South Indian Bronzes: A Historical Survey of South Indian Sculpture with Iconographical Notes Based on Original Sources c10.2.4

c10.2.4

The bronze workers who cast their images for the special rituals, and the cults, the subject of worship in the temples, had less freedom of interpretation and had to conform to the code of laws laid down in the *silpa sastras* and to the series of prototypes sanctioned by the hieratic censorship from which artistic invention could not deviate. The limitations thus imposed on the bronze image-makers had their advantages as well as weaknesses. If one consider for example such vitally rythmic compositions as the Natarājas from the Tanjore temple and the Madras Museum (Plates III, IV and V) one is forced to admit that the pattern prescribed by the text directing the disposition of the limbs and their proportions does not necessarily limit the visions of the true artist and that it is possible to rise to the level of true artistic expression while slavishly adhering to the rules and proportions laid down by the iconographer.