South Indian Bronzes: A Historical Survey of South Indian Sculpture with Iconographical Notes Based on Original Sources c10.1

c10.1

THE one outstanding character of this school of sculpture which unquestionably constitutes the *bella epoca* of Indian Art is its absorbing religious motive. It is an essentially hieratic art exclusively devoted to the governing themes of South Indian Saivaism and latterly to themes from Vaishnavism, themes which turn upon the sacred person of Siva and Paramesvara, Vishnu and their various manifestations and all the array of saints, apostles and quasi-divine personages, *e.g.*, the Alwars and the Sivayogins subordinated as types or witnesses to the central personage. The primary interest of this class of statuary would seem to be its appropriateness for the religious function which called them into existence and could thus only be studied and judged, from the point of view of the faithful, by the standard of the religious dogma defined and circumscribed by the texts which they were intended to illustrate. To the eye of the faithful worshipper such images have a meaning and significance which are quite distinct from their artistic values. For, according to that well-known Japanese saying, “Even the head of a herring, if worshipped in true faith, will emit a ray of light.” The ray of light which the artist infuses into his subject is quite independent of what is attributed to it by the eyes of pious devotion. All great art however is expression. And if the artist has succeeded in giving expression to the idea with which he is for the time being saturated, be it a personal and transient emotion, or a great philosophic truth, a spiritual symbolism or a narrow religious dogma, his production fulfils the highest function of art. Judged by such a standard these icons of the South Indian image-makers, the hieratic manifestations of religious faith, have fulfilled their purposes and as such are works of art of very high merits. Apart from their religious significance the productions of these bronze-workers also conform to those universally accepted standards by which the sculptures of all countries in all ages have been judged and appreciated. Let us first consider the relation in which this school of bronze stands to the other Indian schools of sculpture and its position with regard to the other manifestations of Indian art and then it may be convenient to take a wider standpoint to realize the position it takes in the great body of art that belongs to mankind as Man.