South Indian Bronzes: A Historical Survey of South Indian Sculpture with Iconographical Notes Based on Original Sources c9: Chapter IV

South Indian Bronzes: A Historical Survey of South Indian Sculpture with Iconographical Notes Based on Original Sources c9

Language: English

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Chapter IV

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IN order to trace the history and evolution of Chola Art of which the bronzes the subject-matter of this volume, form such an interesting ramification, it will be necessary to consider the earlier forms of Saivaite art which preceded the advent of the Cholas and in what way the later school is related to the earlier ones. The existing examples of the older Saivaite scuplture, however, do not carry us back very far, as the history of Saivaism would lead one to believe. If it is assumed that the different conceptions of Siva as enumerated in the *Sakaladhikār* of Agastya and in the *Kāsyapiya* had taken definite sculptural forms and were practised in the South by the sculptors who lived about the time of these Aryan immigrants from the North it would be difficult to support such a hypothesis by evidence of actual specimens which could be attributed to the time about which Agastya or his followers could be said to have lived. Both the works of Agastya and Kasyapa give the iconography of various Saivaite images, the most important of which are Natarāja, Ardhanāriswara, Kālsanhāra, Tripurāntaka, Gangādhara, Virāteswara, Gaj-hāmurti, some of these conceptions being the special features of South Indian Saivaism. The worship of Siva as Natarāja, for example, is a special cult peculiar to South India. The innumerable shrines and images connected with its worship which are still existing there prove the pre-eminence and popularity of this form of Siva in the South. The bronze-workers in the employ of the Chola princes have devoted their best skill in casting the image of the "Dancing Lord," and from the numerous examples of this image made during the Chola supremacy one is led to suppose that its form and peculiar pose though based on and illustrating the original *dhyana mantra* of the Brahmin iconographer was originated by the Chola sculptors. As we shall presently find that such a supposition would be erroneous as the subject has been already treated by the artists of the earlier Saivaite schools.¹

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¹ Many stone images of Natarāja have been found in Puri, Bengal (Gaud and Benares) and other places in North India but they are certainly of later date as compared with the images of the same found in the South.

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One of the earliest available evidences of Saivaite sculpture is a reference in the third century A.D. by Poryphyry¹ to an image in a cave in the north of India which from the description corresponds to the form of *Ardha-Nārīswara*. The image of *Ardha-Nārīswara* has been found in many caves in the Deccan, all of which date after the sixth century A.D. The earliest literary evidence as to the existence of Saivaite images is perhaps the reference in Panini (4th Century B.C.) and the commentary of Patanjali (2nd Century B.C.). The earliest image of *Natarāja* or *Siva Tandava* is found at Badami (Bombay Presidency) known formerly as Bātāpipura, the ancient capital of the Chālukyas.

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¹ “The Indian Travels of Apollonius of Tyana” by Priaulx (1873), pp. 152 and 158.

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The caves at Badami appear from epigraphical evidence to have been excavated about 578 A.D. The image, in question which has sixteen arms, occurs on the West wall of the entrance to Cave I (*vide* Figure 8). It is a fine piece of bas-relief consummately executed. The ‘Kati-hastha’ attitude (*vide* Figure 9) which has become a mannerism with the later Chola sculptors is first seen in the Badami caves.² Next to the Badami caves, the image of *Natarāja* is met with in the bas-reliefs in the Kailāshnāth temple at Conjivaram. This group of temples is one of the earliest examples of the architecture of the Pallavas and was probably constructed about 675 A.D., being later by about a century to the rock-cut temples at Mammallapuram where the Pallava sculpture of the period attained its perfection. The stone panels in the Kailāshnāth temple and the group of temples associated with it contain a very interesting series of representations from the principal legends of the Saivaite mythology many of which have furnished types for the later school of sculpture under the Cholas. As Mr. Rea has justly observed the Pallava art merged into the Chola style in the 8th and 9th centuries; the period of transition is well indicated in the beautiful examples of Pallava sculpture at Trichinopoly (*vide* Fig. 158, Vincent Smith, *History of Fine Art in India and Ceylon*, p. 222). The relief, so beautiful in its dignity and restraint approaches in its spirit and treatment very nearly, the splendid figures of Siva which we find amongst Chola sculptures executed the Roman world, and the most important events of the reign of Antoninus Pius, are related by his biographer, and the reader will not be sorry to find them here in a more concise form. The reign of Antoninus Pius is marked by the rare advantage of furnishing very few materials for history; which is only another mode of saying that its happiness was complete. During the twenty-three years of his administration, the Roman empire was governed by the same invariable maxims of justice and peace. The natives of a vast extent of country were protected by the same laws, and enjoyed the same privileges. The frontiers were defended by the same legions, and the same spirit of moderation and equity prevailed in the councils of the emperor. The death of Antoninus was lamented as a public calamity; and the memory of his virtues was preserved by the gratitude of his subjects, and the imitation of his successor.

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² Plate XX, figure 2, J. Burgess, Archæological Survey Report, Belgaum and Kaldagi Districts, 1874. Similar attitudes also occur in a bas-relief in one of the oldest Chaitya caves at Ajanta (No. 9), see “Illustrations of the Rock-Cut Temples of India,” by Fergusson, 1864, page 8.

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The reign of Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, which followed, was a period of great activity and of great events. The empire was attacked on all sides by the barbarians, and the emperor was obliged to spend the greater part of his life in the camp. He was a man of a mild and philosophical temper, and he would have preferred the quiet of the study to the tumult of the field. But he was a prince of a high sense of duty, and he did not shrink from the task which was imposed upon him. He defended the frontiers with vigour, and he defeated the enemies of Rome in many a hard-fought battle. His death was a loss to the empire, and it was felt by all classes of his subjects. He was the last of the good emperors, and with him the golden age of the Roman empire may be said to have terminated.

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The character of the Roman government, under the Antonines, was that of a mild and paternal despotism. The emperor was the source of all power, and his will was the law of the land. But he was restrained by the influence of the senate, and by the force of public opinion. The senate was still a body of great dignity and importance, and its members were the principal officers of the state. The emperor was careful to consult them on all matters of importance, and he was always ready to listen to their advice. The public opinion was also a powerful check upon the actions of the emperor. The people of Rome were still a proud and independent race, and they were not afraid to express their dissatisfaction with the measures of the government. The emperor was aware of this, and he was always careful to avoid any act that would be likely to give offence to the people.

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The administration of justice was one of the most important duties of the emperor. He was the supreme judge of the empire, and he was always ready to hear the complaints of his subjects. He was assisted by a council of jurists, who were the most learned men of the age. The laws were administered with impartiality, and the rights of the citizens were protected. The taxes were moderate, and they were collected with fairness. The public works were carried on with vigour, and the cities of the empire were adorned with magnificent buildings. The trade and commerce of the empire were encouraged, and the people were prosperous and happy. The Roman empire, under the Antonines, was a model of good government, and it was the envy of the world.

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the Roman world, and the most important events of the reign of Antoninus Pius, are related by his biographer, and the reader will not be sorry to find them here in a more concise form. The reign of Antoninus Pius is marked by the rare advantage of furnishing very few materials for history; which is only another mode of saying that its happiness was complete. During the twenty-three years of his administration, the Roman empire was governed by the same invariable maxims of justice and peace. The natives of a vast extent of country were protected by the same laws, and enjoyed the same privileges. The frontiers were defended by the same legions, and the same spirit of moderation and equity prevailed in the councils of the emperor. The death of Antoninus was lamented as a public calamity; and the memory of his virtues was preserved by the gratitude of his subjects, and the imitation of his successor.

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between the 9th and 13th centuries. In many of the four-armed figures of Siva at Mamallapuram, *e.g.*, those on the left niche of the Dharma-raja-Ratha (609-645 A.D.) we find the conceptions of the type of Saivaite figures which are undoubtedly the forerunners of many of the images of the Chola school.

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The ten-armed sculpture of Natarāja at the Brahminical cave at Aihole (655-680 A.D.) formerly known as Aryapura comes earlier in order of time to that in the Kailāshnāth temple. At Aihole, the stone-relief of Natarāja (Fig. 9A) resembles the one at Badami in the pose of the two upraised arms holding up a serpent horizontally over the crown. This conception is evidently based on *dhyān* mantras different from the ones to which the South Indian sculptures owe their inspiration. There is a very interesting stone figure of Siva in one of the temples at Aihole (*vide* Fig. 5, Annual Report, Archæological Survey, 1907—1908, p. 202) which in its general conception and details of ornaments, clearly resembles the South Indian type as familiar to us in bronze images.

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The next stronghold of Saivaism which attracts the student of Saivaite sculpture is the famous group of cave-temples at Ellora, the most important from the sculptor's point of view being the Dasābatār cave (650-750 A.D.) and the Lankeswara Cave (750-850 A.D.) Both these two caves last-named contain representations of Natarāja, the one in the Dasābatār cave is a particularly fine example (Fig. 12). The pose of the first left arm running across the breast which lends such power and vitality to the whole figure, is a peculiarity which we first meet with here, and has been followed in all South Indian conceptions of the ‘Dancing Lord’. There is another conception of the Dancing Lord which is met with in South India but which has no counterpart in metal images. This is known as the Urdha *Tandaba* (dancing with the leg upward) and is formed sometimes with 4 and sometimes with 16 arms. The most well known example is the one at Tirumala Nayak's choultry.² Two less known examples are illustrated here (Figures 10 and 11). The first one is perhaps earlier in date and was found in the Siva temple at Tirupunanthal, Tanjore District. The other figure (No. 11) occurs in Kailasnath temple at Tārāmangalm in the District of Salem. They deserve to be noticed on account of their iconographical peculiarity rather than their artistic merit. The treatment of the figure which is in stone has a close affinity to metal images. The next important schools of Saiva sculpture are represented by the two interesting groups at Elephanta (8th century) and at Bhubaneswar (12th and 13th centuries). They are widely different in their style and treatment from each other and though related to the earlier style which we find at Ellora they have developed qualities and characteristics which clearly differentiate them from the central schools in the Deccan and the South. So that the sculptures in the caves of Elephanta and in the temples at Bhubaneswar and those executed during the Chola ascendency in the South represent three distinct schools; the last named in its importance and its sustained activity which has survived up to the present century is of special interest, inasmuch as the schools represented by the Elephanta and Bhubaneswar temples have not exercised much influence on later art and have long ago become extinct. Indeed the art represented at Elephanta seemed to be a sporadic and isolated outburst not sustained or followed for any length of time, as was the case with the Saivaite sculptures which we meet with in the group of temples at Bhubaneswar.

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¹ *Vide* Annual Report, Archæological Survey in India, 1907-1908.

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² Other examples occur in many temples in Tanjore and at Avadaiyar kovil

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The School of the South Indian Bronzes with which we are specially concerned here invites comparison with the contemporary stone sculptures in the South which were produced practically under the same influence and conditions and for the same purpose of illustrating the Saivaite mythology. Indeed the same artists sometimes cast the bronze images who chiselled the stone panels in the niches of the temple. The number of accomplishments of a master-craftsman are enumerated as ten, in some of the manuscripts—

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“Dāru-ishta-silā-lowha
Snehā-mrit-ghat-sarkarā
Danta-yantra-kriyābhāsa
Silpinām dasadhā-kriyā.”

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The ten materials in which artists should work are wood, brick, stone, metal, lime, (stucco) plaster, sugar, ivory (teeth), yantra (?) and flat drawings as in paintings.

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There are still a few living artists who work in more than one medium. But from very early times the South Indian Sthapatis generally specialised in one or other medium. With the increase of the demand for the Utsaba Murtis which were so much in request by the Saiva devotees for votive offerings the makers of the bronze-image formed a group by themselves and specialised as sculptors in metals The Jatras or the procession of the Rathas (cars) also called into existence a skilful school of artists who chose wood as their material and were known as the Ratha-Karakas ‘the builders of the cars.’ They executed very fine pieces of wood sculpture which were used as decorations for these cars, some of which are masterpieces of their kind. We can even now find at Kumbakonam and at Trichinopoly a group of skilful wood carvers who are still practising their hereditary crafts The best and the oldest examples of these cars can be seen at Kumbakonam and Tanjore, some of the finest perhaps being among the group of old cars at Inukala Kundrum in the district of Chingleput The Archaeological Survey Department, Madras Circle has obtained photographs of some pieces of these carvings from an old car at Kumbakonam.

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How the traditions of Pallava temple-sculpture were developed and perfected in a faultless and vital style will be apparent from the stone sculptures in the niches of the great Saiva temple at Gangaikonda-Cholapuram and also of Koranganadham temple at Srinivasnallur in the district of Trichinopoly They are the representatives of some of the best pieces that Chola artists have executed in stone and some of the details and the general character of the treatment of the figure invite comparison with some of the best sculptures of Java with which they seem to be artistically related The temple at Gangaikonda, founded by Rajendra Chola Deva (1018-35) marks the culmination point of Chola activity in the religious art of South India which was initiated by Raja-Raja I (985-1013), the builder of the Brihadeswar temple at Tanjore It must not be supposed that the stone sculpture of the Chola period consisted exclusively of decorative figures, which formed part of the architecture of the temples There are a series of stone images worshipped as presiding deities in many a small shrine both Saivaite and Vaishnavaite, some of the earliest of the specimens being, the two figures of Bhanaba and Kālī near the shrine of Natarāja in the temple of Chidambaram. The sculptures of the temple at the Avadai-yar-kovil also constitute important examples which together with the other group of sculptures mentioned above afford specimens of the stone-carvers' art parallel to that of the bronze workers. It will be interesting to compare the stone image of Bhikkānatesar now plastered, from the Brihadeswara temple at Tanjore, (Figure 13) with the metal image representing the same subject in plate (XX). Some of the stone examples of the subject treated in metal show a disparity of technique and iconographic conception which it is difficult to account for as will be evident from a comparison of the stone bas-relief of the *Kaladahan Murti* found in Pattisvaram, Tanjore District (Fig. 14) with the splendid example in bronze illustrated in plate (I).

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¹ The Ratha-Karakas and their craft are well indicated in among other manuscript [^cont]: Mss No (See V in the Library of the India Office) The function and the [^cont]: exact date is set forth in an inscription of Kulottunga I (1070 to 1113) V. Annual [^cont]: Report, Archaeological Survey, 1908-9 p 19.
* Report of the Archaeological Department, Southern Circle 1911-12. 4 miles North East of Kumbakonum.

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The art of the image-makers in metal possibly originated at the time when the custom of setting up the *Utsaba Murtis* was first initiated. Raja-Raja I is stated to have been the first to present to the temple of Brihadeswar the series of metal statues of Saivaite saints who, as we know, were canonized after their death and shared divine honours in the temples. The images of Manikka-vacagar and Sundara Murti (Plate XXX) and his wife Parvai (frontispiece) which we now find in a side corridor of this temple along with other Saivaite images must be some of the oldest specimens of their kind and anterior to all the other series of Saivaite saints which we find in many other temples in the South. We find from the metal images of Buddha discovered at Amaravati and other places that the art of the bronze-sculptor was practised throughout the Buddhist period and it must have been in existence during the earlier Hindu form of worship which prevailed in various parts of India before the advent of Buddhism.¹ It cannot be said, however, that the practice of installing *Utsaba Murtis* was first inaugurated by Raja-Raja I. As we shall find that the art of image-making in copper and other metals must have been older than the time of the Chola kings. The fact, that the "wax-process" is mentioned in some of the South Indian manuscripts which can not be later than the second century A.D., when the books of the Silpasastras are supposed to have been collected in their present form, shows that the practice of casting images the Roman world, and the most important events of the reign of Antoninus Pius, are related by his biographer, and the reader will not be sorry to find them here in a more concise form. The reign of Antoninus Pius is marked by the rare advantage of furnishing very few materials for history; which is only another mode of saying that its happiness was complete. During the twenty-three years of his administration, the Roman empire was governed by the same invariable maxims of justice and peace. The natives of a vast extent of country were protected by the same laws, and enjoyed the same privileges. The frontiers were defended by the same legions, and the same spirit of moderation and equity prevailed in the councils of the emperor. The death of Antoninus was lamented as a public calamity; and the memory of his virtues was preserved by the gratitude of his subjects, and the imitation of his successor.

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¹ That the Hindu form of temple-worship was earlier than the Buddhist period has been very ably discussed in A. Govindacarya Svamin's paper on "Rama-yana and Temples" Journal of the Bombay Branch of Royal Asiatic Society, No. 66, 1912.

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1. The 'Sleeping Hermaphrodite' (Louvre, Paris). Photo: Alinari.

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2. The 'Sleeping Hermaphrodite' (Palazzo Massimo, Rome). Photo: Alinari.

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3. The 'Sleeping Hermaphrodite' (Uffizi, Florence). Photo: Alinari.

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in metal must have been current in South India long before the advent of the Cholas. Next to the collection of bronze images in the Brihadeswar temple, the other important old collection of such images is found in the shrines on the south and west flanks of the rock-cut temple at Trichinopoly. If we go by the date of the excavation of this temple which is attributed to the Pallava King Mahendra Varman I at the beginning of the seventh century, the bronze images ought to be older by three centuries than those in the Tanjore temple collection. Some of the images in the rock-cut temple, however, are, in style and quality, comparatively modern and many of them can not be given any date earlier than those at Tanjore. Some of them, however, appear to be earlier than the Brihadeswar images, but it can not be stated definitely that they were set up by the Pallava King when the temple itself was constructed, *i.e.*, at the beginning of the seventh century. None of the inscriptions affords any reference to the Pallava Kings having set up any bronze images, although Narsinha Potavarman is credited with having set up stone images in Raj Sinheswara temple (Kailāsnath). Some *pancha louha* images of Subramanya and Somāskanda have been found in the Kailāsnath temple which is ascribed to the early part of the sixth century¹ (*vide* Plate LII "Pallava Architecture" by A. Rea, Madras, 1909). But they are evidently later than the Tanjore images and seem to belong to a period when the Chola princes lavished their bounty on the temples at Conjivaram. Some of the earlier Pallava Kings whose dates cannot now be definitely ascertained are associated with Saivaite art of the time previous to the Cholas.

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¹ According to Dr. Hultzch this temple was founded about 550 A.D. South Indian Inscriptions, Vol. I, p. 10.

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From two cave inscriptions at the rock-temple of Trichinopoly we find that a Pallava King named Gunabhara constructed a temple of Siva on the top of the mountain and placed in it a linga and a statue of himself. He also caused a stone image of Siva to be established here. In the grant from Kuram a Pallava King Paramesvara Varmana is described as "constantly clever in the sport of the fine arts."² In the legendary account of the conquest of Kanchipuram, the Pallava capital, by Adondai Chola, amongst the trophies of the battle acquired by the latter a reference is made to a bronze gate of the Pural fort³

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² South Indian Inscriptions Vol. 1, 1890, pp. 29-30.

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³ Ibid, p. 153.

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The Pallavas and Saivaite Art.

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which shows that the Pallava artists were also workers in metal.¹

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¹ A Rea, Pallava Architecture, 1909, p. 3.

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The oldest example of a South Indian bronze image that I have been able to discover (Plate II) is from the Rijk Ethnographisch Museum at Leiden. It was found in Java and although the exact locality where it was discoverd is not known, it affords every interesting comparison with the later Saivaite images similar in purpose and inspiration. In its style and pose, and the general archaic character it certainly points to a period much anterior (by at least two or three centuries) to the great school of copper sculpture which rose under the Cholas. It cannot possibly be attributed to Javanese artists as it is so different to any images and sculptures that have been found in Java. It therefore supports the tradition referred to by Dr. Vogel² and others that during the intercourse with Java and India many images were taken from the Indian continent. It was long after the Indian civilization had been engrafted in Java that the great Indo-Javanese School of Sculpture arose, the Buddhist school dating after 431 A.D. when Java was first converted to Buddhism. The figure undoubtedly belongs to the period of the earlier colonization of Java by India, which was a Hindu as distinguished from a Buddhist immigration. The Buddhist colony in Java was much later in date. According to a tradition recorded by Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles "the religion and arts of India were first introduced into Java by a Brahmin named Tritestra"³ about 77 A.D. This is attributed according to a Chinese annal to A.D. 25-57.⁴ According to Burnell⁵ this immigration suggests a connection with the kingdom of "the Pallavas than with any other part of India."⁶ About the time when Vishnugopa Salibāhana reigned in Kānchipuram, a large colony is said to have emigrated from the coast of Telingana and settled in Java An inscription found there, belonging to about the fifth century A.D. is probably the work of this people." There is no doubt the Roman world, and the most important events of the reign of Antoninus Pius, are related by his biographer, and the reader will not be sorry to find them here in a more concise form. The reign of Antoninus Pius is marked by the rare advantage of furnishing very few materials for history; which is only another mode of saying that its happiness was complete. During the twenty-three years of his administration, the Roman empire was governed by the same invariable maxims of justice and peace. The natives of a vast extent of country were protected by the same laws, and enjoyed the same privileges. The frontiers were defended by the same legions, and the same spirit of moderation and equity prevailed in the councils of the emperor. The death of Antoninus was lamented as a public calamity; and the memory of his virtues was preserved by the gratitude of his subjects, and the imitation of his successor.

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² Dr. Vogel in the Indian Antiquary March 1911, at p. 93, states: "I may note that in case of metal figures of a small size there exists always a possibility of their having been imported from the Indian Continent."

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³ Thomas Stamford Raffles, History of Java, Vol. II, pp. 70, 72.

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⁴ Vincent Smith, A History of Fine Art in India, pp. 260.

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⁵ Burnell, South Indian Paleography, p. 131.

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⁶ A Rea, Pallava Architecture, p. 4. Cp. also Fergusson, History of Indian Architecture, Vol. II, p. 430 (Last Edition). "If Java got her Buddhism from Gujrat and the mouths of the Indus, she got her Hinduism from Telingana and the mouths of the Krishna."

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that the style of the architecture of many of the temples of Java suggests kinship with the Pallava architecture at Kanchi and Mamallapuram. The earliest record of Saivaite worship in Java is found in the Sanskrit inscription of the Saka year 654 (A.D. 732) which attests the erection of a lingam by King Srinjaya, the son of Sannaha who calls himself ruler of the Isle of Java. The image in question may be assigned to the earliest period of Saivaite activity under the Pallavas which can be roughly dated at about the sixth century A.D. We reproduce here for the purpose of comparison two bronze images found in Java, one representing Siva (Figure 15) and the other Vishnu (Figure 16). The latter figure in the treatment of the dress and the decorations, festoons, and ornaments certainly suggests analogies with the South Indian School of Sculptures. The figure of Siva except in the manner of its head-dress (jata mukuta) and the symbol of the bull at the foot of the pedestal, affords very little similarity with the South Indian type and probably represents a local Javanese style based originally on the prototypes introduced from India such as the image of Siva and Parvati referred to above (Plate II). That the practice of representing the Vahana of an image by a miniature effigy of the same at the foot of the pedestal was a peculiarity of a group of South Indian Sculpture will be apparent from the bronze figure of Ganesa (South India) in the collection of the Museé Guimet (vide Petit Guide, 1910, page 70).

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The dhyāna mantra from the text of Kāsyapiya which enables us to identify the image of Siva and Parvati from Java (Plate II) is as follows :—

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Umā-Sahita-dhyānam :
“ Padmā-sthān-sukhāsanam-trinayanam-sandhistha-
Gouri-mukhāloka-smeramukham-jatāmukuta-juk-
khandendu-moulim-sitam,
Bāmālingita-bāmamanya-karoyo-stankang-mrigam-
bivratam,
Sesham-sabya karābhayaprada-mumājukatam-Mahe-
sam-bhajet.”
—(Kasyapiya).

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Translation.

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I adore Mahesha along with Uma, who is seated on the lotus-throne in the Sukhāsana (easy) pose, He having the Jatā mukuta (coronet of matted locks) with the crescent was till then a living faith shared by the king and the people alike. Numerous images of later times have been found and are still coming to light year after year, during the explorations of the Government Epigraphists, and of the Archæological officers of the Madras circle, which go to show that many artistically important images were made throughout the period between the 14th century, the time of the close of the Chola influence, and the present time. Some of them are beautiful specimens of their kind though they belong to an age of decadence and are very far removed from the strength and fine technique of the earlier images, the most typical of which we find in the corridor of the Brihadeswar temple. Indeed this group of copper images must at present form the starting point of the study of the South Indian bronzes. Many of the old deserted temples in the districts of Tanjore and Trinchinopoly have yielded up their treasures and during the last few years most of the old images of these temples have been ransacked by dealers and curio-hunters and have passed into the hands of many European collectors, some having found their places in the Continental Museums, the most important specimens being in the collection of the Musèe Guimet, Paris, and in the Holland Museum. A curious archaic bronze figure discovered in Adichanallur in the district of Tinnevelly (figure 17) deserves notice by itself, although it cannot in any way be connected with the cult-images and the school of bronzes we have been considering here. The workmanship is very rude and suggests a primitive style. The tunic and the trousers in which the figure is dressed proclaim a foreign and non-Hindu subject. Another archaic figure (Plate LXX) recently acquired by the Madras Museum is of greater interest as it seems to be related to the Saivaite bronzes. There is some difficulty in identifying the figure. It has been suggested that it represents Venugopalaswamy. From the peculiarity of the head-dress one would be inclined to identify it as Aayanār son of Siva, although in its pose it recalls the figure of Rāma (vide Plates LXXI, LXXII). It has special resemblance with the figure of Rāma in (Plate LXXI). Before all the best existing examples, some of which are still stowed away in the temple corridors and underground cells, are accessible and made available for study, it will not be possible to undertake an adequate survey of the South Indian bronzes with a view to trace their history and the style which they evolved in the different periods. As we have found the practice the Roman world, and the most important events of the reign of Antoninus Pius, are related by his biographer, and the reader will not be sorry to find them here in a more concise form. The reign of Antoninus Pius is marked by the rare advantage of furnishing very few materials for history; which is only another mode of saying that its happiness was complete. During the twenty-three years of his administration, the Roman empire was governed by the same invariable maxims of justice and peace. The natives of a vast extent of country were protected by the same laws, and enjoyed the same privileges. The frontiers were defended by the same legions, and the same spirit of moderation and equity prevailed in the councils of the emperor. The death of Antoninus was lamented as a public calamity; and the memory of his virtues was preserved by the gratitude of his subjects, and the imitation of his successor.

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of casting metal images has continued throughout the 14th and 15th centuries up to our times. The religious patronage which the Chola princes extended to the image-makers was followed by their descendents and successors and also by private citizens and merchants and the common people; such patronage has varied from time to time under various surrounding circumstances, the fates of the ruling dynasties or the religious activity of the particular periods. The impetuous current of Saiva fanatic zeal lost much of its force with the fall of the Chola powers and also with the rival activity of the Vaishnava movement and finally received a fatal check by the Mahomedan invasion led by Malik Kafur in 1310 A.D. The Nāyakas of Madura and later on the Maharattas at Tanjore who were both Saivaites tried to keep up the temple festivities and to revive the patronage for religious art which was so fashionable during the Chola rule but the original character of the sculptor's art which attained its highest water-mark about the 9th and 10th centuries had lost its vitality. The Nāyakas (1549-1673) no doubt, kept up the waning flame for a time and made substantial contributions to the art of the South, as will be evident from their stone architecture and the sculptures associated with them which are typically represented by the famous Choultry of Tirumala at Madura (1623-59). But soon after the Nayakas had lost their power the last stay of the royal patronage which had kept the practice of the arts at such a high level was gone and the art of the South Indian sculptor distinctly took a downward course. The ruling dynasties at Vijayanagar also tried for a time to imitate the lavish religious patronage of their predecessors but their influence was less important and the sphere of their activities was comparatively narrow and their artistic undertaking was relatively meagre and could hardly recall the times that preceded them.

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There is an interesting reference to a bronze temple in the account of Abdur Razzak, the Persian ambassador to Deva Raya II (1420-43) of Vijayanagar. In the course of his journey from Mangalore to Vijayanagara he visited a town "where he saw a small but wonderful temple made of bronze". But it is impossible to say if the temple was constructed by the Vijayanagara Kings. The temple at Tirupati, on Tirumala hill, was the object of the lavish endowments of the Vijayanagara Kings and the riches of this temple are said to have attracted the greed of Portuguese invaders led by the Governor of Goa in 1545. In lower Tirupati there are still a few families of image-makers and bronze casters.

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¹ Sewell—A Forgotten Empire (1900), p. 88.

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The metal portraits of Krishnaraya of Vijayanagara (1510-29) (Plate LXXIV) and his queens and also of Venkatapati Raya (1586-1614) (Plate LXXV) which have been found at Tirumalai in the North Arcot Districts indicate the quality of workmanship of the bronze statues of this period. The Maratha dynasties at Tanjore established by Venkaji in 1675 attempted to imitate for a few years the religious activity of the Cholas, and to revive the services and festivities of the temples of Brihadeswar.

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Some of the copper images in this temple (Plate LIII) and also in the collection of the Rani of Tanjore testify to their patronage of the art of the bronze images. But the inferior quality of the latter collection can not claim any comparison with the splendid examples of the Chola period. The Nayaks had not the same resources at their command which enabled the Chola princes to make their lavish religious endowments a bye word in South Indian history. Nevertheless the craftsmen of the South who grouped themselves in villages in the principal places where temple building flourished from time to time formed important centres to which people from all parts of the country looked for the supply of accessories for their religious faith and their temple services. For after all the inspiration which called into existence and kept alive the art of the sculptor was not the patronage of the king who bestowed funds to the artists but the religious faith of the people at large which the sculptors shared alike with the prince and the common people. For whether the prince or the bourgeois gave him his living the South Indian sthapati was in the service of the temple, it was a religious employment not a secular patronage. They were not the king's craftsmen but the employees of Siva. The centres of these religious craftsmen changed from place to place and have shifted as far as Ceylon where a Saivite colony was founded about the time of the Chola king Adhirajendra. The principal centres appear to have been in the Districts of Tanjore, Trichinopoly, North and South Arcot, Salem and Ramnad. The only living vestige of these different centres appears to be the small village of Swamimalai where a group of hereditary craftsmen consisting of about ten families are still practising their traditional craft. After the great periods of templebuilding died out the art of the bronze workers was kept in existence by the requirements of private individuals who still continued their faith in the practice of bestowing gifts of images to the temples. Latterly this practice of votive offerings has been invariably confined to the female sex who now are in the South as in the other parts of India, the only custodians of the Hindu religious traditions of ancient times. The bronze workers of Swamimalai still receive, now and then important commissions from various parts of South India and also from Ceylon. But the fashion of presenting or setting up images in temples has waned and the opportunities for the bronze sculptor to practise his art have become limited in the course of the last few years. An attempt was made to find employment for some of these craftsmen from Swamimalai in the Government School of Art in Madras and some of them are still employed as teachers in that institution. The Victoria Technical Institute, Madras, has also entrusted various commissions to them during recent years and has tried to keep up the reminiscences of a very old school of bronze workers.

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South Indian Bronzes: A Historical Survey of South Indian Sculpture with Iconographical Notes Based on Original Sources c9: Chapter IV

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Chapter IV

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