Mahabalipuram - Painting in Stone

I revisited Mahabalipuram for a few hours last week. The place merits a lot more time than that....

Let us first take a look at the famous 'Taddei Tondo' by Michelangelo:



A description from the Great Artists volume on Mike:

"In relief sculptures, the figures are never fully in the round but remain attached to a flat background so the sculptor has to create the illusion of full roundness against a relatively two dimensional surface. Michelangelo understood this very well and approached relief sculpture rather like painting. ...The figure of the Christ child is carved quite deeply with strong clear outlines, which make it stand out from the background. The Virgin and St. John are less deeply carved and in places seem almost to have been drawn onto the stone... In the background, Michelangelo has also roughened the surface of the stone to create a sense of depth...(it is almost as if) Michelangelo could really draw in stone."

This technique (minus roughing up the background) can also be admired in the Gates of Paradise by Ghiberti who lived half a century before Michelangelo:



And now, let us examine some Mahabalipuram granite reliefs - 'Laxmi bathed by elephants' and a portion of 'Krishna lifting Govardhana':





Just see those elephants - elegantly outlined but kept out of focus and pushed to the background - and the cattle - just about indicated; and how chisel marks rough up the vacant areas. Both works predate Michelangelo and Ghiberti by well over 800 years.

Here is another group; its three dimensionality reminds me of a Bellini altarpiece. Note the textured background from which the fugures emerge... And the foreground figure to the goddess's right, is he about to cut off his own head as an offering??





The above masterpieces don't seem to have had precedents in Indian art in the way they deal with background figures and depth. Strangely, India never really built on what they achieved - even exponents of our great painting schools - Mughal, Kangra etc - only used diminution of size to indicate objects in the background, not putting things out of focus. Indeed, in Mahabalipuram itself, most other reliefs seem 'conventionally Indian' in their treatment of picture depth. For instance, see this famous Mahishasura battle scene.



Even the celebrated 'Arjuna's penance' keeps everything in focus (btw, can you spot the Kinnaras there?):


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The 13 centuries old Mahabalipuram Shore Temple remains, easily, the most elegantly proportioned stone temple in South India - this despite practically all of its decorative sculpture having gotten eaten away by the elements... And it is such a pinnacle of achievement that the only way for future architects was downwards. In hindsight, even the great Cholas, for all their powerful intent, only delayed the inevitable.

And the loss of the sculptures on the shore temple might not really have been that big a loss. For here is a just-about-surviving relief from there. A remarkably flattened out Holy Family (aka 'Somaskanda') group. Parvati is poking at a very stiff Siva's shoulder, her hand looking curiously like a cobra's hood ... well, the hood-like hand might just as well, belong to Siva himself!



Around Mahabalipuram are many workshops bulk producing granite sculptures and idols. Tools are high tech, demand appears strong and business appears to be flourishing. I caught sight of a dozen foot tall Revanta (a Kalki-esque sword wielding, horse-riding deity) - a scaled up copy of a sculpture I remember seeing at the Patan step well in far away Gujarat - in an advanced stage of finishing.

Kanchi Treasures...

A load of thanks to Rekesh, I got to revisit Kanchipuram and Mahabalipuram. Recording some of the most compelling images (with a bare minimum of text) from what was a very illuminating journey...

Kailasanatha Siva temple.

Our first stop... A pallava masterpiece going back 1300 plus years, it is brimful of sandstone marvels...

One among the over 50 subshrines built into the outer wall of the temple:



Siva dances:



And another image of the cosmic dancer. Vishnu and Brahma watch in appreciation, Nandi joins in the fun... (btw, in no Pallava image of Siva as dancer does one see him trampling the dwarf demon)



Easily the most magnificent Siva here - and maybe anywhere!- shown subduing (guess) Andhaka, the demon.
(This and many other sculptures here occupy elevated niches and need to be viewed from a low level. Wonder if they have been corrected for perspectival effects).


Not sure what is going on... looks like a celestial brawl - a figure who looks a bit like Vishnu (two-armed though) is being held back from doing something drastic by Brahma and Siva...



Siva peels the hide off an elephant demon... a theme executed at least twice at this very temple.



A trio from among the many musicians carved here...



Remnants of a mural. One can only make out that their colors were crisp and bright once upon a time...



A pair from among the dozens of lions and panthers...



A muscular and robust load bearer... to my limited knowledge, apart from some Mauryan beasts (Sarnath lions, some Sanchi monsters...), these are the only figures in our entire sculptural tradition with massive and well defined musculature. And they have an undeniable mid-Eastern look - well, not surprising, this middle East thing, since Mauryan artists were indeed strongly influenced by Achaemenid art!



A troop of revelling dwarf-goblins. A Ganesha like figure among them. No leadership role for him, not even the first among equals.


Note: elsewhere in this temple, there is at least one wall niche with a proper (divine) Ganesa figure - should be one of the earliest appearances of the popular elephant god.
A somewhat damaged bongo player. Notice the crossed arms - a gimmick that was very popular among bongo players in Kerala orchestras a generation ago!



Evidence that the bongo player is none other than Siva himself!:



A ferocious-looking Siva, brandishing a battle axe, hovers over a supplicant Brahma:



With massive load bearing monsters in attendance, Arjuna and Kirata square off:







The Vaikuntha Perumal Vishnu Temple:

This temple is but a few decades younger than Kailasanatha. Most of the once grand sculptures on the inner sanctum walls have been ravaged by time almost beyond recognition. Here are a few samples:

An enthroned Vishnu. Almost a contemporary of the grand Serpent-throne Vishnu at Badami. Yet another forerunner of the Tripunithura idol... Centuries of erosion has left a strange grin on the lord's face:



Vishnu appears to be decorating a devotee's crown with a garland. The very same favor is bestowed upon Chandesa by Siva in a far more famous relief carving done at the Gangaikondacholapuram temple that postdates Vaikuntha Perumal by around 300 years.



Siva and Vishnu seem to be having a casual conversation, as pretty much equals:



The seated figure in pic below is certainly Vishnu (note the conch). The worshipful one, is it Siva (he seems to have four arms so...)?


Along the walls of a covered corridor that runs all around the sanctuary, we have something like a thousand square feet of relief carvings, almost all depicting exploits of Pallava kings and not gods. There are court scenes, battle scenes (lots of them!), surrender of enemies and formal portaits with queens of various Pallava monarchs. And there are inscriptions and more inscriptions. Here is a single image:



The Varadaraja Temple:

This Vishnu temple, most of which dates back to Vijayanagar-Nayaka periods (16th-17th centuries) is more grandiose than grand, just as is the case with most major Tamil Nadu temples. But again, as is the case with most temples in these parts, there are pleasant surprises...

A poorly captured - and none too elegant - image of yet another enthroned Vishnu:



A very unusual five-faced (Panchamukha) form of Vishnu:

Around the inner sanctum of the temple are several lengthy corridors with walls filled with murals - they look a few hundred years old and are probably from the Nayaka period. Here are two of the more interesting specimens. Vishnu being worshipped by some very Ayyangar-looking priests - one chap is dark as coal and the other rosy-complexioned. One hears a lot from experts about how our caste and Varna systems are based on skin color. This picture doesn't quite fit those theorisations.



And here is another. Among the scenes, my personal favorite is the gathering looking like a 'satsang' or 'bhajan' group at the left lower. Quite an assortment of devotees and a whole spectrum of complexions.



I have no idea how much of these murals are as they were when painted - iow, whether this remarkable range of complexions are actually part of the original artist's intent - and if so what that range signifies. But as I just gathered, the Varadaraja murals are well known to experts. And there is even a Jain temple in Kanchi with interesting murals - pity we didn't look for it.

And here we seem to have two divinities (probably Kama and his consort Rati) aiming lethal arrows at each other. Note their horses:


Around Kanchi

Within the Vaikuntha Perumal temple enclosure, there is this very colorful Naga shrine:



Close to the inner sanctum of the Ekambaranatha Siva temple at Kanchi is this curious structure: Strangely Chinese looking green beasts, cherubs,..



On the sheer rock walls of the formidable hill fort at Gingee, we saw this Vishnu image, among a crowd of graffiti. Looks of Nayaka make:



Looking up at the inner citadel at Gingee:



Preserved within the Gingee fort is this partially broken statue. A full 3D human figure, probably a portrait of someone, note the odd pose:



The huge granary building at Gingee:



Interior of the granary - it looks like the nave of a grand cathedral:



The 'gymansium' at Gingee:



Let me only mention - in words - the most poignant images we saw at Gingee: Descriptive boards in Braille installed before every monument...



And we witnessed the festival of 'mayana kollai', literally, 'looting the cremation yard'. Troops of devotees in wildly colored attire, some (both women and cleanshaven men) dressed up to look like goddess Kali- extra arms, bloody tongue, fangs and so forth attached - some youngsters hung from crane hooks... head in noisy processions towards cremation grounds where they would perform some rituals in honor of Ankalamman, a local Kali equivalent...

Aside: I recall hearing a comparison between Vishnu and Siva, in a Tamil setting: "Siva is earthy, even wild; doesn't demand much from devotees... Vishnu is the sophisticate, the real capitalist. All services carry a solid price tag!" There seems to be some substance to such an assessment. The Ekambaranatha Siva temple charges just 5 rupees for 'special' darshan; most of the waiting happens in narrow stone passages, stuffy and suffocating with the combined effect of crowds, camphor and holy ash - the whirring fans are of no help whatever. The Varadaraja Vishnu temple is of very similar construction but approaching the core sanctum, one walks into an efficient airconditioning system and there are priests who precisely list the various pujas and their prices. So corporate!

Kaduthuruthi and 'Enlightenment'

Serendipities at Kaduthuruthi

The small town of Kaduthuruthi has a Siva temple. It lies midway between the far more famous Siva temples of Vaikom and Ettumanoor. Adityapuram, which has the only temple in Kerala dedicated to Surya, the sun god is nearby.

One afternoon, we were headed to Ettumanoor and Adityapuram and were passing through Kaduthuruthi when it was noted that it would be a while before the temples we were planning to visit would open and that the Kaduthuruthi temple was just about to open. So we stopped for a dekko.

The Siva temple occupies the crest of a hillock and has nice views of the countryside to the east - a tract of country that is, considering its location so close to a major highway and urban centers, sylvan and sparsely inhabited. The temple itself is of medium size and well maintained. Looking around, we catch sight of about a dozen carved wooden panels; they are set among the rafters supporting the tiled roof of the 'Chuttambalam' (building surrounding the inner sanctum) - quite an odd choice of display site.



On looking closer, we note that quite a few of the reliefs are of very impressive workmanship. The mythological episodes they illustrate aren't too obvious - indeed, to my knowledge, they are anything but typical among the wood carvings of Kerala. Here are some examples accompanied by speculative notes.



That was Siva-Parvati (more likely, Siva with Sati, his first wife). Mostly, the figures follow the 'standard' representations. But look at the lady's coiffure - the coils of a hooded serpent serve to gather her tresses into a substantial knot.



What you just saw seems to be a desperate-looking Sati pleading with a grumpy looking Siva for permission to attend a sacrifice organized by her father Daksha - the old feller had deliberately not invited the couple.

The sacrifice is in progress, with even a very respectful Vishnu in attendance....



Having gained her reluctant husband's consent, Sati proceeds to the sacrifice venue, riding Nandi, Siva's mount. Note how she is shown flashing a whip and the attendant conch-blowing figure - does he not look so like Triton?





Who was that five-headed figure? Brahma had five heads before Siva plucked off one of them. And Siva himself is sometimes referred to as five-faced, each face representing one of the five elements.

Sati was humiliated at the sacrifice venue by Daksha. The lady, in a fit of anger, immolated herself. Here, an enraged Siva, with the weapons usually held in his upper hands transferred to the lower ones and fists clenched, sets out seeking bloody revenge...And note the Kerala-style building in the background.



And who is this guy? He has a monkey-like face and must show some attendant. Nandikeswara, I presume.... Ezhuthassan's Adhyatma Ramayana says this attendant of Siva looks like a monkey and so was mocked by Ravana whom he cursed with destruction at the hands of monkeys.



No source I could consult - online or otherwise - has anything meaningful to say about these figures. Several of their features - the drapery, for instance - indicate a recent-ish origin but their sheer quality and inventiveness point towards classicism. Were they originally part of this very temple? Were there more of them? When were they inserted among the rafters? My ignorance is total on all these questions. Yes, something about them recalls the sandstone sculptures at Bharhut and Deogarh... but let me not go overboard with speculations; over to the experts!

Moving on to Ettumanoor, here are some curious details from the fringes of the sprawling 'Anantasayanam' mural in the West Gopuram. Quite an assortment of beasts - huge crocs, elephants, dogs and all kinds of fishes including even a marlin - inhabit the depths of the cosmic ocean underneath the immense coils of the serpent Ananta. Here goes:





Enlightenment and Entitlement

Chemistry Nobel laureate Michael Levitt, who was in Kerala as a state guest (I am told, as per the rules, any Nobelist from any country visiting our neck of the woods is automatically a state guest) to attend a conference, had an unpleasant brush with our Hartal politics. Here are some extracts from newspaper reports...

- Levitt was left stranded for a couple of hours after supporters of Wednesday’s nationwide shutdown stopped his houseboat in the picturesque backwaters of Alappuzha before better sense prevailed....The boat Michael Levitt had hired was blocked along with several others although the shutdown leaders had exempted the tourism industry ..."

- Levitt described his experience in a message where he said the treatment he received as a state guest was “not good” either for “tourism, the State of Kerala, or the Country of India”.

- "They(strikers) ignored all arguments that tourists were exempted and that I am a VIP guest of the Kerala government. He was obviously acting, knowing that he was safe from prosecution. Sadly, this makes me fear that India is sinking into lawlessness," Levitt wrote in his email to the tour operator.

- The owner of the houseboat said: “(Levitt) is disappointed. We had prepared special Kerala-style non vegetarian dishes but he could not enjoy his lunch"

It seems Collectors of two districts personally visited Prof. Levitt and conveyed the State's apologies to him. The next day, Levitt was seen on news channels saying "Kerala is beautiful.. people are nice!". He wouldn't say anything about his Hartal experience and seemed to have gotten over it.

When I learned European history at school, I was taught about the Renaissance, Reformation, Industrial Revolution, Imperialism and so forth but not about Enlightenment (of course, the word itself was familiar - as something that happened to Buddha as he sat under a tree and nothing else). "Liberty, Equality and Fraternity" were taught to us only as slogans raised by rabble-rousing leaders during French Revolution - it was much much later in life that I came to realize that those 3 words summarize the very core of Enlightenment Humanism - ideals as noble and uplifting as they are hard to practice (but one should strive towards as a plain Citizen and Man, nothing more and nothing less). And I don't think I was exceptional. We Indians can claim to have learned a lot of ideas from Europe but Enlightenment (in its modern, and to me, real sense) simply does not figure on that list. So, it is a safe bet that no Collector cared to meet any of the dozens or hundreds of tourists on the other boats which were also held up, perhaps for more hours than Levitt was - and no journo bothered to find out whether they were able to enjoy "Kerala-style non vegetarian dishes" on that fateful day. This is still a land of Entitlement.