Chola art and architecture
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Chola Kings and Emperors | |
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Interregnum (c. 200 – c. 848 CE) | |
1067–1070 |
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Chola Kings and Emperors | |
---|---|
Interregnum (c. 200 – c. 848 CE) | |
Athirajendra | 1067–1070 |
Rajahnate of Cebu |
Rajahnate of Sanmalan |
The period of the imperial
The Cholas built their temples in the traditional way of the
The Cholas in addition to their temples, also built many buildings such as hospitals, public utility buildings and palaces. Many such buildings find mention in their inscriptions and in contemporary accounts. The golden palace that
The early Cholas built numerous temples. Aditya I and Parantaka I were prolific builders for their faith. Inscriptions of Aditya I record that he built a number of temples along the banks of the river Kaveri. These temples were much smaller in comparison to the huge monumental structures of the later Cholas and were probably brick structures rather than stone.
The
The
The
Muvarkovil Temple in the Pudukkottai area was built by a feudatory of
Temple building received great impetus from the conquests and the genius of Rajaraja Chola and his son
The maturity and grandeur to which the Chola architecture had evolved found expression in the two magnificent temples of
It is in this temple that one notices for the first time two
Epigraphic evidence reveals that Rajaraja started building this temple in his 19th regnal year and it was completed on 275th day of his 25th regnal year (1010), taking only 6 years.[14] Rajaraja named this temple as Rajarajesvaram and the deity Shiva in Linga form as Peruvudaiyar, the temple is also known in the deity's name as Peruvudaiyarkovil. In later period Maratha and Nayaks rulers constructed various shrines and gopurams of the temple. In later period when the Sanskrit language was more popular during the Maratha rule the temple was named in Sanskrit as Brihadisvaram and the deity as Brihadisvara.
This temple carries on its walls the engraved evidence of the elaborate administrative and financial procedures concerning the day-to-day administration of the temple. The inscriptions give, apart from a comprehensive history of the times, a full enumeration of all the metallic images set up in the temple. Numbering about sixty-six, these icons are referred to with a description of the minutest details of size, shape and composition. This alone is a mine of information for the art historian.
The temple stands within a fort, whose walls are later additions built in the 16th century by the
Though the temple of Gangaikonda Cholapuram follows the plan of the great temple of Thanjavur in most details it has characteristics of its own. From the remains it may be seen that it had only one enclosure wall and a gopura while the Thanjavur temple has two gopuras and enclosures. It is larger in plan though not as tall, the vimana being 100 feet square at the base and 186 feet high. The temple, which forms a large rectangle 340 feet long and 110 feet wide occupies the middle of an immense walled enclosure mainly built for defensive purposes. The vimana has the same construction as in Thanjavur, but the number of tiers making up the pyramidal body is only eight as against 13 in Thanjavur. The most important difference lies in the introduction of curves in the place of the strong straight lines of the Thanjavur vimana. The pyramidal body is slightly concave in its outline at its angles while the sides are curved to produce a somewhat convex outline. These curves enhance the beauty of form of the vimana though they distract from its stateliness and power.[18][19]
The Chola style continued to flourish for a century longer and expressed itself in a very large number of temples. Of these two large temples are worthy of comparison to those of Rajaraja and Rajendra.
The
The final example of this period is the
The Chola period is also remarkable for its sculptures and bronzes.
While the stone sculpture and the inner sanctum image empowering the temple remained immovable, changing religious concepts during the period around the 10th century demanded that the deities take part in a variety of public roles similar to those of a human monarch. As a result, large bronze images were created to be carried outside the temple to participate in daily rituals, processions, and temple festivals. The round lugs and holes found on the bases of many of these sculptures are for the poles that were used to carry the heavy images. The deities in bronze who participated in such festivities were sumptuously clothed and decorated with precious jewellery. Their every need and comfort were catered to by a battery of temple priests, musicians, cooks, devadasis, administrators and patrons. The lay public thronged the processional route to have a darshan and admired their beloved deity for the lavish depiction of the figure and the grand costumes and jewelry.
Although bronze casting has a long history in south India, a much larger and a much greater number of bronze sculptures in all sizes ranging from massive to miniature were cast during the Chola period than before, further attesting to the importance of bronze sculpture during this period. When in worship, these images are bedecked in silk costumes, garlands, and gem encrusted jewels, befitting the particular avatar and religious context. Decorating temple bronzes in this way is a tradition at least a thousand years old and such decorations are referred to in 10th-century Chola inscriptions.
In recent times, many of these priceless Chola bronzes have been stolen from their temples or museums, smuggled out of India and have found their way into the private museums of art collectors.
Chola period bronzes were created using the lost wax technique.[25] It is known in artistic terms as "Cire Perdue". The Sanskrit Shilpa texts call it the Madhu Uchchishtta Vidhana.
Beeswax and kungilium (a type of camphor) are mixed with a little oil and kneaded well. The figure is sculpted from this mixture fashioning all the minute details. This is the original wax model.
The entire figure is then coated with clay made from termite hills until the mould is of a necessary thickness. Then the whole thing is dried and fired in an oven with cow-dung cakes. The wax model melts and flows out, while some of it vapourises.
The metal alloy of bronze is melted and poured into the empty clay-mould. This particular bronze alloy is known as Pancha Loham. When the metal has filled all crevices and has settled and hardened and cooled, the mould is broken off. The bronze figure thus obtained is then cleaned, finer details are added, blemishes are removed, smoothened, and polished well. Hence each bronze icon is unique and the mould cannot be used to create copies.
Chola bronzes have little intricate ornamentation in comparison with the subsequent bronzes of the
For example, in the Rishabaandhika or the Vrishabavahana murthy pose, we see Shiva standing with one leg youthfully crossed across the other and his arm elegantly flexed and raised as if resting or leaning on something. In this elegant posture, it can be surmised that the youthful and athletic Shiva is leaning on his bull-vahana, Nandhi, on whose shoulders He is resting His arm.
The most famous of all the bronze icons is that of Nataraja or Adavallar.[26] The symbolism presents Shiva as lord of the cosmic dance of creation and destruction. He is active, yet aloof, like the gods on the Parthenon Frieze. Surrounding Shiva, a circle of flames represents the universe, whose fire is held in Shiva's left rear palm. His left front arm crosses his chest, the hand pointing in "elephant trunk" position (gaja hasta) to his upraised left foot, which signifies liberation. His right foot tramples the dwarf Apasmara, who represents ignorance.
Shiva's right front hand is raised in the "fear-not" gesture of benediction (abhaya mudra), while his right rear hand holds a drum with which he beats the measure of the dance. The snake, an emblem of Siva, curls around his arm. His hair holds the crescent moon - another emblem - and a small image of Ganges, the river-goddess whose precipitous fall from heaven to earth is broken by Siva's matted locks. Shiva as Nataraja or Adavallar is also accompanied by his consort Sivakami.
Notable collections of the bronzes are held by the museum inside the
≈==Chola frescoes==
In 1931, Chola frescoes were discovered within the circumambulatory corridor of the Brihadisvara Temple, by S.K. Govindasamy, a professor at the Annamalai University. These are the first Chola paintings discovered. The passage of the corridor is dark and the walls on either side are covered with two layers of paintings from floor to ceiling.
Researchers have discovered the technique used in these frescoes. A smooth batter of limestone mixture is applied over the stones, which took two to three days to set. Within that short span, such large paintings were painted with natural organic pigments.
During the
The art of making ornaments of gold and precious stones had reached an advanced stage about the beginning of the 11th century. A large number of ornaments are mentioned in the Thanjavur inscriptions.[27]