South Indian Bronzes: A Historical Survey of South Indian Sculpture with Iconographical Notes Based on Original Sources c9.99

c9.99

The Polonnaruwa finds are undoubtedly the most typical examples of South Indian bronzes and the Sundaramurtiswami (Plate XXII) and the Chandeswara (Plate LXXVIII) take their place as some of the great master pieces of Indian sculpture. In the figure of Chandeswara as in the figure of Manikka vachaka, Appār and Tirugnānsambandha (Plate LXLIII), one finds a simplicity of treatment and a less conventional modelling which distinguish these figures from the traditional representation of the images of the deities. Special interest attaches to the remarkably fine statuette of the so-called Chandeswara (Plate LXXVIII) said to be "an apotheosised devotee of Siva". From the inscription on the base of the image as read by D. M. de Z. Wickeremsinghe it is clear that it represents some lord, chief or king and not a deity. It probably represents some royal donor or founder of the temple although the head-dress—the Jata-mukuta (the crown of matted lock) and the richly decorated cloth wrapped round the figure would seem to suggest a saintly personage². It is a much more conventionalised portrait than the somewhat similar figure of Venkatapatirāya (Plate LXXV), the latter being a more real portrait. Of the two figures of Āppaswāmi one has already been reproduced in Mr. Havell's *Ideals of Indian Art* (Plate XIV). The other one which is reproduced here (Plate LXLII) is very different from the former in treatment and conception and can only be identified by the weeding implement. A somewhat similar figure of the boy saint Tirugnansambandha seems to be the production of the same artist. The image of Surya also found in Polonnaruwa (Plate XXV) is remarkable for the beauty of its technique particularly in the delicate ornamentation. It seems to be much older in date than the other finds and has a dignity in its *samavanga* pose which lends it a character much superior to similar images found in the Chola territories, *e.g.*, the one found at Suryanarayan Kovil in the Tanjore District (Plate XXIV), the only sun-temple first founded and dedicated in the Tamil country by Kulottunga I (1067-1070).¹ The Colombo image of Surya is much more akin in style and treatment to the *Parvati* in the same collection. With this figure should be compared the other images of Parvati (Plate IX, *Spolia Zeylanica*, September 1909), which are more stiff in pose and formal in treatment than the other image. The ‘Siva and Pārvati,’ of the Colombo Museum (Plate XXVII) also invites comparison with the similar subject from the Madras Museum (Plate XXVIII). The Colombo example suffers by the comparison not only with the Madras copy, but also in comparison with the artistic qualities of the other images, *e.g.*, Siva (Plate XXIII), Sundaramurti or Chandeswar. The Polonnaruwa finds taken together display a variety of treatment and a disparity in technical qualities which would preclude the assumption that they grew up at the same time as the production of a school of sculpture which could be said to have arisen in Ceylon under the Chola influence. The absence of any unity of style in the various examples found in the site would support the supposition that the collection in the temple grew from time to time out of the gifts made by Tamil donors from different parts of South India—with the result that some of the best specimens of South Indian bronzes are found side by side with very poor and lifeless examples.