Abstract
BRONZE figures of the members of the Hindu Pantheon in their various manifestations are a conspicuous feature in the art of southern India. Of these, there is a large collection in the Madras Government Museum, which is perhaps not so widely known in detail as it deserves. The iconographic value of these bronzes is great: they are an important source of information for Hindu religious and cosmological conceptions; but, as a rule, their artistic merit is not high. It is now announced that, by a bequest of the late Lord Ampthill, formerly Governor of the Madras Presidency, the Victoria and Albert Museum, South Kensington, has acquired five of these bronzes, which are both of high artistic merit and of interest for their religious significance. Of these the most important is a figure of Siva as the Cosmic Dancer, which expresses the idea that the god himself is both performer and audience, while the universe is his theatre. The figure is four-armed, and appears in a dancing attitude in an encircling flaming nimbus. In its upper hands are a drum and fire as the symbols of creation and destruction respectively, while the lower hands are in the conventional attitudes of protection and assurance. The headdress includes a crescent moon, a human skull, cobras and flowers. The male and female principles are signified by a man's ear-ring in the right ear and a woman's ear-ring in the left ear. With this figure is shown one of his consort Parvati, in the manifestation of Gauri. These figures were found buried near a temple in the Tinevally District of the Madras Presidency. They were made by the cire perdue process; and from their stylistic affinities it is concluded that they belong to the late tenth or early eleventh century of our era. Lord AmpthilPs bequest, part of which had previously been on loan in the museum, includes, in addition to the five bronzes, a number of other objects of great interest, illustrative of Brahmanical and Buddhist beliefs.
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South Indian Bronzes at South Kensington. Nature 136, 946 (1935). https://doi.org/10.1038/136946b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/136946b0