The Colas c36.77

c36.77

Fig. 62. Gajāntakāmūrti, from the same place. Now removed to the Art Gallery at Tanjore. This is a wonderful representation of another great theme, and the treatment is powerful and energetic. Though it is in high relief, the execution of the limbs and the *atibhaṅga* posture is such as to make it appear in the round. The controlled dynamism of this figure recalls the Mahiṣamardinī sculpture at Mahābalipuram but with this difference that here the face expresses introspection while Mahiṣamardinī's face beams with divine grace and unruffled tranquillity. Pārvatī is shown in all her tenderness on the left of Śiva, but her face expresses mingled feelings of terror and *vismaya*. This representation differs from that at Tiruvālīśvaram (fig. 50) noticed above. The deviation shows the freedom of the sculptors to render a theme according to their genius but within canonical bounds. The elephant's head, the legs, and the *padmāsana* are highly realistic.