Page 58 - Christie's Inidian and HImalayan Works of Art, March 2019

A BRONZE FIGURE OF CHANDIKESHVARA

This elegantly cast fgure depicts the South Indian saint Chandesha, also Graceful and richly patinated, Chandikeshvara stands in contrapposto on a
known as Chandikeshvara. Images of the sixty-three nayanar or Shaivite foliate pedestal, the arms raised together in anjalimudra with the parashu or
saints of South India, including Chandikeshvara, are idealized portraits battleaxe of Shiva resting in the crook of the left elbow. His face is beatifc,
of devotees transformed by bhakti, the state of loving devotion. To these the aquiline nose powerful above a rosebud mouth. The broad shoulders
nayanar are attributed more than seven hundred hymns that form the sacred and feshy physique are in marked contrast to the lithe modeling prevalent in
liturgical body recited in Tamil temples, which extol the feats of Shiva and his early Chola sculpture. The brief, diaphanous dhoti or loincloth is incised with
irresistible beauty. a scrolling vine motif at front and back, secured with a sash afixed around
the waist with a girdle clasp and hung in a half-loop across the upper thighs.
In the current work, the poetic ecstasy of Chandikeshvara is manifested The tall jatamukuta echoes the plaited jatas of Shiva. Chandikeshvara is
into an evocative, sensuous, and idealized form. Revered as the foremost ornamented with large round earrings, ear tassels, wide necklaces, armlets on
devotee of Shiva, the young cowherd Chandesha worshipped a simple mud the upper arm, beaded armlets at the elbows and stacked bracelets, as well as
lingam, using milk from the cows he tended for the ritual daily lustration. stacked anklets on the right leg. He wears the yajnopavitam or sacred thread
When his father chastised him for wasting milk, Chandesha was so absorbed across the left shoulder.
in meditation that he did not hear his father’s admonition. In a fury, his
father kicked the lingam and so Chandesha lashed out with his staf, which The coiled jatamukuta and splay of plaits at the back of the head is favorably
miraculously turned into Shiva’s sacred battleaxe. Pleased by the intensity comparable with another slightly earlier bronze fgure of Chandikeshvara in
of Chandesha’s devotion, Shiva and Uma blessed him with a divine garland, the British Museum (acc. no. 1988.0425.1), see V. Dehejia, The Sensuous and
hence the name Chandikeshvara. During the Chola period, all Shiva temples the Sacred: Chola Bronzes from South India, New York, 2003, pp. 162-3, cat. no.
had a separate shrine dedicated to Chandikeshvara, usually on the northern 33. Further iconographical details, including the unadorned parashu, the large
side near the sanctum, as the guardian and supervisor of Shaivite temples. To fat-petaled shirashchakra or halo at the back of the head, and the tightly coiled
this day, his presence is evoked in Shaivita temple complexes by a clapping of jatas arrayed a graceful semi-circle across the upper back and which cascade
hands by devotees. down the shoulders further support a twelfth century dating. For further
reading, see C. Sivaramamurti, South Indian Bronzes, New Delhi, 1963, p. 40.

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