South Indian Bronzes: A Historical Survey of South Indian Sculpture with Iconographical Notes Based on Original Sources c10.2.1

c10.2.1

In the first place this manifestation of Saivaite art (from the 8th to the 14th century) constitutes an organic development wholly and absolutely distinct from the purely Buddhistic tradition which gradually died away in South India about the middle of the seventh century A.D. The reign of Buddhism in the preceding centuries had trained the hand of the Indian craftsman to exquisite cunning which was left as a great artistic asset to the South Indian iconographers who utilised and developed the same to a highly rich and articulate expression which culminated in productions never before attempted by the Buddhist predecessors. Except in a few Mahayanist bronze images mainly found in Nepal, Ceylon and Java, Buddhist sculpture was almost exclusively confined to the treatment of figure in repose, and the merits of Buddhist sculptures are almost confined to their static qualities. Saivaite art on the other hand with its many dramatic conceptions recorded in the *pauranic* legends with such wealth of imagery has afforded endless materials for the study of figures in action and movement and has called from the sculptor a greater mastery over anatomical forms than that required for Buddhist art. The figure representing the *Gajhāmūrti* of Siva (Plate XIII) by far supersedes all representations of Natarāja in its dynamic quality.