South Indian Bronzes: A Historical Survey of South Indian Sculpture with Iconographical Notes Based on Original Sources c9.104

c9.104

As an incarnation of Vishnu, Rāma has enjoyed a great popularity from very early times but a special cult founded on the worship of his image seems to have arisen much later, about the 12th century. Anandatirtha, the founder of the Mādhva sect, is said to have brought the image of Rāma from Badarikāsrama and sent Naraharitirtha to Jagannatha about the year 1264 A.D. to bring what was called the original idols of Rāma and Sītā.¹ The southern part of the Pāndya kingdom, the Ramnad Taluk, Ramesvaram and Ceylon have been specially associated with the exploits of Rāma. The island of Ramesvaram is said to contain the original lingam which Rāma himself founded. In various temples in the Ramnad district images of Rāma with his consort Sītā, and Lakhana, Hanumāna and Jāmbubāna are frequently found. One of such groups is illustrated in Plate LXXI. The group of Rāma and his associates represented in Plate LXXII is the work of a modern artist of Swami-malai. The figure of Hanumāna in this group is specially remarkable. There has been some difficulty in identifying the missing object which the figure of Hanumāna is supposed to carry. This could be identified from the figure in Plate LXXI which evidently carries two lingams. According to the legends, Hanumāna was deputed by Rāma to go and fetch two lingams from Benares, one to be founded by Rāma and another by Sītā. As Hanumāna did not come back with the lingams within the auspicious hour fixed for the installation ceremony Rāma established two lingams made out of sand by Sītā, which greatly enraged the monkey-god when he returned late, with the lingams from Benares. In order to appease his anger Rāma ordained that the lingams brought by Hanumāna should have precedence of worship over the sand effigies of Sītā for all future pilgrims to the shrine of Rameswara. The representation of Sītā has led to some confusion amongst artists who have generally adopted the traditional form of Pārvati (Sivakāma Sundari) in representing the consort of Rāma. In the images of Pārvati the left hand is represented as hanging down (lol hasta); according to the practice of the imagers, Sītā should be represented with a lotus in her left hand and her right hand should hang down as in Plate LXXII. This rule has not been followed in the image of Sītā in Plate LXXI. The figure represented in Plate LXXXIX has been described as that of Arjuna by the officers of the Archæological department. Having regard to its pose and its *dhanurdhari hasta*, the arm holding the bow (*vide* p. 44) it seems to be a representation of Rāma. It is undoubtedly a very old figure and was discovered at a village in Trichinopoly.