Page 5 - Stone and Bronze, Indian art of the Chola Dynasty, Metropolitan Museum, NYC

panel at Kilayur illustrates, were both aesthetically
and technically step in advance.
a
The icon on the Brahmapurisvara temple (9IO) at
Pullamangai near Tanjavur (Figure 3) dates from the
third year of the long reign of Parantaka I, who suc-
ceeded his father, Aditya, on the Chola throne. Only
a quarter of a century later than the two previous ex-
amples, it shows a certain synthesis or unification of
styles. The tall, elongated figure and its high crown echo
the Kilayur icon, but the torso is less modeled and some-
what tubular. The scarves with their pronounced lateral
bows, the vertical girdle pendant, the wide ribbon fall-

FIGURE 3
Brahma, 9o1. Brahmapurisvara temple, Pulla-
mangai

FIGURE 2
Brahma, 884. Agastyesvaram temple, Kilayur

ants. The slender and graceful body sensitively mod-
is
eled; the principal face probably has been recut.
The differences between the two contemporary
images show that the local schools or workshops fol-
lowed somewhat different traditions. The sculptors of
Kumbakonam, close to the Chola capital, worked in
a manner more typical of the new Chola style than
those of Kilayur and, as the awkward shape of the back

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