Synopsis 2005
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NARRATION IN NAYAKA ART BASED ON SELECT TEMPLES SYNOPSIS The thesis deals with a topic, which is very dear to the Indian populace. While story telling is a practice that is popular through the ages it finds a range of expression in the Indian context. From the oral traditions which range from the katha kalakshepams or telling of the stories of Hindu epics and mythologies to the bhopa story tellers who spoke of the local legends of folk heroes at Rajasthan; from the tholu bommalatams or leather puppetry of Andhra Pradesh where folk artists spoke of the same epics like Ramayana and Mahabharata; or theru koothus in Tamilnadu which again staged the regional narratives like Valli Thirumanam or episodes from the pan Indian epics like the Mahabharata and the Ramayana; from the pat painters of West Bengal to the phad painters of Rajasthan or the murals of Madhubani and Warli to the painters and sculptors employed by the royal patrons and chieftains the instinct to tell stories is a strong one. Each of these have their own traits and distinct modes of narrations The proposed thesis deals with the last of the type of storytellers. They of course are not mere storytellers in the true sense of the term. They are acknowledged as ‘artists’ whether they painted or sculpted and art history has traditionally put them on a pedestal above the so-called ‘craftsmen’ mentioned in the other instances above. But present day studies have revised that opinion and much work is going on in that direction. In the same manner the Nayaka works have traditionally been treated as ‘children of a lesser artist” as a result of colonial interpretations. This thesis is an objective attempt at looking at the works with the idea of looking into the content of their works. It deals with narrative sculptures and paintings of the Nayaka time period based on select temples in Tamilnadu. The thesis includes 11 Saivite temples and 3 Vaishnavite temples. As already mentioned the thesis intends to explore only narrative panels of the time period. So the main iconic images in garbagrihas and other shrines have been kept outside the purview of this study. Also the Nayakas have mainly contributed in terms of mandapas, prakaras and gopuras in the temples selected for study. So the sculpted or painted 1 narrative panels that are in the various pillars of mandapas, ceilings of mandapas and elevations of gopuras have been ‘selected’ for study. The temples chosen for study are : Lists of temples and their abbreviations: 1. Arunachalesvara temple, Thiruvannamalai, A.T.T 2. Periyanayaki Amman temple, Devikapuram P.A.T.D 3. Kanakagirisvara temple,Devikapuram K.G.T.D 4. Margasahayesvara temple, Virinchipuram M.S.T.V 5. Bhaktavatsala temple, Thirukkalukunram B.V.T.T 6. Jalakantesvara temple, Velur. J.K.T.V 7. Nataraja temple, Chidambaram N.T.C 8. Minakshi Sundaresvara Temple, Madurai M.S.T.M 9. Subramania Temple, Thiruparankundram S.T.T 10. Brihadesvara Temple, Thanjavur B.T.T 11. Swedha Vinayagar Temple, Thiruvalanchuli S.V.T.T 12. Bhuvaraha temple, Srimushnam B.V.T.S 13. Sounderaraja Perumal temple,Tadikompu S.P.T.T 14. Ramaswamy temple at Kumbakonam R.T.K. Some of the above mentioned temples provide many specimens while that may not be the case with others. In the above-mentioned temples only select areas, which have been known as of the Nayaka times, have been included. Wherever possible inscriptions and literary sources have been used to authenticate Nayaka authorship and otherwise features like style have been taken as indicators. While personal visits for fieldwork has been done in all the temples the last mentioned S.V.T.T today presents only fully white washed walls. The condition of the Nayaka paintings of the vimana wall at B.T.T. is rather frail and disintegrating and of course though they can be viewed, photography is prohibited. So for these two instances the thesis has depended on secondary sources like books, which have documented the paintings before they were white washed. Otherwise barring very few instances most illustrations have been personally photographed by the present writer. (As for the illustrations, due to age and weathering the originals 2 themselves are in a heavily plastered or coarse condition and hence the resultant illustrations suffer in clarity). The actuality that the sculptures of the time period had first been plastered and then painted over in many colours must be factored in, while taking stock of the coarse surfaces. Even as there are many sculptural panels available for study the same cannot be said of paintings. Due to their very nature the paintings have either disappeared due to weathering and age or whitewashed in modern times as in the SVTT. Even those that are available are in a bad state of preservation and it is quite a task to put the missing pieces together. So fewer paintings than sculptured panels have been selected for study. The primary sources have been the sculptural and painted works themselves. Some major literary works like the Devi Mahtamiya, Siva Purana, Mahabharata, Ramayana, Periyapuranam, Thiruvilaiyadalpuranam have been used for sourcing/supporting the stories. The iconographical details have been culled from Saraswathiya – Chitrakarma Sastram by K.S. Subrahmanya Sastry, Development of Iconography by Jitendra Nath Banerjea, Elements of Hindu Iconography by T.A.Gopinatha Rao who have themselves sourced the details from the various agamas. The details of hastas, mudras, jewellery, coiffeur and weapons have been based on visuals presented by D.R.Thapar in Icons in Bronze and R.S.Gupte in Iconography of the Hindus, Buddhists and Jains. The themes that predominate have been divided into the panels that relate the narratives that concern Devi or Sakti, narratives that deal with Siva, some sthalapuranas that are distinct to the temples (some though associated with certain temples are found as more popular and generic to Tamilnadu and hence are found in other temples too), narratives of a few Nayanmars and the narratives of Vishnu. The introduction is a curtain raiser to the idea of narration and the general types of sculptural narratives available. The major motivation for an exploration of narrative modes was spurred by an article titled India’s Visual Narratives by Vidya Dehejia in Paradigms of Indian Architecture by G.H.R.Tillotson. The following is her classification: 1. Sequential narration 2. Continuous narration, 3.Monoscenic narration, 4.Synoptic narration, 5.Conflated narrative and 6.Narrative network.. The thesis attempts 3 to identify which of the narrative patterns the narrative panels fit into. The sequential and monoscenic narrative modes seem to be the most popular among the Nayaka sculptors and painters. The introduction of the thesis will then proceed to define the narrator and explain the narrators in this case the Nayakas and the nobility of the time period. The Nayakas were the viceroys of the Vijayanagar Empire to begin with and became progressively independent after 1565 C .E. It is generally believed that under Vijayanagar, South Indian art attained a certain zenith of opulent expression that kept pace with the outlook of the empire, namely the safeguarding and advancing of all that remained of Hinduism against the pressures of Islam. In this period, temples became very elaborate both in structure and organization; even old temples were amplified by the addition of pillared halls, pavilions and other subordinate structures. The Nayakas who were their viceroys also continued this work often in their overlords’ names and later in their own names. They often added many additional structures to existing core structures. The introduction consists of a short history of the Nayakas of Thanjavur, Madurai, Senji, Vellore under whose realms these temples fall. A social and cultural profile of the people who form the audience for the narratives is provided. Chapter I deals with the narrative panels that concern the Devi or Sakti forms namely those of Mahishasuramardini, Bhadrakali, and Uma Parvati. The literary source that has been used for support is the Devi Mahatmiya. The Nayaka sculptor it appears has a soft corner for Mahishasuramardini and so there are more renditions in terms of numbers and modes. Chapter II examines the narrative panels that deal with Siva. Siva being the popular god head that he is as well as the numerous manifestations that he has, there are quite a number of forms that this thesis had to deal with. As already mentioned those that are visibly demonstrative of a story or a climax of a story only have been selected though one has to acknowledge the fact that behind every Murti there is a story. It has been a difficult task given the enormity of scope that Siva as a godhead has provided the sculptors and painters. So a certain selection has been made. The list of forms is as follows: 4 Lingodbhavamurti, Ekapada, Dakshinamurti,Chandrasekharamurti, Vrishabharudha, Kankala, Bhikshatana Nataraja, Urdhva, Kalyanasundara, Kamadhahana, Andhakasura, Kalantaka, Tripurantaka, Gajasamhara, Virabhadra, Sankara-Narayana, Ardhanarisvara, Sarabesvara, Gangadhara, Kiratarjuna, Chakradana, Ravananugraha and Chandesanugraha. Umasahita Jalandharavadha, Brahmasirascchedana, Siva Subjugating Matsyavatara, Bhairava, Vishapaharana, Vigneshvanugraha, Somaskanda, Sukhasana have not been included. The reasons are: Jalandharavadha, Brahmasirascchedana, Siva Subjugating Matsyavatara, Vishapaharana and Vigneshvanugraha though directly relate to narratives have not been traced by the study. The other three do not visibly relate any narrative. Among the others, the narrations most popular with the Nayaka period are Bhikshatana and Virabhadra and hence are found in large numbers. It must be noted that Virabhadra is the cult deity of the Nayakas. Nataraja, Urdhva, Kalyanasundara, Kalantaka, Gajasamhara , Kirata, Dakshinamurti , Lingodbhavamurti and Sarabesamurti are the next set in terms of quantitative representation by the Nayaka sculptors.