South Indian Bronzes: A Historical Survey of South Indian Sculpture with Iconographical Notes Based on Original Sources c8.2

c8.2

The first stage in casting the image is what is technically known as ‘*Madhuchistha Bidhanam*’ or the preparation of the wax-model. That the practice is a very old one appears from chapter 69 of the Mānasāra¹ which ascribes the process to the time of Agastya, Kasyapa, Garga and other Rishis.² Unfortunately the description of the process given in the chapter is very meagre and corrupt and full of mis-spellings which make the text quite unintelligible. The available portions of Kāsyapiya do not contain any chapter dealing with the technique of the casting. The art was practised by the image-makers in the Buddhist period³ (as is still done in some parts of Burmah) and it will be interesting to compare the formula for making bronze or ‘Samrit’⁴ as it is called, as laid down in an old Siamese manuscript now in the possession of the King of Siam.⁵