The great sculpture of Śiva Gaṅgādhara in the seventh century CE cave-temple near the summit of the Rock-Fort Hill, in the South Indian city of Tiruchirapalli, is accompanied by a Sanskrit stone inscription of eight stanzas by the ruling monarch, Mahēndra-I, a great poet and playwright. This panel is the earliest extant great stone sculpture of Tamil Nāḍu. The poetry of this panel has several levels of meaning. A connection with ancient Egypt is also noted.
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South Asian Studies
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The Early Pāṇḍyas and the Pallavas were contemporaries, dated c. 550–850 ce. South Indian art of this period falls under the dynastic lineages of Western Cālukyas, Eastern Cālukyas, Pallavas, Early Pāṇḍyas and Rāṣṭrakūṭas. The iconographical idioms familiar in their arts are Siṃhavāhinī and Sapta Mātṛkās. Siṃhavāhinī to an extent was popularized by the Western Cālukyas, as shown in the rock-cut temples of Ellora. The Pallava structural temples of Kāñcīpuram include a number of images. An analogous iconographic theme is Kalaiamarcelvi/ Mṛgavāhinī. Sapta Mātṛkās was a theme popularized by the Guptas. As far as our present knowledge goes, the geographical range of Siṃhavāhinī extends southwards as far as Kāñcīpuram, and the Mātṛkās go further southward, as far as Paraṅkuṉṟam. However, as a breakthrough we discovered images of Siṃhavāhinī and the Mātṛkās in a small hamlet at Vēppaṅkuḷam in the Śrīvilliputtūr circle, Tamilnāḍu. Kalaiamarcelvi had so far come to light only in northern Tamilnāḍu. The discovery of Siṃhavāhinī and the Mātṛkās in the far south is crucial because it expands the map of these divinities from Udayagiri in the north to Śrīvilliputtūr in the far south. Another important discovery is that the Siṃhavāhinī of the present study combines features typical of the Deccan (e.g. the lion vehicle) and the far south (e.g. standing on the head of a buffalo). Such images are found rarely in the north, and seem to be rooted in Tamil cultural traditions.
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The sculptural art of India has a rich and long tradition, expressed in various mediums such as stone, terracotta and metal; and exhibited primarily on religious monuments. This tradition, rendered in different forms such as narrative panels, iconographic programme on temple walls and three-dimensional images, depict a variety of themes and styles over a period. This art form reaches its culmination during the Gupta period as evident in well-rounded sculptures with refined features expressing the subtle emotion of serenity and spirituality. The delicate and exquisite features, softly modeled limbs and graceful postures reveal a close parallel between literature and art. In post-Gupta period, this rather homogenous art idiom develops into many regional variations that lead to the evolution of distinctive styles in different parts of the country. The art of post-Gupta period all across the country, though lacking the uniformity of Gupta period, displays a few common features. Very often, these features carry clear imprint of Gupta style or motifs (Harle 1977: 574). There is greater emphasis on ornamentation and decoration. With the emergence of temple architecture, the sculptures become integral part of architectural composition. The temple walls are covered with varied iconic forms mostly placed in niches; sculptures of semi-divine beings and other subsidiary figures; mithuna-maithuna couples; and panels of animals, warriors and other such narratives. Stylistically, there is not much difference between various types of sculptures. The motifs related to nature and vegetative aspects appear mostly within human frame. Some of the most commonly occurring motifs are shalabhanjika, combined human-and-animal form, and floral and abstract devices. Thus, the temple sculptures continue the tradition of Gupta period, but lack large-scale compositions of earlier times (Kramrisch 1981: 96-97; Michell 2000: 56). In western India, in the modern states of Rajasthan and Gujarat, the post-Gupta period witnessed the flourishing of a prolific and rich tradition of sculptural art found in loose images, but mostly on temple walls. In Maharashtra, this art form found expression in panels carved on the walls of rock-cut caves and after 10 th century CE, on the profusely caved walls of structural temples.
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Journal of Indian History and Culture
Kanchipuram is one of the seven religious cities of India. It served as a focal centre of most of the religious faiths that emerged in India. Saivism enjoyed royal patronage, starting from the Pallava period in Kanchipuram. It seems to have occupied a leading position in the city, throughout the centuries. Ekāmbareshwara temple in Kanchipuram is the prime place of Śiva worship. The temple has undergone massive structural expansion in post-Pallava times, because of the vast patronage lavished in the Chola and Vijayanagar periods. In front of the main gopura, we find two mandapas i.e. halls. One is a four-pillar maṇḍapa and the other a sixteen-pillar maṇḍapa. The sixteen-pillar maṇḍapa has exquisite sculptures of gods, goddesses, minor deities, saints, etc. Some of the sculptures are rare and region-specific. We do not get much information in the Purāṇas about some of the rare sculptures of Śiva and Viṣnu found in Ekāmbareshwara temple. But, Kanchipurāṇam, which is not part of the Mahā Puranas and was written at a later date, explains stories related to these sculptures which are more region-specific and mentioned in Sthala Puranas. In this paper, there is an attempt to study some of the rare sculptures which are created by artists with the intention to show Śiva as the supreme among the trinity.
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South Asian Archaeology 2001, Volume II, Historical Archaeology and Art History
