Chola bronzes

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Dancing Shiva ( Shiva nataraja ), Metropolitan Museum of Art , New York City (11th century). The theme of the dancing four-armed god Shiva is one of the best known in Indian art: In his upper right hand Shiva, whose loose braids of hair spread to the left and right through the dance ( tandava ), holds a small hourglass drum ( damaru ); the other right hand is raised in the gesture of fearlessness or protection ( abhayamudra ). There is a fire symbol in his upper left hand; the lower left hand shows - parallel to the raised left leg - a posture common in Indian dance. With his feet he tramples the demon apasmara purusha , depicted in a dwarf form - a symbol of ignorance and stupidity. The dance takes place inside a ring of fire, which symbolizes both the spreading energy of God and the limit of the universe.
Nandi -Bulle, Freer Gallery of Art , Washington, DC (12th century). Shiva's companion animal ( vahana ) rests on a stylized lotus postament; its massive body is adorned with a blanket, a waist belt and necklaces.

Chola bronzes is a collective name for a large group of South Indian bronze figures that were made during the reign of the Chola dynasty (10th – 13th centuries). They are among the outstanding achievements of Indian art and culture , both in terms of craftsmanship and artistically .

function

Most of the Chola bronzes depict gods and goddesses from the Hindu pantheon - especially Shiva in his figure as Nataraja , the patron deity of the dynasty, and his surroundings ( Ganesha , Parvati, etc.) were depicted. It can be assumed that almost all of them were kept as donated gifts in temples, from which they - unlike the stone sculptures that also existed - were easy to remove. Probably some of them also stood in the house altars of the Brahmins or other high-ranking personalities.

history

Already at the time of the Satavahana dynasty (approx. 230 BC to 220 AD) and the Pallava dynasty (6th to 9th centuries), small bronzes were produced in the south of India, but only a few of them have survived.

Under the Chola dynasty, which rose again in the 9th century, South India experienced an economic and cultural heyday - trade and cultural exchange with the islands and countries of Southeast Asia flourished. Now called UNESCO - World Heritage Site recognized Great temples of Tanjore , Darasuram and Gangaikonda Cholapuram emerged and other arts such as literature, painting and sculpture benefited. The art of bronze casting, almost unknown in other parts of India, experienced an unexpected boom and artistic refinement that resulted in thousands of small masterpieces that can be found in museums around the world today.

Bronze processing

Fully plastic parts of the bronzes are hollow inside - they were cast using the lost wax technique and then worked on by hammering. Decorative elements could be reworked, but these were often already placed on the wax figure. Other pieces of jewelry consist of solid bronze and were then forged together with the hollow body or soldered onto it. Since the wax models had to be remade after each casting, most of the medieval representations differ in size and details.

literature

  • Vidya Dehejia (Ed.): The Sensuous and the Sacred. Chola Bronzes from South India. Amer Federation of Arts 2004, ISBN 978-1-885444-25-7
  • Vidya Dehejia: Chola. Sacred Bronzes of Southern India Royal Academy Books 2007, ISBN 978-1-903973-83-7
  • Vidya Dehejia: Art of the Imperial Cholas. Columbia University Press 1990, ISBN 978-0-231-07188-8

Web links

Commons : Chola Bronzes  - Collection of Images, Videos, and Audio Files