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The Smithsonian Institution Regents of the University of Michigan The Smithsonian Institution Regents of the University of Michigan The Very Idea of a Portrait Author(s): Vidya Dehejia Source: Ars Orientalis, Vol. 28, 75th Anniversary of the Freer Gallery of Art (1998), pp. 40-48 Published by: Freer Gallery of Art, The Smithsonian Institution and Department of the History of Art, University of Michigan Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4629529 Accessed: 17-06-2015 12:42 UTC Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at http://www.jstor.org/page/ info/about/policies/terms.jsp JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. The Smithsonian Institution and Regents of the University of Michigan are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Ars Orientalis. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 160.39.5.14 on Wed, 17 Jun 2015 12:42:21 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions l ||l W W !,,gjjiS z? . tU. W ........ Zz -: . :;. ; . .;: . ; * .i: .?: . :: ::. :: . :.... :.6:.::. i; : i...:. *: . .: . ,. This content downloaded from 160.39.5.14 on Wed, 17 Jun 2015 12:42:21 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions VIDYA DEHEJIA The Ver.y Idea of a Portrait A SLENDER, POISED IMAGE ofa sensuous image of his own father, it can only be because, in female, flawlessly cast in bronze and identi- the accepted style of the day, portrait images were fied for many years as an image of the god- always sculpted to bear a greater resemblance to im- dess Parvati, stands a meter high on a pedestal within ages of the gods than to their actual counterparts. the Freer Gallery of Art (fig. 1). Sometime agco,I pro- Although lively and individualistic figures often ap- posed that the image may be read with equalvalidity pear in genre scenes and narrative presentations, as a portrait of the Chola queen Sembiyan Mahadevi, whether sculpted or painted, verisimilitude certainly idealized as divinity and portrayed in the guise of a was not the ruling principle in commemorative por- goddess. This blurring and apparent overlapping of trait figures of aristocratic or royal ancestors. These the categories of divine and royal portraiture has led stylized portrait statues and paintings were presum- me to explore in this essay the idea of portra:iturein ably identified either by their exact placement in a early India in an attempt to analyze its status an(dvalue. chapel, monastery, or temple or by their use in spe- A revealing commentary on the Hindu concept cific rituals such as birthday celebrations or death of portraiture is contained in an ancient Sanskrit play anniversaries. titled Pratimai-naitaka (Statue-play), written by The earliest ancestral portrait gallery for which fourth-century dramatist Bhasa and structured material evidence survives, though at its barest mini- loosely around the story of Rama. In its third act, mum, commemorated a group of seven members of when prince Bharata, younger brother of exiled Satavahana royalty and was carved in the first cen- Rama, returns to his hometown, as yet unaware of tury B.C. in a cave at the head of the strategic Nanaghat tlle recent death of his father King Dasarat;ha, he Pass, located along the trade route that led down from marvels over the execution of the sculpted images in the hills of the western ghats to the ports along the a newly constructed pavilion. Wondering whether Arabian Sea. The royal portrait gallery would have its four figures represent deities, he prepares to bow been seen by merchants, traders, and other travel- to them, upon which the keeper informs him that he ers who passed through Satavahana territory on is in an ancestral chapel and that the images repre- their way to the west coast. Unfortunately, the sent his father, grandfather, great-grandfather, and stone bas-relief images themselves are damaged great-great-grandfather.' If the audience of thieplay beyond recognition, and only the inscribed labels did not ridicule Bharata for failing to recognize the remain in the rock face above to apprise us of their identity. FIG. 1. The second such portrait gallery known to us IdealizedPortrait of QueenSembiyan Mahadevi as commemorates the Kushan rulers of northern India. Parvati, Cholaperiod, ca. 998, bronze,36 ?4 in. An ancestral chapel at Mat, just outside the town of CourtesyFreer Gallery of Art, Smithsonian Mathura, appears to have housed no fewer than four Institution, F29.84. portrait images, much damaged today, carved from 41 Ars Orientalis, volume XXVIII (1998) This content downloaded from 160.39.5.14 on Wed, 17 Jun 2015 12:42:21 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions VIDYA DEHEJIA red sandstone, each with an identifying inscrip- Such debatesoffer fair demonstration that artists did tion. The single seated image is Vima Kadphises, not sculptimages recognizable by theirphysical char- an early Kushanruler of the mid-first century A.D, acteristics;rather, correct identification was possible clad in boots and tunic and seated on a lion throne only from inscribed labels or specific referencesto with feet pendant in the position known as the sculptors'commission. pralambapadasana. The well-known standing por- trait of the famous emperor Kanishka is little more O RTRAITURE RETAINED thischaracter dur- than a silhouette created by the eccentric outline of ing the succeedingcenturies of Cholarule. In his military mantle, which is also depicted in his coin the tenth century,temples began to commis- portraits and was clearly his hallmark. Certainly the sion a rangeof portablebronze images of the deities padded boots and woolen cloak would not have been to be used in dailyand weekly rituals, as well as in an normal garb in the hot plains of Mathura but sym- increasingrange of annualfestivals. Though images bolized the authority of these rulers and signified their of deitieswere doubtlessthe primecommissions, in- central Asian origins. Across the lower edge of the scriptions at Rajaraja'sGreat Temple of Tanjavur, cloak is an inscription that reads maharajiarajiitiraja completed in the year 1010, speak of the gift of no devaputra kaniska, or "Great king, king of kings, son fewer than four bronze portraits of Chola royalty of the gods, Kanishka." A third portrait statue is amongits total of sixty-six bronze images.Emperor identified by inscription as Kanishka's successor Rajaraja'ssister, Kundavai,gifted an image of her Huvishka, and a fourth is an unidentified prince. parents, King SundaraChola and Queen Vanavan While the heads of the standing statues are broken Mahadevi, while the temple manager, Adittan away, it is possible to reconstruct that of Kanishka Suryan, gifted images of the reigning monarch from his coin portraits, which depict him clad in his Rajarajaand his chief queen Lokamahadevi.Unfor- military mantle and boots, with an unusually long tunately, these temple images of Tanjavurroyalty beard and a conical central Asian cap. His attributes have long since disappeared,depriving us of an in- of boots, cloak, beard, and cap made him recogniz- valuablesource of information(or confirmation)re- able; the shape of his nose orjawline were secondary gardingthe natureof portraiture.Yet both the ear- if not irrelevant. The shrine appears to have been lier Pallavapractice just reviewed and laterVijaya- constructed in Kanishka's year 6, perhaps corre- nagaraimagery to which we shall referwould sug- sponding to the year A.D. 84, with additions during gest that the Tanjavurimages were idealizedroyal Huvishka's reign. portraits.The Tanjavurtemple contains two addi- One of the earliest examples of royal stone por- tionalportraits of Rajaraja,one sculptedand the other traits from south India, sculpted in the seventh cen- painted;both portraya genericidealized figure with tury and identified by inscribed labels, is seen in the locks piled high in imitation of his favoritedeity, Adivaraha cave temple at the site of Mamallapuram, Shiva. Verisimilitudeappears to have been of little some forty miles south of Madras (now Chennai). On consequence. one side wall, two queens flank the seated monarch While the Tanjavurtemple inscriptionsdo not Simhavishnu, who founded the Pallava line around addresswhat motivated the creationof its fourbronze 550, while on the opposite wall stands his successor royalportraits, the inscriptionsof Rajaraja'sgrand- Mahendravarman, who ruled from ca. 600 to 630, mother,Sembiyan Mahadevi, cast some lighton this with two queens beside him. The two royal figures question.Queen Sembiyanwas a greatpatron of the look so similar that they are almost interchangeable artswho was activein buildingtemples and commis- and may even be identified as one of a range of mon- sioning bronzes for a period of at least sixty years; archs. Scholars have suggested that the standing fig- her earliestdated gift belongs to the year 941, while ure is the later ruler Mahendravarman IIand that the the latest occurred in the year 1001. Sembiyan seated figure is his predecessor, Narasimhavarman Mahadevifounded a town that adopted her name; 42 Mamalla (ca. 630-68), who gave his name to the site. she settledthere a groupof Chaturvedibrahmins and This content downloaded from 160.39.5.14 on Wed, 17 Jun 2015 12:42:21 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions THE VERY IDEA OF A PORTRAIT also constructed the Kailasanathatemple. Sembiyan towardthe creationof twenty-onetemples. She was herselfwas commemorated in a bronze portrait statue a woman with a remarkablesense of historic docu- that was probably commissioned during her lifetime, mentation,which was rarein ancientIndia. Her nu- perhaps at the behest of her son Uttama Chola.
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