Page 19 - Stone and Bronze, Indian art of the Chola Dynasty, Metropolitan Museum, NYC

is adorned with three elaboratejeweled wristlets as well ment once was attached to the knob on the base band
as an elbow ornament consisting of a double bangle. of the crown. The curled locks fall over neck and shoul-
The intricate armlets are worn high, on all arms. Sus- ders in a loose semicircle. The end of the dhoti stands
pended from them are two festoons and tassels, as on out over the girdle in a beautiful large splay.
the Melappaluvur relief; in the center, there is the lion A flat double-lotus base crowns the low, articulated,
mask over makara heads (on the two front arms only), rectangular pedestal, which has three more bands of
and above, a five-pronged ornament over which we lotus petals. The flamed arch, once fitted over the two
is
notice the loop of the string that secures it to the arm. spikes, missing. The rings at the base served to hold
The thick, jeweled stomach band is adorned all around poles, by means of which the image could be carried in
the waist with festoons and tassels. procession.
The sacred cord is held high on the left side of the The lotus is not represented in our bronze. We find
chest by clasp and bow, which are much rubbed. The it, however, in the lower (front) right hand of a number
a
main cord of three strands falls over the stomach belt. of bronzes generally attributed to the Pallava period,
The upper strand branching off at the clasp swings to and in a few images of the late tenth century.34
the right above the belt, while the lower one falls Disk and conch are, in all Pallava and Chola bronzes,
straight down, disappears behind the girdle, and be- in the same hands as they are in the New York bronze;
comes visible again when it loops around the right we cannot always be sure whether the club or mace
ankle, as on the Pullamangai relief; both are adorned originally was represented or not. When all four em-
with jewels. blems are shown, this pattern of distribution identifies,
The girdle is held by a lion clasp, now somewhat among the twenty-four emanations of Vishnu men-
rubbed. Jeweled festoons hang from a girdle band, in- tioned above, Janardana or, according to another
terrupted by longer pendants with cruciform orna- scriptural tradition, Vasudeva;35 it also corresponds
ments. The central festoon is fashioned in openwork. with the representation of Vasudeva as the Supreme
A three-dimensional strip of pearls with bangles and Lord.36 I do not believe, however, that any of these in-
is
pendants suspended in the center and falls between terpretations was intended for the New York bronze.
the legs to the shins. The end of a girdle band is tucked The position of the lower left hand is the same as on
up, on the left side. the Govindaputtur relief. The standing Vishnu in this
The usual sash is tied around the hips, hanging down particular attitude was thought to represent Srinivasa,
in front in a narrowing loop, which is done in openwork; i.e., the Abode of Sri. Vishnu is thought to carry his
from the flaring bows at the hips, the two ends fall to consort Sri or Lakshmi, the goddess good fortune, in
of
the hem of the garment. Double incised lines indicate his body. This cult was associated in particular with
the pattern of the dhoti. The foot ornaments are once the Tirupati temple. The peculiar position of the lower
more double. left hand is said to indicate to the devotees that the
We note that the emblems held by the fingertips of ocean of mundane preoccupations (samsara) for them
the back hands are only slightly tilted toward the head; is only thigh-deep.37 This interpretation seems a ration-
the wheel disk is partly turned outward, to about 45 alization of the particular position of the hand as it
degrees. Simple flames adorn the cardinal points, in- looks without the mace, which has disappeared. It
cluding the base, of both disk and conch. The front left would then be based upon a bronze image-where the
hand perhaps once rested on a mace; the right is, as mace was cast separately and easily got lost. The Srini-
usual, raised in the gesture of reassurance. vasa concept as such, however, is much older; Vishnu
At the back of the image we notice that a hair orna- is described as "the god who bears Sri in his chest" in a

De
34. P. R. Srinivasan, Bronzes, figs. 15, 17, 25, 123, I84; Sivara- Iconographiques L'Agni-Purana (Paris, I963) pp. I6, 24.
mamurti, Bronzes, pls. io b, 1 c, 14 a-b, 15, 17. 37. F. H. Gravely and T. N. Ramachandran, "Hindu Metal
35. Agni-Purana and Padma-Purana; see Gopinatha Rao, Ele- Images," Bulletin of the Madras Government Museum 2 (1930-1937)
ments, I, part I, pp. 227 ff., and Banerjea, Development, pp. 386 ff. p. 69.
36. Agni-Purana; see M. Th. de Mallmann, Les Enseignements

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