Mahabalipuram: Monumental Legacy'

H-Asia Rangachari on Nākacāmi, 'Mahabalipuram: Monumental Legacy'

Review published on Sunday, February 7, 2010

Irā Nākacāmi. Mahabalipuram: Monumental Legacy. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2008. xiv + 94 pp. $37.00 (cloth), ISBN 978-0-19-569373-7.

Reviewed by Devika Rangachari Published on H-Asia (February, 2010) Commissioned by Sumit Guha

Mahabalipuram and Its Monuments

Mahabalipuram by R. Nagaswamy is a part of the Monumental Legacy series of the Oxford University Press that examines each of the twenty-two World Heritage Cultural Sites in India. As the series editor Devangana Desai notes in her preface, these books are written by experts in the field to enable visitors to view the monuments in their proper perspective. Consequently, they differ from the run-of- the-mill tourist/guide books and, at the same time, also from specialized monographs.

What is immediately apparent from Nagaswamy’s work is that it is a labor of love. His painstakingly detailed account of Mahabalipuram and its monuments takes the reader on a visually evocative tour and, at the same time, enables an appreciation of the grandeur and beauty involved. The book commences with an introduction to Mahabalipuram (originally Mamallapuram) on the Tamilnadu coast and then discusses the artists who were involved in the creation of the monuments, noting that the names of some of the leading ones are preserved in inscriptions.

Nagaswamy then goes on to discuss the involvement of the Pallava kings in this endeavor and argues, with convincing force, that it was Rajasimha (690-728) who was the author of these monuments. He stresses the claim in Rajasimha’s inscriptions--that the king spent all his wealth on temples--to support his argument. Nagaswamy also points out that many of Mahabalipuram’s monuments bear one of Rajasimha’s titles--Atyanta-kama, and that some of the monuments’ foundation inscriptions declare that they were his creations.

Rajasimha’s love for beauty and artistic expression is, according to Nagaswamy, clearly evident in these monuments. An entire chapter is devoted to this king and his personality, where his innovative abilities are detailed. An interesting example is Rajasimha’s employment of script variations in his records, like Pallava Grantha, in which calligraphic letters resemble birds and animals, and the simple and ornate Nagari script.

Subsequently, Nagaswamy discusses the various categories of monuments at Mahabalipuram--the cave temples, the monoliths or rathas, the bas-reliefs, and the structural temples. Delineating the unique features of these structures, he notes that this is the only place where the concept of art forms assumes primary importance, while religious and legendary themes only play a subsidiary role.

Another aspect of Mahabalipuram is that information of a historical nature is seamlessly incorporated into the main narrative. The Pallava and Chola inscriptions in the Adivaraha cave, for example, form

Citation: H-Net Reviews. Rangachari on Nākacāmi, 'Mahabalipuram: Monumental Legacy'. H-Asia. 07-29-2014. https://networks.h-net.org/node/22055/reviews/22173/rangachari-na%CC%84kaca%CC%84mi-mahabalipuram-monumental-legacy Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. 1 H-Asia an integral part of the discussion on its features. Interesting nuggets of information pepper the account, as, for instance, the earliest epigraphic reference to Bharata, the author ofNatya-shastra , being found in an inscription in the Atiranachanda cave. Nagaswamy notes another interesting fact: that the portrayal of elephants and horses by the side of the cave temple of Durga (or the Tiger Cave) recalls a widespread tradition in Tamilnadu of portraying standing elephants and horses of terra- cotta or stucco.

The book also highlights evidence of religious rivalry pertaining to the monuments. From the remaining outlines of the chiseled sculptures at the rock-cut cave called Ramunujamandapa , for instance, one can discern that the cave was dedicated to Shiva and that the central sanctum once contained a Somaskanda sculpture. The cave obviously suffered destruction during the revival of Vaishnavism in the sixteenth century, which particularly affected Mamallapuram. In this period, Shaiva religious marks on the pillars of some monuments were effaced and replaced by Vaishnava ones like the namam, shankha, and chakra. This cave was converted into a plain mandapa for the processional deity of the Vaishnavite saint, Ramanuja, which was brought here before an audience during festivals.

In his discussion of theratha s, Nagaswamy points to their uniqueness in that each temple is presented as a sculpture. The ten monoliths depict twelve different varieties of temple towers, showing a deliberate attempt to create architectural variety here. Thus, apart from the individual and distinctive tower of each ratha, two miniature temple towers appear as ornamental motifs, one at the gable end of the Bhima ratha and the other on the facade of the Sahadeva ratha.

The book makes another significant assertion: that the tradition of portraying the history of a dynasty in a sculptural sequence is first seen in the Shore temple at Mahabalipuram. Thus, the inner walls of the temple’s enclosure bear a series of panels portraying the history of the Pallavas, of which only a few survive. Furthermore, works such as the Varaha sculpture, the Arjuna’s Penance panel, and the Krishna Govardhanadhari depiction reveal that the artists were adept at integrating nature and environment into their creations. Thus, the Varaha, carved on a rocky pedestal, is placed right on the shore where the waves dash against it, thereby integrating its location and environment and suggesting that it is actually diving into the ocean. This, according to Nagaswamy, is one of the finest portrayals of not just the animal but also of the aesthetic approach of the artists at Mahabalipuram. Incidentally, the animal studies on display, in his view, remain unparalleled in Indian art.

Nagaswamy makes another point of historical interest in his discussion of the Talashayana Perumal temple dedicated to the reclining form of Vishnu (Anantashayi) that forms part of the Shore temple complex at Mahabalipuram. While indicating the various inscriptions found on the walls of this temple, he notes that the religious saint Chaitanya Mahaprabhu paid a visit to Mahabalipuram between 1510 and 1512 in order to worship the deity in this shrine. Another noteworthy observation with regard to this Vishnu temple relates to its location. According to traditional architectural treatises, the Vishnu temple should be located in the center of the village. This indicates that the center of ancient Mamallapuram was the area of the Vishnu temple and, in fact, it continues to be so even today. This, in Nagaswamy’s view, is a fine example of a Pallava village following textual prescriptions as regards its layout.

Towards the end of the book, Nagaswamy provides an interesting overview of Mahabalipuram

Citation: H-Net Reviews. Rangachari on Nākacāmi, 'Mahabalipuram: Monumental Legacy'. H-Asia. 07-29-2014. https://networks.h-net.org/node/22055/reviews/22173/rangachari-na%CC%84kaca%CC%84mi-mahabalipuram-monumental-legacy Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. 2 H-Asia through the centuries that details references to it in indigenous and foreign accounts. Dandin’s Avanti-sundari Katha, for instance, talks of the meticulous repair of a Vishnu sculpture at Mamallapuram, thereby providing, according to Nagaswamy, the earliest record of scientific sculptural conservation in India. Another striking account is that of a Venetian traveler, Gaspero Babli, who, in 1582, talked of the "Seven Pagodas" and the "eight pleasant hillocks" at this site (p. 82). Nagaswamy also includes, in this section, attempts by James Fergusson and other scholars to study Mahabalipuram on the basis of the inscriptions discovered there. The book concludes with a highly useful section on "Practical Tips and Information," with details of the weather at Mahabalipuram, as also housing and other facilities available to the traveler.

In Mahabalipuram, the text is interspersed with visuals at regular intervals. These range from copies of site maps through the years to details of the sculptures, architectural nuances, and artistic representations at the site. One would, perhaps, wish for more color spreads but even the black-and- white photographs lucidly express the beauty of these creations.

While the book is a lucid and succinct view of Mahabalipuram and its historical monuments, it is consistently marred by shoddy editing. The text is rife with grammatical errors, inconsistencies in spelling, and arbitrary use of punctuation. The use of the word "stout" instead of "snout" in a description of Vishnu’s Varaha (boar) incarnation (p. 41), the word "teaming" instead of "teeming" (p. 3) and the incorrect spelling of "sculptures" (p. 66) are some examples. These glitches apart, the book is a worthy attempt to capture the beauty and majesty of the monuments at this World Heritage site, and would appeal to the scholar and layman alike.

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Citation: Devika Rangachari. Review of Nākacāmi, Irā, Mahabalipuram: Monumental Legacy. H-Asia, H-Net Reviews. February, 2010. URL: http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=25378

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.