.

Finally let us rest our eyes upon his abhaya hasta. It is often said that the eye sees what it wants to see. To his cowherd friends it conveys the message not to worry and that he is in control. To the innumerable saints and gods it tells them that he is there to protect. To the arrogant snake and those who seek to destroy peace and harmony it shows a sign of warning! (ready to slap them). To the family of the snake it shows that he has heard their pleas and granted mercy. And thousand more meaning that I am unable to elaborate simply because my language inhibits me.

The dynamics of this unique bronze upon closer scrutiny lends upon the viewer the fact that there is small gap between his left feet and the head of the snake – so the entire weight of Krishna is on the hand holding the tail – a lasting memory of the bronze craftsmen and his amazing craft.

I now complete this post with a faith that I have been able to express what I experienced when I saw this sculpture. Also I wish to take the liberty to put forward a honest plea to the readers. Our heritage is EXTREMELY precious, to have survived the innumerable invasions, greed of men and the force of nature by itself is a miracle. I urge all the readers to henceforth make a determined effort to look at the idols in altogether new angle. Each sculpture has so many things to reveal, each sculpture is abound with energy, pain, toil and passion of the ancient sculptors. To preserve them is not only our responsibility but our sacred duty.

Please appreciate these timeless marvels. Always remember that it is not a gift by your ancestors but a loan given to you by your children. We need to give it back to the future generations with accrued interest. 🙂

Special thanks to Mr Ashok and Ms.Neeraja Srinivasan ( Dancer) for allowing us the use of the photos.

As a special gift Ashok share this.

All the views above are purely based on intuitive feeling of the writer and may or may not agree upon with scientific and actual meaning according to shilpa shastra. The writer apologizes for any mistakes in the content and wishes to declare that they are solely his views and have been caused due to ignorance. Many thanks to Vijay for the providing an opportunity to express my views and a big round of applause for his commendable efforts to bring forth our rich heritage. May this initiative snowball into a big revolution. Vanakam.

The earliest Vishnu Bronzes and their current state

“Ignorance is Bliss” they say and so too ” A little knowledge is a dangerous thing”! The real meaning of these two dawned on me via the events that unfurled over the last couple of months.

A fortuitous visit to London made me avail of an exciting visit to the Museums in London and the honeymoon with bronzes continued in their splendid confines. The little initiation into Bronzes led me to the smaller exhibits as the early bronzes were diminutive in size but enormous in value – not just in $ terms but the wealth of information they held within them.

The object that caught my attention was an early Vishnu bronze, dated to the 9th C. The beauty of the exhibit was matched by the quality of the display thereby offering it the respect it deserved.

The characteristics of this bronze beauty, the pronounced Srivatsa mark, the Yagnopavitha etc give it a late Pallava or early Chola date. Why early Chola is simple to understand – firstly due to its smaller size, the Prayoga Chakra etc.

Why late Pallava needed further study. ( we will study them all in detail in the coming posts). This is where the pursuit started to find bronzes that would predate the above beauty.

Once again, the 1963 publication Bronzes of South India – P.R. Srinivasan, came to help. The earliest Vishnu Bronzes assigned to the Pallava period – 8th C CE are the Perunthottam bronzes ( Mayavaram region).

The earliest of course is this beauty – dated to the early half of the 8th C CE

The other follows closely – second half of the 8th C CE.

They are so important that their features are studied in 5 pages in the seminal work by Sri P.R. Srinivasan. Before, we dwell into that, the current location mentioned is what sent my heart racing – Tanjore Art Gallery ! It set my mind racing as there was no memory of seeing such an exhibit there. Checked with our friends and the answer again was in the negative. Not willing to give up, i scanned through the entire database of images from the Tanjore Art Gallery and well past 4 am hit pay dirt in Satheesh’s contributions.

Yes, there they were, relegated to the last row of an unnamed cabinet, with just some numbers painted on them, amidst later statues. Do you spot them now?

I wanted to make sure that it was indeed these priceless exhibits that are suffering this ignominy – so I sought the help of friends and Satheesh again obliged by making the trip to the gallery. This time, they seemed in a much sadder state – with some broken plastic thrown into the cabinet as well. But, yes, there is no doubt they are indeed the earliest known Vishnu Bronzes of South India.

What sickens me is the lackadaisical attitude, am sure that any scholar of repute would know the value of such an exhibit. Infact, the above mentioned book is on sale at the Chennai Museum and its first Hindu article are these bronzes ( following Buddhist statues). I hope someone will help to take this to the notice of the authorities and help to set up a proper display befitting the stature of these priceless treasures.

Coming back to study the bronzes, its really an interesting topic. I would first like to throw up some early Stone standing sama bhanga Vishnu’s for your reference – The famous Vishnu from the shrine sculptured in relief in the Mallai great penance panel, the Vishnu from the Adhi varaha Mandabam, The Harihara from the Dharamaraja Ratha ( thanks Saurabh for the two photos), the puzzling Vishnu from Kilamavilangai cave ( Thanks Shashwath).

The last row and last bench has always been my place and we will spend more time analysing these treasures of the back bench shortly.

To be continued….

How to distinguish between Sri Devi and Bhu Devi

There are always trick questions and this is one such. When you murthis with multiple consorts how would you distinguish between them. Are there standard right left positioning – like Vishnu with Sridevi and Bhudevi, how would you distinguish between them. You might ask, why to seek, but then each are expected to bless you with a different gift hamper.

This is especially true when only one is found as part of a buried horde. The answer is pretty simple of course, Iconographic guidelines stipulate that Sridevi always comes with a Kuchabandha or breast band, whereas Bhudevi is without.

Let us test this out in. The Vishnu cave ( Olipathi vishnu griham) in Malaiyadipatti has a depiction of Vishnu with his consorts.

Lets step in closer to view the costumes of the two ladies.

You can clearly make out the distinctions between the two of them.

Let us know see this wonderful 10 C CE bronze currently on exhibit at the London Museum.

We will study the evolution of the Vishnu bronze images including a few early period bronzes shortly, but for the purpose of today’s study, lets just analyse the distinction in wearing the Kuchabandha.

Lets go closer to Sridevi

You can see that she clearly wears the Kuchabhanda.

Now for Bhudevi, who doesn’t wear it.

Now, comes the small niggle. The display board under Bhudevi reads as ” Here she wears the characteristic Kuchabandha or breast band‘ which is wrong. She is not wearing in this bronze nor does she ever portrayed as wearing under iconographic canons.

Hope the authorities in the London Museum can make this small correction.

250th post. Someone has to swallow the bitter poison

It has been an extraordinary journey for me and must thank all those who have stood by me and traveled along with me on this incredible odyssey. Yes, we are coming up with the 250th post today. They are all in my hearts and though i mention only one today – each and everyone of them is dear to the cause. Sri Maravanpulavu K. Sachithananthan is the force behind the effort to see the Thevaram verses translated into so many languages via his site and many a times, have used his search engine to pickup verses to compliment posting here. So it was my honor to ask him to pen a few words about the spectacular event which is captured in the Bronze sculpture we are to see today.

In the previous post, we saw the churning of the Milk ocean. Such a massive operation akin to today’s multi billion dollar projects would not have gone without hindrances. One such instance was as the intensity of churning increased, the mountain going round back and forth, the Devas signifying all that is good pulling it on one side and the Asuras or demons pulling from the side of the bad. Though the mind yearns for oneness with God, the mortal pleasures pull you back into their midst. The mind never rests in peace permanently, as it is under the control of the senses and ego. We learn from a mistake and even before we repent, the next desire seems to engulf us. Such is the state of our lives as we swing from good and bad.

This is brilliantly captured in the Verses of Sri Abirami Battar in verse 7 of Abhirami Andadhi

Ruling my life, you always have,
Churn it like curd,
Birth after birth,
In miseries great,
And take me to salvation great,

This could be a divine game as well and the interplay gets repeated many a time. So too in the churning episode, instead of the immortal life giving portion, out came the deadliest venom, threatening to end all the worlds. So what does Shiva do ?

Lets look at this rare and magnificent bronze currently in the Chennai Museum. Its that of Vishapaharana and is stylistically dated to the 9th Century – Pallava change over phase to Chola.

We had earlier seen the Pallava Somaskanda bronze of a bronze that is dated older to this current one. we shall see as to why this is considered a later work.

The expression on the face of Siva is what makes this bronze such a beauty.

The contemplation on his face replaces the usual bliss and joy, as he is evaluating his next action. the third eye is clearly seen.

The formation of an almost conical head dress or jatamakuta gets this bronze a slightly later date than the somaskanda as do several other features. The Dathura flower and moon are present, as well as a new stylistic ornament – a king of multipronged lance in the center of the headdress is seen for the first time.

The Torso is delicately modeled with the slight curves of waist aesthetically captured. The yagnopavitha is beautifully knotted in the front and splits into three with one prominently passing over the right arm ( as per some scholars a definitive Pallava feature)
The Udrabanda is embellished with simple repeating motifs.

The upper part of arms is fashioned more like thick tubes and when compared to the lower part – which is splendidly crafted, shows the early nature where the craftsmen is battling the problem of multiple arms.

However, the lower part of the arms are exceptionally crafted and the arm bands ( keyuras) are matched to the crest jewel. We saw the rather plan looking ornaments of the Okkur Nataraja earlier. Compare that to this,

The two upper arms hold the Axe and the Deer respectively and see how the Axe is now held in the palm rather than with just the two fingers earlier.

The deer is quite a darling, clasping its front legs to pray to its Lord – is it asking him not to do the act that he is contemplating or knowing what he is about to do, praying to him for that ?

The artist has shown his masterly understanding of form, of skin, cloth, supple muscle with tender skin, its folds in the waist and legs. The right leg extended downwards is quite a masterly study.

We see a intricately carved ukramuka belt clasp with the edges of his dress flowing out of it. The image itself must have been cast for use as a processional deity,as you can see the strong base and attachments on the side to secure for ease of lifting.

The flowing tresses of Shiva fall beautifully over his shoulders and he has stylistically anointed himself with two flower on each.

The brilliance of the styling of the hair is seen more splendidly as we swing to the other side of the bronze.

Once again, the appearance of the Siras chakra – a later feature helps the craftsmen to ply the locks into a magical spread. He even make one lock of hair flow over the clasp of the neck chain.

They continue right up to his shoulder, beautifully curling up.

All that apart the most vital aspect of this bronze is shown in the two lower hands.

The left hand is holding a magnificent Cobra which has his huge hood open and is looking up at him.

Maybe signifying the potent nature of the poison which he is holding on the right hand.

The gravity of the situation warrants the serene calm of the whole composition.

He is ready to swallow the bitter poison for the good of all. He is Shiva as Vishapaharana. The blue poison is passing through his neck, coloring his tonsils. The Thevaram Hymns abound in the references to his blue colored neck.

What happened next, we will see in the next post.

Our salutations to the team behind the effort and do show your support for such noble efforts of Sri Maravanpulavu.

Possibly the earliest depiction of the Ananda Thandava of Shiva in bronze- Okkur Natesa

The study of bronzes is an addictive passion. Once you have laid you eyes on an exquisite Chola bronze, there is no antidote. But, the flames of this passion are difficult to feed, for its not easy to lay your eyes on them – when in worship they are brought out clad in all sorts of paraphernalia leaving almost next to nothing to view, and when they are back in their abode – they are jailed ( for safety!). That leaves out museum visits as the best possible places to study them, and thanks to the hundreds of buried bronzes that have been found in treasure troves, most Museums have a few on display. While a few lucky museums are bestowed with the custody of hundreds…One such is the Chennai Egmore Museum. Sadly, the problem posed by the lighting and the glass cases remain a hardy deterrent, but then the largest problem – is the lack of awareness and information on how to enjoy them – what to look for, how to look. So, today, thanks to the wonderful book – Bronzes of South India ( once again) by Sri. P. R. Srinivasan, we embark on a study of the famed Okkur Natesa – possibly the earliest attempt by a bronze stapathi at refining the Ananda Thandava form of Shiva and a precursor to the now famed Chola Nataraja.

The dating of this bronze ( as usual) is a point of contention with experts giving early 9th C CE dates to mid 10th C CE. But the consensus is that this is possibly one of the earliest forms of the Dancing Aspect of Shiva signifying the Ananda Thandava. So lets, see the characteristic features of this bronze that justify this ` early’ tag.

The two most distinct aspects of this bronze are the appearance of the Orb or Prabha – beautifully encircling the main form and the lotus pedestal.

Before we go into the specifics, lets study the Ananda rasa in this composition – so beautifully brought forth by the artist – despite the 1000 years and wear n tear…you can still see the divine sublime smile.

its very interesting to note that there is a suggestion of a third eye and the mismatched ear rings – there is a large Patra Kundala on the left ear while the right ear seems to have a very small ear clip ( the book mentioned above doesn’t talk of this ear clip)

The headdress of Shiva is very similar to the one we saw in the Pallava Somaskanda – with the Datura flower and crescent moon.
The round protrusion on the crest would be a skull and above it an ornament of feathers ( peacock?)

The neck ornaments are pretty ordinary with two necklaces, but the center piece of the second one is interesting. The larger necklace is obviously made of Rudraksha beeds with a very rare animal ( tiger) tooth pendant.

We will deal with the spreading locks in more detail later on, but what is interesting to note that this is the first time ( in bronze) the locks of Shiva spread out as he dances. They are pretty plain with no ornaments and noted absence of the depiction of any form of Ganga ( mermaid). They are intelligently fixed to the Orb for greater structural strength.

Shiva is shown with four arms and the arms separate at the shoulder joint itself ( not at the elbows – this is stated as one of the early characteristics of Pallava bronzes and hence a later date – Chola period – for this particular bronze). The raised feet has still not come very high up as the later depictions.

The anklets are cute with small bells attached to them and maybe you can actually hear them clang as he dances.

The clothing is pretty simple, with a two stringed sacred thread ( yagnopavitham) and a thick waist cloth ( uttariya) which is simply knotted over the stomach. The designs on the cloth are visible to this day !

The upper hands are stunningly crafted, one holding the Drum and the other the pot of fire – see how realistically the pot is delicately held in the tips of the fingers.

The lower right hand has a ascetically coiled snake around it and is in Abhaya Hasta.

If anyone should point out anything in this wonderful bronze – it could be the modeling of the lower hands and the thin thighs, which is more than made up by the beautiful depiction of Muyalakan sporting playfully with a large cobra.

However, the true beauty of this bronze lies when we go around to the back.

The fantastic portrayal of how the locks of hair form and flow is stunning. You can even see the clasp used to fasten the necklace.

Here comes the other clue as to the early nature of this bronze. The lack of Siraschakra or the ring behind the head holding the hair locks.

Interesting also to note the way the lion cloth is wound and yet he is wearing a kind of shorts as well.

The thing about the orb is the way the flames are naturally depicted – even though they sprout around the orb, the flames shoot straight up like how a natural flame would point vertically up even when held to oneside.

Truly a masterpiece.

An Unique Pala Bronze – in Melaikkadambur – Part 1

Today we are going to see a very rare and unique bronze from a spectacular temple. Kadambur brings back fond memories to all History buffs ( to be read as fans of Sri Kalki’s Ponniyin Selvan). We visited Melaikkadambur an year ago !

It was the first day of our tour and we were pushing ourselves to complete this splendid temple before heading for our night halt at Chidambaram ( 30 kms away). It was already dark by the time we reached its gates and the dark clouds were threatening to open up anytime. The temple was getting ready for Prathosham the next day.

But then, i can see you asking, why it took a year to feature the same !

Two reasons – one, Sri Raja Deekshithar had done such a superlative task of documenting this temple, that i was corresponding with him to feature the same here. Unfortunately, fate intervened and the great soul left us. We are working on translating his post and featuring it here shortly. Second reason, was this bronze. He would be taken out only for Prathosha Pooja and despite all our pleadings, all we could get was a photo of the same from the temple board !

However, thanks to the net, managed to track down Sri Vijay the Managing Trustee of the temple via his site
Kadambur Temple
Regarding the origins of this temple check out

Kadambur Temple Puranam in illustrations

For starters, the temple is Amrithakadeshwarar Temple or Melaikkadambur temple. The current structure is assigned to the reign of Kulottunga Chola I (1075 -1120 C.E.). Regarding its architecture and sculptures, we will wait to feature the post of Sri Raja Deekshitar, and proceed to view the wonderful and Unique bronze first up.

This magnificent bronze is called Dasa Buja ( ten handed) Rishaba ( bull or on the bull) thandava murthy ( dancer!)

Lets take a closer look at the beauty.

The striking feature of this bronze is the high pedestal, with straight line edges and the characteristic plate fixed behind as the aureole with the flames emanating out.

Eminent scholar Sri Nagasamy writes thus about this bronze, ” The temple also houses several processional images of exquisite beauty, consecrated in the time of Kulottunga chola. The collection also includes one metal image of Siva dancing on the back of Nandi and surrounded by Ganesa, Subrahmanya, Bringi, Nandi, Bhairava and ganas. This particular image is from Bengal made in the time of the Pala rulers who were contemporaries of the Cholas of Tamilnad. This metal image belongs to 9th – 10th cent. It might have been brought by the Rajaguru of Kulottunga who hailed from Bengal. It is one of the finest and early bronze image of the Pala dynasty but found in Tamilnad. It also establishes a close link between Bengal and Chidambaram in the Chola times.”

Kadambur Temple Dr RN article

Lets compare this bronze with a Pala Bronze Buddha from the Metropolitan Museum Nyc.

You can see the resemblances as far as the pedestal and aureole go. Lets step in closer and analyse the features.

What clearly strikes you as the non local nature of this bronze is the Urdhva Linga of this bronze. We do not find this feature in South Indian bronzes.

Mr Vijay also accommodated our request to study this bronze is closer detail and without the back plate.

The style and grace of this bronze is evident in the way he is shown dancing. The attachment of the arms at the shoulders rather than at the elbow ( as we see in most early chola bronzes and even earlier Pallava bronzes) . You can study this aspect more clearly below.

There are a profusion of attendants and Gods on the aureole and on the Pedestal, whom we will see in Part 2 of this post.

Art Talks Series

Friends, Mark you calender this weekend. 3 back to back talks in Singapore.

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The first one on Friday is on Paintings, the second on Stone sculpture and Sunday is on Bronzes. So get ready for some stunning visuals.

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Sincere thanks to Temple of fine Arts, the DITI organisers and to the Artist Sri Maniam clan !

Elephanta is Buddhist, see the elongated ear of Trimurthi. If it is Shiva, show me the snake!

With the tools that google, wiki and the world wide web place on our hands, its very easy to make up a convincing article, but we must take care to ensure that we try and present our posts with utmost care. You may ask, why this sudden concern, but off late there is an overpowering outflow of emotionally charged writing on the net, and poetic license is being twisted to promote half baked theories and a hidden agenda to increase viewership by featuring titillating content. Religion and Castes are thrown in for good measure, with scant regard for communal unity, for they are subjects that we need to handle with caution and the clarion call is to be more responsible in what we put up on the net including contributions to every growing efforts like Wiki.

Couple of years back, an interesting discussion on Iconography, was punctuated by a certain person, who put up this photo of the magnificent Trimurthi or Mahasadhasiva Shiva from Elephanta. He obviously read that there were Hindu and Buddhist caves in the same vicinity and added for good measure that the entire site was an earlier Buddhist cave usurped by Saivites. He went on to showcase the Serene face of the main ( centre) form and its elongated ears and then as a final encore, asked everyone – if its Shiva where are the snakes?

This was the image he put up. I presume he had taken it from this site

Temple net transposed photo

Now, early readers would get easily influenced by this, hence we took on the task of answering his questions.

First of all, there was something wrong with the image. It didn’t look correct. Do you notice the large mustache of the face on the left of the sculpture ( right as you see it) – thats Rudra Shiva , its not supposed to be that way. The image he had ( the site and many more such sites) seem to have put up is a transposed image. ie. the sculpture is rotated right to left. Below is the correct view

The question on snakes was very easy to answer and its clear that he has never been to the site.

See this post and its photos

India Temple Blogspot post

Do you notice what he is holding in his hand?

Pl navigate to the 12th image in the ASI website

ASI site

Mr. George Michell has brought out a book titled “ELEPHANTA” and is a wonderfully illustrated work. I am showing some low resolution images from his book – for there is one more snake which i wanted readers to observe

Now, that we have settled the snake issue, lets take up the elongated ears.

Without getting too much into Agama / Iconography texts, ( for the more seriously inclined – please read the ref from Elements of Hindu Iconography by Sri Gopinath Rao – attaching relevant pages), the canons for Iconography were common for Jain, Buddhist and Hindu sculptures.

For, eg, I am taking an illustration from his book, which gives the proportions as per silpa text cannons for an ear.

Lets, compare this against our Elephanta sculpture and see how it measures up against the standards. ( This is not a research work done to scale, but just to give you an idea)

Interesting exercise, but would this ` Ear Test’ give sustained results on a definitive Shiva sculpture. So why not test it, not against any sculpture, but a chola bronze, not any chola bronze, but a dated chola bronze – Who else but our Rishabantakar.

Need to get a good straight shot of his ear, here we go!

The ears

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How do they match up?

He went on to state that the sculptures in the Hindu caves are all converted from Buddhist ones. I wish he had at least went through the Wiki pages properly. These are monolithic sculptures carved out of base basalt rock. The below link gives you the detailed layout and the location of each of the icons.

Wiki layout of Elephanta

Main Hall

1. Ravana lifting Kailash
2. Shiva-Parvati on Kailash
3. Ardhanarishvara
4. Trimurti
5. Gangadhara
6. Wedding of Shiva
7. Shiva slaying Andhaka
8. Nataraja
9. Yogishvara
16. Linga

East Wing Shrine

10. Kartikeya
11. Matrikas
12. Ganesha
13. Dvarapala

West Wing Shrine

14. Yogishvara
15. Nataraja

Indeed a stunning location, sadly not a single inscription is there to ascertain its date. We are forced to assign a 8th C CE date and Gupta / Chalukya authorship for them.

The truth is out there !!

In search of a Ring

As an ornament and fashion accessory, Rings have always held their sway over mankind. It needed minimum work, shaping or piercing and was easy to put on take off, if you add the digits in the toe, you could wear 20 ( yeah it was worn on the thumbs as well) – and add to it the tag of love – engagement, wedding, wealth , power – you get the larger aura surrounding a ring. In the age of emails and digital signatures, the value of the Emperor’s crust or the Clan’s standard could be easily and safely carried on person with the Ring. No wonder,its tradition goes back almost 4800 years ( thanks wiki !!) but then that would mean trying to fix a date for India’s two greatest Epics. Pending the verdict, wouldn’t want to dwell more on it, but to mention that the ring plays a vital role in Ramayana, with Sita identifying Hanuman as a messenger of her Lord on seeing his ring on him and also in the reunion of Shakunthala with Dushyant, who forgets his marriage and his own son Barath, due to the sage’s curse, and then reminded by seeing his ring from inside the belly of fish ….we the great lineage of Barath trace our antecedents. More recently, the impact of the Lord of the Rings triology, showcased the power of the rings in middle earth!!!

Well, today we go in search of one such a ring, as we try and merge two different fields – Ornaments and Bronzes, as we figure the answer to a complex problem – of fixing reasonably accurate dates for bronzes. Many thanks to Mr Raman, for once again taking time to provide us with quality photographs, which also reinstate our request for viewers to try and take many photos of bronzes from Museums world over.

It all began with the 1000th year celebration of the Tanjore Big Temple, and the thoughtful exhibition that was organised to go with it. Mr Raman had documented the exhibition extensively and one of his albums had this exhibit of Chola period ornaments. One struck our eye, for its not often you get to see actual exhibits of period ornaments, and there is very sparse written details on them.

Being avid enthusiasts, we started talking about the ring that was being exhibited there.

He had also photographed quite a number of bronzes that were being exhibited with some detailed closeups of their hands and rings !! ( Most of the exhibits were from the Chennai Egmore Museum, but out there there are inside glass cases that are a nightmare for photography).

So, logical progression was to check the bronzes to see, if he could find a matching ring.

For that we needed a good closeup of the ring, first up.

What a fantastic ring !!

First up, is this CE 10th Century, bronze Parvathi, from Kodaikkadu, Vedaranyam Taluk, Nagappattinam district.

Just too stunning a bronze, but lets focus on the rings for now.

The rings are pretty plain ones, almost like thick wires with some amount of artistic work done on them

Next up, we shift another Century, This CE 11th Century Bronze Parvathi with an assistant is from Tiruvengimalai, Trichy

Lets go a bit closer and study if the ring style / fashion has changed in this 100 years.

The fashion industry has definitely caught up, we see a more pronounced set stone in the center, with flower bud/petal like patterns around it.

Another example from the same period, the splendid Ardhanari 11th C CE, from Tiruvengadu , Mayiladuthurai.

The Umai ( left) side, has her delicate hand as we zoom in for the ring

The style here might be slightly before the previous Parvathi. Maybe this was early part of the 11th C, you can see the ring becoming more flattened at the centre and more definition in its design – shaping up like a ring now.

We might need to study a few more samples in the 12th and 13th C, but we met our result in the next exhibit. This Paravathi from Devarkandanallur, Tiruvarur District.

The date of this bronze is a bit unclear, as while she was in the Chennai Museum she was given a 14th C CE date, while the Tanjore Exhibition gave her a 15th C Date. ( will study the Catalogue and do a post on why she is given such a late date shortly !)