South Indian Bronzes: A Historical Survey of South Indian Sculpture with Iconographical Notes Based on Original Sources c9.31

c9.31

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.