Page 1 - Stone and Bronze, Indian art of the Chola Dynasty, Metropolitan Museum, NYC

Divine Images in Stone and Bronze

South India, Chola Dynasty (c. 850-1280)

ASCHWIN LIPPE

INTRODUCTION Roman coins have been found all over the south, and
the remains of a Roman trading station were excavated
The southeast coast of India had been, from ancient near Pondichery.
through medieval times, the region where the mari- After the interval of a mysterious "dark age" when
time trade routes to Southeast Asia and China began Buddhists and Jains had the upper hand, the ancient
and those from the Mediterranean and the Red Sea kingdoms of the Pandya (Madurai) and Chera (Ker-
ended. We call this region-which harbored the oldest ala) were reestablished in the sixth century. To the
European settlements in India-the Coromandel north of the Pandya realm, the mighty Pallava kings as
Coast. The word Coromandel is derived from Cholaman- well claimed to descend from an earlier dynasty of the
dala, "the realm of the Cholas." same name.
In India, the name of the Cholas has been kept alive It was not until the middle of the ninth century,
by the religious literature and poetry created under however, that the Cholas reemerged from obscurity.
their patronage, and by the innumerable temples with At that time Vijayalaya, probably a Pallava feudatory,
which they studded the land. Many of these are still took Tanjavur (Tanjore) and the surrounding area
extant and functioning. They include little-known from the Muttarayars, local chiefs who had transferred
masterpieces, which carry some of the most beautiful their allegiance from the Pallavas to the Pandyas. The
sculpture of medieval India; they also include the region around Tanjavur and Tiruchirappalli was to
largest and tallest of all Indian temples, which are remain the heartland of the Chola kingdom. The son
architectural and technical marvels. of Vijayalaya, Aditya (87I-907), defeated and killed
I
The bronze icons of the Early Chola period are one his Pallava overlord and annexed most of that dynas-
of India's greatest contributions to world art. In recent ty's territory (c. 890). A royal charter engraved on a
years, they have begun to make the Chola name once copper plaque states that on both banks of the Kaveri
more familiar in the West. River, from the Sahyadri Mountains (the Western
During the first three or four centuries of our era, the Ghats) to the wide ocean, he built in honor of Siva rows
far south of India had been divided among the "three of tall stone temples, which stood as monuments of his
crowned kings" of the Chera, Pandya, and Chola lines, success.
who occupied the southern Malabar and Coromandel The following centuries saw the stabilization and
coastal plains. These kingdoms entertained a lively NOTE: The following photographs are by the author: Figures
trade with the Yavanas (Greeks and Romans). Many I-7, I3, I4, i6, 17, 22, 23, 25-3I, 33-36, 43-48, 53-56.

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