Goddess Durga

Goddess Durga

Vijayanagar Empire,15th Century CE,Chennai Museum

This is one of the masterpieces of the Chennai Museum.  Carved out of a solid block of granite, one of the hardest stone to work with, the detailing if the jewellery is mind boggling.  The dexterity of the sculptor is clearly established.  In South Indian sculptures the complexity of the sculpture increases as the century rolled by. Thus, the Pallava artists were beginning to learn how to carve in granite. Their sculptures are plain and simple. The Chola sculptors were more apt in dealing with granite. Their sculptures are more detailed than Pallava ones. The Vijayanagar artist was at home with granite. Their sculptures are most elaborately carved than either the Pallava or Chola ones. 

Another unique feature about this piece is that though she is called Goddess Durga, she carries a conch and a disk in her hands, both weapons of Lord Vishnu.  Though She is part of the Shakti cult ( a cult of Hinduism which believed in faminine    divine), yet she carries weapons associated with Vaishnavism. Thus, She appears to be a fusion of Shaivism and Vaishnavism.  

Durga is the eternal Mother Goddess. She protects and promotes us; She destroys and annihilates what is evil. She is our inner mind.  Like her, we must learn to destroy what is bad in us. We must nurture what is good in us. This is equally  true of society. The society should protect the good and destroy the bad. This is, in fact, the very basis of Rule of Law in any nation. Goddess Durga, like other Gods and Goddesses, re - establish the Rule of Law in the world at large. That is why we always pray, " from darkness take me to light; from death take me to immortality." Those who preserve and promote and observe the Rule of Law continue to live in light and achieve immortality. 

Ladies Worshipping the Buddha

Ladies Worshipping the Buddha


Amravati Stupa, 2nd Century CE, Chennai Museum

Amravati lay in the heart of Andhra country. Although Sanchi in Madhya Pradesh is the most well known Stupa of ancient India,  but Amravati was far bigger and more grand in its conception, design and execution. The Stupa was originally constructed of bricks, but later encased with highly carved white - green marble slabs. The diameter of the dome was 162 feet, a railing of 192 feet diameter surrounded the grand Stupa. Thanks to its beautiful carvings, we almost lost the Stupa.  As one of the richest businessman began crushing the marbles for its commercial values in the 19th century. Whatever could be saved was rushed to Madras and housed in the Government Museum there. Thus, the Chennai has one of the best collection of Amravati school of sculptures.  

The Amravati school of sculptures is very easily recognizable : most of the sculptures are done in whitish - green marble, the figures are slender, tallish and carved in lyrical manner. The figures are carved almost like flowing wax. The panels and medallions hum with human activities.  There is drama, yet there is peace, tranquillity and serenity.  Most of the pieces deal with the life of the Buddha. Initially the Buddha was not shown in human form, as here. Later he is depicted in human form. 

Here we see four ladies worshipping two feet on a throne. The feet symbolise the presence of  Buddha. Humility at the feet of the Gods or teachers or elder has been an ancient tradition in India.  Humility gives us the ability to accept  various views and philosophies with a sense of reverence and respect. This is the cause of pluralism in India.  Arrogance on the other hand leads to dischord and violence.  Truth is so hard to grasp, that it has multiple interpretations. But like the proverbial seven blind men and the Elephant each man describes the truth according to his perception.  Yet, all perspectives are true. But in our egoism and ethnocentrism we deny the truth asserted by others. We assert our own superiority at the expense of others. But humility and the Middle Path do lead to enlightenment.  

Lord Ganesh

Lord Ganesh

Chola Bronze,11th Century CE,Chennai Museum

Chennai Museum has a large collection of Chola Bronze.  And naturally so as Chennai is the capital of Tamil Nadu and Tamil Nadu was the seat of the Chola dynasty. 

India has an ancient tradition of bronze casting. The oldest metalic statue comes from Indus Valley Civilisation : the Dancing Girl. But there are also beautiful bronze sculptures from the post - Gupta Period from Bihar and Bengal. In fact, there is a life - size Buddha in bronze from Sultanganj, Bihar. The Pala Dynasty of Bengal has also produced fine bronze sculptures.  Even today Tamil Nadu continues to produce exquisite bronze sculptures following the ancient method of lost wax technique in casting the figure. 

The figure is first made in wax, then covered with clay. When the clay is fried, holes are left through which the melted wax would escape and the impression of the sculpture would be left inside the hardened clay. Thus the wax is lost.  Then molten bronze is poured inside the cavity of the mould. After the mould cools down, the baked clay is broken, revealing the bronze statue. The Rough edges are filed, the finer details are carved, the statue is polished, and sold. Chola Bronze are considered to be masterpieces of Indian art.  

Lord Ganesh is a popular God of the South.  During the Vedic period, Lord Vishnu in the form of a horse headed god was considered the God of Wisdom. For according to the Vedic people, the horse was the most intelligent animal. Till they domesticated the wild elephant. As elephants became important, the God of wisdom changed from being horse headed to an elephant headed. Most likely, some tribes in Maharashtra used to worship the elephants as a tribal God. The Aryans adopted him as their God of wisdom after the post - Gupta Period.  For the oldest statues of Lord Ganesh are discovered in Maharashtra from the post - Gupta Period.  

In South Indian art Lord Ganesh is depicted either standing, sitting or dancing. He is a jovial god who amuses us with his childish images and inspires us with his wisdom. Since wisdom can solve all the problems, He is considered to be the God who solves our difficulties. Since no task can be achieved without knowledge, He is the first God to be worshipped. For action without knowledge and wisdom leads to chaos. Thus, He creates harmony and order. He maintains the universe.  

While we all worship him, at times, we forget the importance of knowledge and wisdom in our life.

Goddess Durga Fighting with Mahisasur

Goddess Durga Fighting with Mahisasur

 Mahaballipuram, Pallava Dynasty, 7th Century CE

           One of the most brilliantly executed panels of Mahaballipuram is this one. We are all familiar with the killing of Mahisasur by Goddess Durga.  But here the sculptor has depicted the battle when the tide has started turning against Mahisasur.  He is on his back leg, tilting back; his warriors have fallen, while the Devi ' s army is advancing. There are dead bodies strewn in the battlefield.  ( Notice the corpse in the middle of the panel--a top view of a dead body). The Pallava artist has used the cross diagnals to make the panel more dynamic. The panel is full of fury and energy. It is a battle scene frozen in stone. 

         Mahisasur Mardani sculptures capture the final act of killing of the demon. Here the defeat has just begun. The artist has purposefully depicted the story in the middle.  Life itself is a constant battle between good and bad. It  is a fight which is uncertain. When the tide may turn, we do not know. It took the Pandavas eighteen days to defeat the Kauravs.  But fight we must wage within ourselves to cleanse the evil within us. Similarly a fight goes on within a society with regard to its evil practices, with regard to class struggle, with regard to ideologies. But we should not be overwhelmed by being in middle of a battle.  The fight should be with a sense of detachment. 

        The Pallavas could teach us many things about life through such stunning sculptures ! 

Dharmaraj Rath

Dharmaraj Rath

Mahaballipuram, Pallava Dynasty,7th Century CE

     A larger version of the Arjun Rath,  and the most imposing structure is the Dharamraj Rath or the Yudhisthir Rath. It is a temple dedicated to Lord Shiva. Like the other temples  this temple is also unfinished.  But has sufficient number of sculptures of Lord Shiva in his different manifestation to tell us that it is a Shiva temple.  We can see two images of Lord Shiva in this picture itself. On the left is Bhairav, the violent form of Lord Shiva;  on the right is his peaceful form. Both co - exist side by side as the ancient Indians believed that creativity and destruction go hand in hand. 

      Yudhisthir is an interesting character in Mahabharata.  Said to be the son of Yama,  the Hindu god of Justice and death, Yudhisthir is personification of Dharma  ( righteous conduct ).  If Bhim is brute force, Arjun is intellectual,  then Yudhisthir is wise. Yet, at times his wisdom fails him and he gives into temptation as when he played the dice game and wagered, his brothers, his wife and even his Kingdom.  He spends the rest of his life in remorse for his faults. Like us, he is constantly caught up in dilemma about what is right and what is wrong. But his answers to the questions posed by Dharamraj, Lord Yama prove his steadfastness to Dharma.  

        After he has answered all the questions, Dharamraj asks him to chose one of his brothers who should be resurrected as all the four brothers were lying dead before him. Yudhisthir asks that Sehdev, the youngest brother, should be revived. Dharamraj is puzzled at this choice. He asks Yudhisthir to explain his choice. For, Yudhisthir has not asked that Arjun or Bhim should be revived. Yudhisthir says, " in the dice game I had waged my brothers.  Arjun and Bhim and I are from the same mother. But Nakul and Sehdev are from Madari, my younger mother ( step-mother). If I ask for Arjun or Bhim it would be unfair. For neither of Madri 's children would live. I must be fair to both my mothers. Sehdev is the yongest of us all. He has to be protected by the eldest. Let him be resurrected. " Dharmaraj was pleased with Yudhisthir ' s sense of fairness and justice. He revived all the four brothers. 

        The sense of equality, of fairness is the heart and soul of Justice.  For justice cannot exist in their absence. We are duty bound to protect and promote the "younger" brothers. If we don't, then we are being a tyrant. Mahabharata teaches us that were Dharma exists, where the sense of fairness lives, peace and prosperity thrive.  As a nation, we should not forget this.

Raths at Mahaballipuram

Raths at Mahaballipuram

Pallava Dynasty, 7th Century CE

        One of the greatest dynasties of South India was the Pallava Dynasty (6th -8th Century CE ). They were the contemporaries of the Chalukya Dynasty of Karnataka.  There were incessant wars between the two dynasties for 300 years. Not only the Royal egos, but also the fertile lands of the Tungabhadra region caused these wars.  While the Pallavas wanted to expand their kingdom north westward, the Chalukyas wanted to capture the Tamil lands to the south and to have the hegemony of the sea. 

         Mahaballipuram is one of the most ancient ports of India. Plinny the Yonger, the famous Roman historian mentions the Indian ports of Baruch and Mahaballipuram in his book on Ports of the World. The Romans had strong trade ties with South India, so much so, that under Emperor Tiberius, the Roman Senate passed laws against import of import of exotic Indian animals and cotton textile.  This is one of the first examples of protectionism in global market. 

         Mahaballipuram was a thriving port city. But these temples called "Raths" were left unfinished. Five monolithic temples were carved out of s single hill. Here we see three of them. Although these Raths are named after the Pandav brothers, but the Pandavas never came this far to the south. Interestingly each temple is carved in different style. The first one, a Durga Temple has a hatched roof structure.  The long building we see here in this picture is like a long gallery from Ajanta Caves.  The Shiva temple, we see in the foreground, is built in the Dravidian style. Like Pattadakal in Karnataka, here the architects were experimenting with different styles of architecture.  This not only proves the dexterity, but also reveals the myriad  imagination of the Pallava architects. The adventurous spirit of the Pallavas is reflected both in their art and in their seafaring to the East Indies. The Pallava spirit or the Tamil spirit is indomitable.