Page 30 - Stone and Bronze, Indian art of the Chola Dynasty, Metropolitan Museum, NYC

FIGURE 29
Lingodbhavamurti, c. 950. Naltunai Isvaram
temple, Punjai

The worshiping gods in the flanking niches still
appear on the Kampahesvara temple (between I200
and 1215) at Tribhuvanam (Figure 3').
Not all the variants mentioned above can be related
to the Agamas. We can probably interpret the relief
in
where Vishnu and Brahma are not represented any
way (Tirumayam) as illustrating an earlier and more
conciliatory version of the legend, while the represen-
tation of the pandanus flower and, perhaps, already the
transformation of Brahma into his vehicle, hint at the
latter's total humiliation.
The Lingodbhavamurti in The Metropolitan Mu-
seum of Art (Figure 32), carved from south Indian
granite, certainly once adorned the western sanctum
niche of a Late Chola temple. As usual, the four-armed
Siva appears in the lentil-shaped opening of a pillar;
his lower legs and the top of his crown are hidden. The
front right hand, now broken off, once was in the ges-
ture of protection; the back right holds a battle axe, the
back left an antelope; the front right rests on the hip.
Flower garlands fall over both shoulders.
The sacred cord is a sinuous ribbon, with an upper
strand branching off at the clasp. The girdle with jew-
eled bands, festoons, and pendants is held by a lion-
mask clasp. The sash falls in a formalized narrow loop
in front; the vertical strips at the sides as well as the
bow on the right hip are stylized and flat. Arms and
legs are heavy and tubular, the knees knobby.
Varaha, a small figure with boar's head and human
body, is burrowing into the earth in the right fore-
ground. The wild goose flutters on the left near the top
of the pillar, which is adorned with a flower garland.
Stylistically, the New York relief evidently belongs
to the Late Chola period. When we compare it to the
image on the Kampahesvara temple at Tribhuvanam
(Figure 31)-which can be dated between I202 and
1216-with its extremely knobby knees, we are tempted
to date it a little earlier, close to the western gate tower
at Chidambaram (Figure 30) -which was begun about
I 50-or the somewhat later eastern one. Since only a
rudimentary documentation of Chola temples is avail-
able, however, we can only date the sculpture approxi-
mately, to the twelfth or thirteenth century.

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