South Indian Bronzes: A Historical Survey of South Indian Sculpture with Iconographical Notes Based on Original Sources c10.2.5

c10.2.5

If we compare for instance all the various examples of copper images of Natarāja of which ten specimens are collected here (Plates III to XII) we find that in spite of the fact that all the artists had to conform to the specialised pattern suggested by the dhyan mantra and the lakhana prescribed for the image, each artist has succeeded in giving an individual interpretation and each of the examples has some noble qualities of its own, notwithstanding the fact that in nearly all the images the hands spread out to the same measured height and the legs are disposed at almost the same inclinations. The latitude given to the artist by the canons seems to be, that so long as the iconographical detail was adhered to and the individuality of the image from the worshippers' point of view was not violated, the artist could have his own way. Indeed one text distinctly lays down that the measurements for the images enjoined by the śāstras are general rules for the guidance of the artist, who could, subject to those general rules, follow his own discretion in shaping the image. The fixation of types which the sculptors' canon and the dhyan mantra of the priest ensured in the representation of these images was the product of an attempt to perpetuate the conception of a master-craftsman as a precedent to be followed by succeeding generations of artists.