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Sculptures from South India in The Art Institute of ChicagoAuthor(s): Pratapaditya PalSource: Art Institute of Chicago Museum Studies, Vol. 22, No. 1, Asian Art at The ArtInstitute of Chicago (1996), pp. 20-35+94Published by: The Art Institute of ChicagoStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4104356 .

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Sculptures from South India

in The Art Institute of Chicago

PRATAPADITYA PAL

Visiting Curator of Indian,

Himalayan, and Southeast Asian Art, The Art Institute of Chicago

Introduction

he Art Institute of Chicago has an impressive array of sculptures from South

India, known as Dravidadesa, or the land of the Dravidas. The Dravidas speak lan-

guages that belong to a different family tree from those of the northern Indians, which are derived from the Indo-European Sanskrit. Over the last two millennia, however, with the

spread of Sanskrit and Sanskritic civilization from north to south, the languages and the cultures of the Dravidas became highly influ- enced by Sanskritic ideas. Today the Dravid- ians are, for the most part, Hindus, and the

south, much more than the north, has remained a bastion of traditional Hindu culture. Both Buddhism and Jainism also flourished in the Dravidadesa at different times with differing intensity. Jainism survived the Hindu aggres- sion and continues to thrive in the modern state of Karnataka, whereas Buddhism was less successful.

Most of the South Indian sculptures in the Art Institute's collection-both in stone and bronze -were made for Hindu patrons. Only two sculptures are Buddhist and one from a Jain monument. By and large, the stone sculptures once graced external walls of

temples, while the bronzes, except for a couple of small examples (figs. 3-4), served as processional images, either for daily use or for special festivals. The stone is usually a variety of

granite, and the bronzes were cast by the cire-

perdue, or lost-wax, process. Each bronze is therefore a unique and original specimen. In the earlier bronzes, the details were carefully executed in the wax model, requiring very little

finishing, whereas, in the later examples, details were rendered after the image was cast in metal. The stone sculptures are mostly in the nature of

deep reliefs, but the bronzes were modeled in the round, with well-finished backs.

With two exceptions (figs. ii and 17), all the sculptures are from Tamil Nadu, where the Chola dynasty was the dominant power from the early tenth until the early fourteenth

century. Both the Cholas and many of their chiefs and feudatories were generous patrons of art and architecture. Some of the most

impressive Hindu temples in the south were built under the patronage of the Cholas. It was

customary for both male and female members of the families to support the arts. In fact one of the greatest patrons was Queen Sembian

Mahadevi, the wife of King Gandaraditya (reigned 949-57).1 Widowed at an early age, she

devoted her life to spiritual pursuits through religious art and architecture.

After the Cholas, the dominant power in South India was wielded by the rulers of

LEFT

Map of South India.

Cities and states dis-

cussed in this article

are featured in this

map.

LOWER LEFT

Buddha Shakyamuni,

Nagappattinam,

twelfth century.

See fig. i5.

The sculptures in

this article, with the

exception of figs. ii

and i7, are in The Art

Institute of Chicago

and are from the state

of Tamil Nadu.

By and large, the stone sculptures once graced external walls of temples, while the bronzes served as processional

images, either for daily use or for special festivals.

Museum Studies 21



Karnataka Andhra Pradesh

*

Vijayanagara (Hampi)

(H.mi . Madanapalle

* Madras

Bay of Bengal Arabian Sea

S* Chidambaram Tam.il Nadu

* Nagappattinam

SKodumbalur *

Madurai *

-GulfiofMannar

Sri Lanka



PAL SCULPTURES FROM SOUTH INDIA

FIGURE 1

Brahma, Tamil Nadu,

Kodumbalur, c. 900oo.

Granite; h. 137.1 cm.

Kate S. Buckingham

Collection, 1965.452.

Vijayanagar, which was the name of a city and a kingdom. It was founded in the Dec- can between 1336 and 1343 by two brothers, Harihara and Bukka. The dynasty came to be known as Raya and, at the height of its power, its empire stretched from the eastern to the western seas. Lasting until 1565, Vijayanagar was the last great Hindu kingdom of the south. Like the Cholas, the Rayas of Vijayan- agar were also great patrons of art. By and

large, however, Vijayanagar artists continued artistic norms established by their Chola forebears. The surviving temples with massive

gateways (gopuram) and the well-designed forts testify to the passion for grandiose architecture among the rulers of Vijayanagar. The site of their capital city-Hampi-is indeed an open-air museum, rich in both sculp- tural and architectural remains. Several of the bronzes in the collection were created in the

Vijayanagar realm.

Hindu Sculptures

Images of Brahma The Hindu pantheon admits of the supremacy of a trinity of gods who are called Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva or Maheshvara. Although he is the creator-god, Brahma has played a small role in Hindu religion and art. Known also as Pitamaha (grandfather), he is a figure- head, like a constitutional monarch. No sec- tarian cults evolved around him as they did around the other two members of the trin-

ity. He is, however, a constant presence on

temple walls, and in Tamil Nadu he usually occupies a niche (devakoshtha) on the northern wall.

The finest and certainly the earliest exam-

ple of Chola art in the Art Institute's collection happens to be a stone Brahma (fig. i). The

shape of the stele assumes that of the niche in which the statue would have originally stood.

22 Museum Studies




The gracefully proportioned figure, carved in

deep relief, stands on a lotus in a strictly frontal

posture (samabhadnga). He has four arms and three visible heads (the fourth being at the

back), which represent the four cardinal direc- tions as well as the four Vedas, the earliest sacred literature of the Hindus. As the arche-

typal expounder of the Vedas, he is naturally represented as a brahmin.2 The ascetic's hairdo

(japimukuta), the rosary and the waterpot in the upper hands, as well as the sacred cord

wrapped diagonally across the torso, are other features that announce his brahminical nature. In its slim and elegant proportions, however, the regally adorned figure resembles a prince rather than a plump brahmin.

Museum records indicate that the sculpture, along with another in the collection

(fig. 5), is from a place called Kodumbalur,

where the Irrukuvel chiefs held sway under the political aegis of the Cholas. A wealthy and powerful family, the Irrukuvels built a number of temples, mostly in the ninth and tenth centuries. The art created under Irrukuvel

patronage is generally regarded as a substyle of the Chola mode but, in point of fact, it

may have been a contributing factor to the formation of the early Chola style?

Images of Vishnu The second member of the trinity, Vishnu, is considered to be the preserver of the universe and of the cosmic order. Hindus believe that, when not engaged in an act of deliverance embodied in the concept of avatar or incarna-

tion, Vishnu sleeps on a serpent (Ananta, liter-

ally "eternity") couch floating in the cosmic ocean. Three Vaishnava bronzes from the col-

lection are discussed here. One portrays Vishnu in his classic form (fig. 2); and the other two depict him in his more popular form; known as Krishna (figs. 3-4). While Vishnu is a mythical figure, Krishna may be a

FIGURE 2

Vishnu, fifteenth

century. Bronze;

h. 86.4 cm. Robert

Allerton Collection,

1969.699.

Museum Studies 23




FIGURE 3

Krishna the Butter

Thief, fifteenth century.

Bronze; h. 10.5 cm.

Gift of Mrs. Joseph L.

Valentine, 1949.599.

FIGURE 4

Infant Krishna,

sixteenth century.

Bronze; h. 8.9 cm.

Gift of Joseph L.

Valentine, 1949.600.

deified hero, but his devotees regard him as the supreme godhead.

The impressive figure of Vishnu was once used as a festival image (utsavamfirti). Although the sculpture was cast probably six centuries after that of the Brahma (fig. i), even a cursory comparison reveals how close they are for-

mally and iconographically. Only the different attributes make it possible to differentiate the two. In fact the early Brahma is a typical example of a conceptualization that remained the norm, with slight modifications, for stand-

ing figures of Vishnu, Shiva, and other deities

throughout the Chola and Vijaynagar periods. Attired and ornamented like Brahma,

Vishnu has the tall crown (kiritamukuta) of a

king, rather than the chignon of a brahmin.

Generally, in such images, both Vishnu and Shiva (see figs. 6-7) have only one head each but always four arms. As in the representation of Brahma, the normal right hand of Vishnu shows the gesture of fearlessness

(abhaya mudra), but, unlike Brahma, whose normal left hand is placed against the thigh, the corresponding hand of Vishnu originally supported a club, whose head would have rested on the lotus base. The upper right hand of Vishnu holds his characteristic emblem, the

wheel, which he uses as a weapon, and the

upper left bears a conch shell, an auspicious symbol of aquatic treasures. Characteristic of Tamil Nadu images, the emblems are bal- anced upright by the tips of two fingers of each hand and are also garnished with flames. The two prongs on the sides of the pedestal would once have supported an aureole. For its

size, quality of modeling, and exquisite detail-

ing, the bronze remains an outstanding exam-

ple of Vijayanagar art. Also from Vijayanagar are two small rep-

resentations of Krishna, very likely made for domestic worship. Both represent the infant

Krishna, a subject that became especially pop-

24 Museum Studies




ular with Tamil patrons from the late Chola

period. In one (fig. 4), Krishna, bearing a lotus in his right hand, is shown crawling; in the other (fig. 3), he is dancing ecstatically, holding a ball of butter in his right hand and

stretching out his left to balance his posture. Normally a crawling Krishna also holds a butter ball or a sweetmeat. Brought up in a

family of cowherders in Brindavan, the infant Krishna was inordinately fond of milk prod- ucts and exasperated his foster mother by fre-

quently raiding the family larder and con-

suming butter. Whereas the crawling figure is a realistic representation of a baby, the danc-

ing posture is clearly borrowed from the pro- fessional repertory of the classical dance form known as Bharatanatyam.

Images of Shiva The largest group of South Indian sculptures in the collection depicts Shaiva themes. The third member of the Hindu trinity, Shiva is

theoretically regarded as the cosmic destroyer. To his devotees, however, Shiva, as the supreme deity, performs the functions of all three members of the triumvirate. The Shaiva sculptures in the Art Institute not only reflect the plural- ity of the god's power but also represent cer- tain distinct iconographic and mythological traditions unique to Dravida culture in general and to the Tamil tradition in particular.

The earliest Shaiva sculpture in the collection (fig. 5) in fact introduces a theme encountered only in the art of Tamil Nadu. Called Dakshinamurti (Image of Grace or

South-Facing Image), it depicts Shiva as a

teacher.4 Except for his posture and the arrange- ment of the hair, however, the figure con- forms to the same conceptual norm as encountered with Brahma and Vishnu (see figs. 1-2). Shiva also has four arms, with the upper arms

disposed in the identical manner. A slight variation is introduced in the disposition of

FIGURE 5

Shiva as the Supreme

Teacher, Kodumbalur,

tenth century. Granite;

h. 140 cm. Kate

S. Buckingham

Collection, 1965.453-

Museum Studies 25




FIGURE 6

Shiva as Lord

of the Dance,

Thanjavur district (?),

c. iooo. Bronze;

h. 71.1 cm.

Kate S. Buckingham

Collection, 1965.II1130.

the index finger and thumb of the normal right hand, which now touch. This gesture (mudrca), known as vyakhyana (exposition), symbolizes the act of teaching, as does the tree of knowl-

edge below which the figure sits. It may be recalled that the Buddha also became enlight- ened while meditating below a similar tree. Shiva's role as a salvific instructor is further

emphasized by the dwarfish figure (apas-

marpurusha) below his right foot, representing ignorance.

Shiva's lower left hand is clenched and rests on his left leg. The two attributes bal- anced with the fingertips of the upper hands are a battle axe on the right and a deer or

antelope on the left. The axe is obviously a destructive implement, used to destroy the universe when it is overburdened with evil

26 Museum Studies




and ignorance. It also removes the illusion that pervades the phenomenal world, which is

symbolized by the deer or antelope in his

upper left hand. The animal is further emblem- atic of Shiva's epithet of Pashupati, or Lord of Creatures. The unknown artist cleverly rendered Shiva's long hair fanlike around the head to serve as a halo.

This sculpture is also said to be from Kodumbalur and to be an example of the Irrukuvel idiom of the Chola style. If so, it

may have belonged to a temple of a slightly later date than that of the magnificent Brahma

(fig. i). The form does not seem quite as

graceful and the details are less articulated. It should be noted however that the surface of this sculpture has undergone considerable

erosion, and certainly the face has been recarved in an unsuccessful attempt to revive the original features. Nevertheless it is an impressive sculpture. It and the Brahma are probably the

only examples of the Irrukuvel substyle in an American collection.

Not only did the Tamil theologians con- ceive Shiva as the supreme teacher, but they also consider him to be the creator and teacher of all the arts. To demonstrate this concept, they devised a particular form of Shiva as the Lord of Dance, which has become a hallmark of Dravida culture and indeed of Hindu civilization. Admired by such European artists as the French nineteenth-century sculptor Auguste Rodin and its symbology explained early on by the noted art historian Ananda K.

Coomaraswamy,5 the Nataraja, as the image is

called, has also become a popular and familiar

object among lovers of Indian art in the West. No Indian collection is considered complete without one.

Fortunately the Kate S. Buckingham Collection of the Art Institute includes a fine

example of a classic Nataraja cast in bronze

(fig. 6). It should be noted that the theme was

also sculpted in stone and, along with Dak-

shinamurti, is included in the iconographic program of most Shaiva temples. A full discussion of this symbolically rich image is not

possible within the scope of this article; interested readers are referred to several accessible works listed below.6

An image of perfect poise and balance, Shiva performs a dance called ananda tdndava, or dance of blissful exhilaration, which symbolizes the processes of creation and destruc-

tion, as well as salvation. Dancing Shiva became the family deity of the Cholas, and the subject was frequently cast in bronze and dedicated to

temples as acts of piety. Earlier the seventh-

century Shaiva saint Appar (see fig. 13) was

immensely fond of this form of the deity, and his Devaram hymns are beautiful expressions of his intense devotion:

The hide of the black buck as garment worn, The little bells on the feet resonating with

the tinkling sound,

FIGURE 7

Shiva with Uma and

Skanda, c. I400. Bronze; h. 63.5 cm.

Robert Allerton

Collection, I966.334.

Museum Studies 27




FIGURE 8

Uma, c. 500oo.

Bronze; h. 94 cm.

Kate S. Buckingham

Collection, I961.776.

FIGURE 9

Uma, c. 1500oo.

Bronze; h. 24.8 cm.

Joseph Winterbotham

Bequest, 1954.343.

The consuming fire in the hand, held by Long and sturdy arms swaying in rhythm The charming Uma beholds the Lord tenderly And the adoring celestials standing witness The graceful and blissful dance, the Lord

performs At Perumbarrappuliyur, the sacred place

renowned, To sing his glories, or not to be born.7

Another characteristic Shaiva icon, popular in the Tamil realm and known as Somas-

kanda, is represented in the collection by a large and complete example (fig. 7). The term Somas-

kanda literally means "accompanied by Uma and Skanda." Uma, or Parvati, is the name of Shiva's spouse, and Skanda is their son. As is usual in such tableaus, the majestic Shiva is seated on a lotus with the demure Uma on a second lotus at his left. The child Skanda stands on a third flower between his parents, with his legs bent as if about to dance. What is unusual about this particular representation is that the unknown Vijayanagar artist added a

peacock, the mount of Skanda, below his lotus. The bird is rarely if ever included in such metal

processional images. Two other Vijayanagar-period sculptures

in the collection depict Shiva's spouse, Uma

(figs. 8-9). Originally each would have accom-

panied a figure of Shiva standing on a separate lotus. The goddess poses gracefully, with her

right hip thrust outward. Her empty right hand would have held a lotus, and her left is relaxed and pendent. Both figures have the same tiered headdress, which is different from the hairstyle seen in other representations of the goddess (see figs. 7 and io). Usually when

a goddess is portrayed with her husband in Indian art, she is not given additional arms to emphasize her divinity, whereas the male has an additional pair. Why this is so is yet to be explained.

28 Museum Studies




A late but rare South Indian bronze in the collection depicts the marriage of Shiva and Uma (fig. io). Apart from the important place that the divine wedding occupies in Sanskrit literature, the theme has a very special significance in Tamil Nadu. As Minakshi

(Fish-Eyed), Uma is the patron goddess of

Madurai, the capital city of the Pandyas, who were a rival dynasty of the Pallavas and the Cholas. The great temple in the city is dedicated to Minakshi. Shiva also has a different name in Madurai-Sundara, or the Handsome One. The marriage of Minakshi and Sundara is a ritual event that is reenacted annually, when

images portraying the wedding are also dedicated. Significantly such images are known in Tamil as Kalyanasundara, which is an epithet of Shiva meaning the Auspicious Sundara

(the husband of Minakshi). In the tableau, the artists chose a particu-

larly tender moment in a Hindu wedding cere-

mony to epitomize the marriage. Known as

panigrapha?na, it is the point in the ritual when the groom takes the bride's right hand in his to seal the marriage. Since, in an arranged mar-

riage, there is no physical contact during the

pre-nuptial stage, this is the first time they touch each other and the bride is usually rather

shy. In this representation, the touch is rather

tentative, almost as if Shiva is blessing his bride. Since his normal right hand is so engaged, his

corresponding left hand displays the gesture of fearlessness. Moreover, because of the circum-

stances, Uma's position is also reversed. Here she stands on the right rather than the usual left. In the museum's records, the sculpture was made sometime between the twelfth and fourteenth centuries, but very likely it is from a

later period. For stylistic reasons, which must be omitted from this brief account, it should be dated to sometime between the sixteenth and

seventeenth centuries. The bronze may well have been cast in Madurai.

FIGURE 10

The Marriage of Shiva

and Uma, Madurai

district (?), c. 16oo00.

Bronze; h. 64.8 cm.

Gift of Mr. and Mrs.

Robert B. Mayer,

I969.673.

Museum Studies 29




FIGURE 11

The Divine General

Karttikeya, Andhra

Pradesh, Madanapalle,

twelfth century.

Granite; h. 182.9 cm.

Gift of Silvani and

Arma Wyler, 1962.203.

FIGURE 12

Back view of fig. ii.

30 Museum Studies




We have already encountered Skanda as a child with his peacock in the Chola-period Somaskanda bronze (fig. 7). In a monumental

sculpture from Andhra Pradesh (fig. ii), he is

depicted as the adult general of the gods in full

regalia seated astride his peacock. He has six heads and twelve arms but only two legs. In this form, he is known as Shanmukha (Six- Faced) or Karttikeya (son of the Krittikas, or the Pleiades). The legend tells us that he was born of Shiva's spilt seed carried first by Agni the fire god and then by the river Ganga or

Ganges. Abandoned by the river, he was nur- tured by the Pleiades. In order to satisfy his six

surrogate mothers, the divine infant grew six heads. Because he was reared by the Krittikas, he became known as Karttikeya.

Not only is this the largest representation of Karttikeya outside India, but it is the

largest sculpture from Andhra Pradesh in an American collection. It is also not a relief

sculpture but is carved fully in the round (see fig. 12). Very likely it was a principal image worshipped in a temple dedicated to the deity. Known also as Murugan, Karttikeya is a much more popular deity in the south than in the north. Although the sculpture is from Andhra

Pradesh, stylistically it is closely related to

twelfth-century Chola sculptures, whose influence was felt strongly and widely in the south. But the shapes and features of the faces and the distinctive crowns are characteristic of the local style in the Madanapalle region of Andhra Pradesh.

The two remaining Shaiva sculptures in the collection bring us down to the realm of mortals. Both are of the late Chola period and

represent two of the most ardent Shaiva saints, known as Nayamnars. Both lived in the seventh century, and their hymns form an inte-

gral part of the liturgy in Shaiva temples. One of them (fig. i3) is Appar, whose hymn to

Nataraja is quoted above; and the other (fig. 14)

is Sambandar, or Thiru Jnanasambandar. Appar is also known as Thiru Navukkarasu (King Among Poets).

More than others, these two poet-saints were largely responsible for popularizing the

concept of personal and complete devotion to

godhead. Both traveled all over the Dravida land

visiting every Shaiva temple and singing Shiva's

glories. Sambandar's songs constitute the first three books of the sacred Shaiva hymns, Appar's the next three. As Appar said in the last two lines of the verse cited above, it is best not to be reborn, but if reborn, then one should spend one's life singing the praise of the Lord.

Appar (fig. I3) is always represented as a

youthful figure wearing a short, skirtlike dhoti and adorned with strings of rudrnksha (Rudra's [= Shiva's] eyes) beads. His hands are clasped against his chest in the gesture of adoration, and in the crook of his left arm is a spade, his distinctive attribute. His parents were farmers.

Sambandar (fig. 14) is always portrayed as a child, usually naked. He may be shown

standing, as in this bronze, or dancing like the infant Krishna (see fig. 3), with whom his

images are often confused. His left hand holds

a cup containing milk, and usually the right hand points upward. This iconography encap- sulates the legend that once the infant Sam- bandar began to cry when left alone by his

father, who went to bathe in a river. Shiva and Uma came to console Sambandar, and Uma fed him with her own milk, even though she herself did not produce a child. When the

boy's father returned and, seeing the cup of

milk, questioned him, Sambandar pointed to the sky, where the father too was blessed with the sight of the divine couple.

Buddhist and Jain Sculptures

The three South Indian sculptures in the collection representing the Buddhist and Jain faiths

Museum Studies 31




FIGURE 13

Shaiva Saint Appar,

fourteenth century.

Bronze; h. 60.3 cm.

Bertha Brown Evans

Purchase Fund,

1970.552.

FIGURE 14

Shaiva Saint

Sambandar, four-

teenth century.

Bronze, h. 40.6 cm.

S. M. Nickerson Fund,

1949.602.

also portray mortal teachers who, however, have attained a divine status among their adherents. They represent the Buddha Shakya- muni (c. fifth century B.C.), whose teachings led to the foundation of the Buddhist religion; and the Jina Parshvanatha, one of the twenty- four teachers recognized by the Jains. His exact dates are not known, but he is supposed to have lived in the seventh century.

Buddha Shakyamuni is depicted in two

splendid sculptures in stone and bronze (figs.

15-i6). Both are from Nagappattinam, a sea- coast town in Tamil Nadu, where Buddhism flourished during the Chola period, especially under the influence of monks from Sri Lanka. Because the form of Buddhism favored in Sri Lanka is Theravada, in which the histor- ical Buddha remains the primary focus of

devotion, Buddha images predominate in the art of Nagappattinam.

In the stone sculpture (fig. i1), the Buddha is seated in the classic posture of meditation, with his hands placed in his lap. In the bronze

(fig. 16), he stands on a lotus much like the Hindu gods and displays the gesture of fearlessness with his right hand and that of

bestowing boon with the left. In the seated

figure, the monk's upper garment leaves the

right shoulder bare, but, in the other, the entire body is covered. Following the Mathura

tradition, the folds of the garments are clearly and symmetrically marked across the body. The bottom edges of the upper garment are

elegantly pleated in the bronze. By contrast the garments are more transparent and cling to the body more closely in the stone exam-

ple. Characteristic of Nagappattinam Buddhas, an additional flame rises from the top of the

head, above the tightly curled hair. This flame

signifies Buddha's supernatural knowledge and wisdom.

Both sculptures epitomize the Nagap- pattinam artistic tradition of about the twelfth

32 Museum Studies




FIGURE 15

Buddha Shakyamuni,

Nagappattinam,

twelfth century.

Granite; h. 16o cm.

Gift of Mr. and Mrs.

Robert Andrew

Brown, 1964.556.

Museum Studies 33




FIGURE 16

Buddha Shakyamuni,

Nagappattinam, c. IIoo.

Bronze; h. 78.7 cm.

S. M. Nickerson Fund,

1940.83.

century. Only one other Nagappattinam bronze in an American collection compares with the elegance and fine workmanship of the Art Institute bronze, and that is now in the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena. That museum also has an impressive stone seated Buddha from Nagappattinam, but it is not as monumental as the Chicago sculpture.8

The last sculpture to be discussed here is a Jain stele of the Jina Parshvanatha from the State of Karnataka (fig. 17). Jainism was once a

popular religion in the south, including Tamil

Nadu. In fact Saint Appar had once flirted with

Jainism, even becoming a Jain monk before

becoming a devotee of Shiva. Ultimately the

aggressive espousal of Shaivism by both the saints and the kings resulted in the gradual erosion of Jain influence in the region. Only in Karnataka has the faith continued to flourish.

In this ornate stele, Parshvanatha is represented very much like the meditating Buddha from Nagappattinam (fig. I1), albeit in a dis-

tinctly different style. He even has the same

hairdo, but no flame emerging from his head. Instead the seven hoods of a snake form a can-

opy above him; this canopy is Parshvanatha's distinctive emblem. The Jina differs from the Buddha also in being naked, as befitting a monk

belonging to the Digambara (sky-clad) sect of the Jains. That sect espoused an extreme form of

renunciation, abjuring all personal belongings, even clothes. Parshvanatha is attended by two celestial fly-whisk bearers, who, together with a three-tiered umbrella above the snake canopy, proclaim his spiritual majesty.

Characteristic of the ornate style that

developed in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries in Karnataka and neighboring Andhra

Pradesh, the stele is completely carved with luxurious vines and its upper edge adorned with a lotus-petal and pearl motif. As if real-

izing how visually distracting such ornate- ness could be, and also to emphasize the idea of nonattachment embodied by the posses- sionless, naked Jina, the artist cut away the stone immediately around his figure. Not

only is the Jina thus removed from the flux of nature and the phenomenal world, but the

open space imparts added volume and three-

dimensionality to the figure.

Conclusion

This brief discussion of South Indian art

makes it clear that the strength of the Art

34 Museum Studies




Institute's collection lies in sculptures from Tamil Nadu. Both the Chola and the Vijay- nagar periods are well represented, in quality as well as iconographic variety. Only two sculptures are from Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, but these are fascinating examples of their

styles and periods.

FIGURE 17

Jina Parshvanatha,

Karnataka, twelfth

century. Chlorite;

h. 58.4 cm. Gift of

the Auxiliary Board

in honor of Mr. and

Mrs. James W.

Alsdorf, 1978.274

Museum Studies 35



Notes

PAL, "Sculptures from South India in The Art Institute of Chicago," pp. 20-35.

i. See V. Dehejia, Art of the Imperial Cholas (New York, 19go), pp. i-io.

2. Brahmin is the name of the highest caste among the Hindus. A priest in orthodox Hindu worship must he a hrahmin.

3. See M. W Meister, ed., Encyclopaedia of Indian Temple Architecture: South India, Lower Dravidadesa (New Delhi, 1983), pp. 199-213. The chapter on the

temples of the Irrukuvels was written hy K. V. Sourdara Rajan.

4. For an extensive discussion of the concept, see P Pal, "The Image of Grace and Wisdom," in OrientalArt n.s. 28, 3 (1982), pp. 244-55.

5. A. K. Coomaraswamy, The Dance of Siva (Bomhay, 1948).

6. Apart from Coomaraswamy's study (note 5), the two most accessihle works are C. Sivaramamurti, Nataraja in Art, Thought and Literature (New Delhi, 1974); and A. Gaston, Siva in Dance, Myth and Iconography (New Delhi, 1992).

7. As quoted in New Delhi, National Museum, Masterpieces of Early South Indian Bronzes, cat. hy R. Nagaswamy (1983), p. 63. Readers interested in

learning more ahout Chola hronzes should also see R. Nagaswamy, "South Indian Bronzes," in The Great Tradition: Indian Bronze Masterpieces (New Delhi, 1988), pp. 142-79.

8. Bronze, acc. no. F72.-3.2.S; and stone, F75.i7.3.S.

LITTLE, "Early Chinese Paintings in The Art Institute of Chicago," pp. 36-53.

i. Puhlished in New York, C. T Loo Gallery, Chinese Frescoes of the Northern

Song, exh. cat. by C. T. Loo (1949), pl. 3; and The Art Institute of Chicago Annual Report 9ggo-g91 (990), p. 4.

2. Wai-kam Ho, "A Five Dynasties Dated (951-953) Group of Esoteric Buddhist

Paintings from Cisheng Si, Wen Xian, Northern Henan Province," unpuh. is. (at press), pp. 5-6. I am grateful to Joseph Chang for providing me with a draft of this important paper.

3. Ihid., pp. 8-9.

4. For a discussion of this and related fragments in the Nelson-Atkins Museum, see Laurence Sickman, "An Early Chinese Wall-Painting Newly Discovered," Artibus Asiae 15, 1-2 (0952), pp. 137-44.

5. For an example of a Liao-dynasty hodhisattva in marhle (from Baoding Xian, Hehei province), see San Francisco, Asian Art Museum, Chinese, Korean

andJapanese Sculpture in The Avery Brundage Collection, cat. ed. hy Ren6 Yvon Lefehvre d'Argencf (1974), no. 132; for examples in wood, see Huayan Si

(Beijing, 1980), pls. 44-57.

6. Puhlished in Charles E Kelley, "A Chinese Buddhist Fresco," Bulletin of The Art Institute of Chicago 25, II (Nov. 1931), pPP. 1O-i; and The Art Institute of

Chicago, Handhook of the Department of Oriental Art (933), fig. 25. This large painting, a 1931 gift to the museum from the Japanese dealer Yamanaka Sadajir6, is now undergoing a thorough technical examination in preparation for conser- vation of its fragile surface. A mate to this painting is in The Detroit Institute of Arts; see "A Chinese Fresco of Kuan-yin," Bulletin of The Detroit Institute of Arts 9, 7 (Apr. 1928), pp. 81-83.

7. See Zhongguo meishu quanji, huihua bian, vol. 12: Mushi hihua (Shanghai, 1985), pl. 157 (from a Liao tomh in Inner Mongolia dated to io8o, excavated in 1972) and pl. 174 (from a Liao tomh in Hehei province dated to 1116, excavated in 1974). For a Jin-dynasty (1115-1234) tomh in Hehei with wall paintings in a

similar style and also featuring thick, rectangular outlines around the individ- ual scenes, see ihid., pl. 179.

8. See Susan Bush, "Five Paintings of Animal Suhjects or Narrative Themes and Their Relevance to Chin [in] Culture," in Hoyt Tillman and Stephen West,

eds., China UnderJurchen Rule (Albany, N.Y, 1995), fig. 2. The Art Institute's painting is also close in style to a handscroll by Zhao Lin, a twelfth-century Chinese court painter in service to the partly sinified Jin dynasty (1115-1234), which depicts the six favorite steeds of the Tang emperor Taizong (reigned 627-49). The entire scroll is reproduced in Yiyuan duoying 30 (1985), pp. 35-41.

9. See Jerome Silbergeld, "In Praise of Government: Chao Yung's Painting 'Noble Steeds,' and Late Yuan Politics," Artibus Asiae 46, 2 (1985), pp. 159-98.

io. This technical detail also appears in a larger group of Buddhist wall-painting fragments in the Musfe Guimet, Paris. The Musfe Guimet fragments, which are unpublished, are dated to the fourteenth century. The technique of using relief lines in wall paintings, however, probably originated in the Northern Song dynasty. The Art Institute's fragment is similar in style to depictions of women in the wall paintings of the Kaihua Si, a Northern Song-dynasty Buddhist temple in Gaoping Xian (Shanxi province); see Kaihua Si Songdai bihua (Beijing, 1983), pls. 8 and 1ii.

ii. Published in The Arts Club of Chicago, Chinese Art from the Collection of James

W. and Marilynn Alsdorf,

exh. cat. (1970), no. PI.

12. See Herbert Franke, "Two Yuan Treatises on the Technique of Portrait Paint- ing," OrientalArt o.s. 3, i (1950o), pp. 29-30.

13. The scroll has been published in Cleveland Museum of Art, Chinese Art Under the Mongols: The Yuan Dynasty (1279-I368), exh. cat. by Sherman E. Lee and Wai-kam Ho (1968), no. 2o5; and cited in James Cahill et al., An Index to Early Chinese Painters and Paintings: T'ang, Sung, and Yuan (Berkeley, Calif.,I98O), p. 370.

14. Published in Venice, Palazzo Ducale, Mostra d'arte cinese: Settimo cente- nario di Marco Polo, exh. cat. (954), no. 792; Bradley Smith and Wan-go H.C. Weng, China: A History in Art (New York, 1972), pp. 204-07; and cited in Cahill (note 13), p. 273.

15. For biographical information on Zhu Yu, see Yu Jianhua, Zhongguo meishu- jia renmin cidian (Shanghai, 1980), p. 199. The other work is published in TdsJ genmin meiga taikan (Tokyo, 1929), pl. 145.

i6. For Zhang Zeduan's detailed city view, see Yiyuan duoying 39 (1989), pp. 12-16; for Zhou Chen's depiction of the down-and-out street people of Suzhou, see Cleveland Museum of Art, Eight Dynasties of Chinese Painting: The Col- lections of the Nelson Gallery-Atkins Museum, Kansas City, and the Cleveland Museum of Art, exh. cat. (1980), no. 16o; and Washington, D.C., National Gallery of Art, Circa 1492: Art in the Age of Discovery, exh. cat. (1991), no. 296.

17. See Los Angeles County Museum of Art, The Quest for Eternity: Chinese Ceramic Sculptures from the Peoples' Republic of China, exh. cat. (1987), nos. 97-104; and Zhou Xun et al., 500ooo Years of Chinese Costume (Hong Kong, 1988), pp. 130-43.

i8. In its composition, the Art Institute's fan resembles several other fan paintings and album leaves that depict this subject; some of these can be found in the Shanghai Museum (see Songren huace [19791, pl. 2); the Liaoning Provincial Museum (see Yiyuan duoying 39 [1989], pl. W3); and the Freer Gallery of Art (see Washington, D.C., Freer Gallery of Art, Chinese Album Leaves in the Freer Gallery of Art, cat. by James Cahill [1961], pl. 23).

I9. Published in Charles Fabens Kelley, "Chinese Paintings," The Art Institute of Chicago Quarterly (Nov. 15, 195I), pp. 68-71; Iritani Yoshitaka, ed., Oi, Bunjinga suihen, vol. i (Tokyo, 1975), pls. 47-5o; and Urbana-Champaign, Ill., Krannert Art Museum, Sacred Mountains in Chinese Art, exh. cat. by Kiyohiko Munakata (199o), no. 93.

20. Urbana-Champaign (note I9), no. 9I.

21. Wen Jia, Qianshantang shuhua ji (1569), in Meishu congshu (Shanghai, 1986 [orig. pub. Shanghai,

i936]), vol. 2, p.

tO11.

g4 Museum Studies



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