Tag Archives: Arjun

Michelangelo’s David Vs Nellaiappar Arjuna – part 2

In part 1, we compared David poised to strike with the sculpture of Karna in Nellaiappar temple. We continue the narration today by viewing the scene from the view of Protagonist of the battle – the mighty Arjuna ( my personal preferences are with Karna though) – to recap we are in day 16 of the great battle @ Kurukshetra. Previously having sat out the great battle for 10 days, Karna being kept out by the guile of the great Bhishmar , has set his eyes to slay Arjuna – but from day 11 to 16 – the battle flows with the Pandavas gaining the upper hand thanks mostly to the Krishna. Krishna is said to have praised Karna in front of Arjuna thus

“Do not. O mighty-armed one, disregard Karna, that ornament of battle! Karna is possessed of might. He is proud and accomplished in weapons. He is a Maharatha. He is accomplished (in the ways of battle) and conversant with all modes of warfare. He is also well-acquainted with all that suits place and time. What need is there of saying much? Hear in brief, O son of Pandu! I regard the mighty car-warrior Karna as thy equal, or perhaps, thy superior! With the greatest care and resolution shouldn’t thou slay him in great battle. In energy he is equal to Agni. As regards speed, he is equal to the impetuosity of the wind. In wrath, he resembles the Destroyer himself. Endued with might, he resembles a lion in the formation of his body. He is eight rathis in stature. His arms are large. His chest is broad. He is invincible. He is sensitive. He is a hero. He is, again, the foremost of heroes. He is exceedingly handsome. Possessed of every accomplishment of a warrior, he is a dispeller of the fears of friends.”

Lets us see the classic faceoff between the two.

Now, Arjuna knows that the Nagastra has been taken up by Karna, let us see his expression ( not to mention his long beard and it seems to be tied up in a knot at the end as well)

The overall poise is that of someone who knows that he has no answer to the bolt that is going to be hurled at him, his left leg is slightly back and his body tilted a bit – on the back foot.

You can compare the torso of the two, and you can see that Arjuna’s chest is relaxed.

Compare it to the torso of Karna, with its bulging chest and exposed ribs

Yet, Arjuna has an arrow out of his quiver in his hand. Maybe, he is confident that Krishna would find a way to save him !

The portrayal is useful to compare against David.


Ofcourse, the detailing of the knee caps of the ligament in hard granite of Arjuna is outstanding

For such a colossal work in stone, the way he holds the arrow shaft , the ribs of the feather on the shaft, the posture of the fingers and the detailing of the nails !

Definitely time stands still as the master sculptor sculpted his scene in stone.

Michelangelo’s David Vs Nellaiappar Karna – part 1

In the art world some names are uttered with a deep reverence – Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni is one of them – An artist par excellence who excelled in painting, sculpture and architecture. I was fortunate or rather serendipitously lucky to read more about the great man and his true love of carving marble in the book The Agony and Ecstasy . It had been a long and eventful Pandya Naadu tour for me and Arvind and as we parted – the hired taxi dropping him off at Nellai Railway station and me at the Nellai bus stand, giving me an hour and a half to kill and a bone jarring bus ride to Coimbatore. The Old book shop outside the railway station did not look promising, as it mostly had used school and college books ( and i had already had enough of them year back). He managed to take out couple of English Novels both of which has long lost their front covers, but the inside page was clear – The Agony and the Ecstasy: A Biographical Novel of Michelangelo – by Irving Stone. I asked for the price and i think the owner was more than happy to get rid of it, if i had persisted he would have given it to me for free !

We had just come out of the famed Nellaiappar temple after about half a day of looking at the sculptures, which are still today quoted by many to be the most beautiful sculptural works – along with their sister works in Krishnapuram. As i got immersed in the book over the next couple of days, I grew to know the sculptor in Michelangelo, his single minded drive to carve marble, his thirst to be become number one – his trysts with Leonardo Da Vinci with more than its share of ‘ healthy’ competition. I read in rapt attention at how he took on an abandoned and already worked block of marble – the massive block of white marble had been quarried from the famed Quarry in Carrara , high in the Apuan Alps of Tuscany – specially for the great Donatello to be executed maybe via his pupil Agostino in 1464 CE. But the project was shelved with the demise of Donatello in 1466. Ten years later they tried to resurrect it with a contract to Rossellino but it never went forward. The block was possibly worked on and blocked out – maybe cut / drilled at the bottom to shape a foot. But then it lay in that state exposed to the elements for another 25 years – till 1501 CE ! Infact in 1500, an inventory of the cathedral workshops described the piece as “a certain figure of marble called David, badly blocked out and supine.”

The contract was re floated and against ( arguably) competition from Leonardo, Michelangelo won the commission. He breaks convention or rather the earlier version of David by Donatello and carves the now immortal David.

We are lucky that some of his rough sketches survive to this day and we can catch a glimpse of how the great artist tried to solve the problem of a tall block of marble.

The story was much popular then as well but it is clear that initially he went with the popular depiction of showing the slain head of Goliath underneath David’s feet. But then, I guess, he wanted his work to infused with more life. So he chose to depict David facing up to the Giant and caught him in a moment, where he contemplates taking on this task and breaking tradition from not portraying after the slaying.

For starters, the finished work stands all of 17 feet – if you understand how a rough block of marble is worked on, you can imagine the size of the original block.

That the great artist completed the task in just 3 years – 1501 to 1504 is itself mind boggling, but as we take time to study it in detail, it is truly astounding.

All David’s images in this posts are courtesy the internet, wikipedia – too many sources to individually thank but one big thanks to google.

To add to the complexity is the fact that this is a free standing sculpture and the sculptor would have to leave enough of the material at the feet as he reduced the weight from the top,else the weight of the load on top would crumble the legs. He must have blocked out the major limbs and steadily worked top down calculating the centre of gravity and weight distribution. And then the detailing and emotion, the sureness of form, the study of the human anatomy, limbs, nerves, bones, ribs, knee caps, ligaments and tendons moving over muscle and flesh.

Many scholars and experts have still argued about the expression on his face, but to me the entire frame is in suspended animation – his right hand holding the stone, the left hand with the sling, as he ponders his destiny, there seems to be a certain apprehension as he weighs his own skill and strength, a minor trepidation that he might not win and that is the very pinnacle of sculpting.

It slowly dawned on me that i had seen a similar scene that very day – of two rivals facing each other in battle. In the famed corridors of the Nellaiappar temple – is a rare sculpture of Karna – the eldest son of Kunti, elder to 5 Pandavas, but forced into the enemy camp by evil fate – yet the greatness in him, the Son of the Sun God, he who never sent back anyone from his door empty handed – even giving up his invincible body Armour and Ear rings in alms to Indra. He who fought for the sake of friendship against his own brothers and he who wanted to kill his own brother Arjuna.

Karna knew that the only weapon he had that could fell Arjuna was the Naga Astra – for which Arjuna had no counter, for it was the very personification of Awasena ( the snake – son of the Snake king, the only one who escaped the burning of the Khandava forest by Arjuna and Krishna and he was out to avenge his mother !)

The pillar sculpture is of massive proportions – with Karna sculpted to be about 12 feet, but is not free standing ofcourse – but carved out of hard granite with other sculptures in the round and the weight bearing load of the roof above supported by the pillar..

The period of this sculpture must be around the 16th -17th C CE – Nayakas – characterized by the slightly excessive ornamentation and distinctly over emphasized features. .

Here too the sculptor has chosen a moment in time in the action – Karna has drawn his bow with his left hand and is taking out the Naga Astra shown in its snake form. His facial features are shown as a confident man, he who knows that his opponent has no answer to his bolt, that the defining moment of the battle has come and he is going to be crowned as victor – sung in the exalted annals of history, as the one who slay Arjuna and the undisputed King of Archery in the world.

Now to consider, not as a comparison, but just as a study – the understanding of the human form by the Indian sculptor. The hard stone has been carved to depict the ease with which he is holding the bow, almost like a caress – you can make out the stone that has been removed between the finger holds and the beauty of the nails, you can even see a slight bulge of the muscles in the elbow !

He seems to taking a step back or moving his right leg to anchor his body, as he prepares to discharge the bolt. The resultant elevation of the knee caps and the bulging out of the ligaments on the side of the knee, are clearly seen.

He seems to be inhaling as he prepares to draw his bow, forcing his rib cage to expand thereby trusting up against the skin of the chest ! We will see the contrasting posture of Arjuna in the subsequent post.

Such a great work in stone. The intention of this post was to showcase the two works – not to show which is better or draw comparisons – but just that one is celebrated across the world while the other doesn’t even get a casual glance from the thousands who walk past.

We will see the contrasting posture of Arjuna who is going to face this bolt in part 2 of this post !

Kirata Arjunam – Art meets art spanning 1300 years

How do we reach out to the next generation and imbibe in them the values of our land, of its art, of art appreciation. These are questions which keep coming up during our discussions. Visual art is definitely something that is attracting the next generation and though we may scoff at the comics and gaming culture, its there to stay. So today we are going to marry a Kanchi Kailasanatha sculpture ( one of my personal favorites) with the latest in digital illustrative art.

The story itself is an interesting anecdote from the Vana Parva of the Mahabaratha, wherein Arjuna splits from his brothers to do penance and procure the Pasupatha Astra from Shiva. Being the benevolent but mischievous God that he is, Shiva decides to test his devotee’s prowess himself before bestowing the boon. So he takes the form of Kirata ( a hunter) with his accompaniment of a Bow and quiver full of arrows, accompanied by Uma as the Kirata woman, enters the same forest in which Arjuna is doing his penance. Just at that moment, Arjuna is attacked by a fearsome Demon Mukasura, who has taken the form of a Wild boar. Seeing the wild boar rushing at him, the accomplished marksmen that he is, Partha ( Arjuna) lets fly a deadly arrow from his Bow Gaandiva, going for the Boar’s head. At the same instant Kirata also lets fly an arrow, which find its target in the rear of the Boar. Both the arrows hit the target at the same instant !! Now, this led to a quarrel among the two, with Arjuna claiming the hunt as his and accusing the hunter for shooting from the rear. The hunter explains that this was not a duel to have the rules of engagement drawn and to attack an animal from behind thus is no wrong ! ( Rama felling Vaali ?)

The argument continues and soon escalates into a tussle. Being warriors both settle on a duel to find out the better among them. A Shell shocked Arjuna soon sees his prowess with the Bow is matched if not bettered by the lowly hunter. His Bow string is deftly cut by the hunter’s arrow and he jumps into to engage in a wrestling match, in which too he is matched. To his surprise, the hunter doesn’t even seem to break a sweat, while he is almost dead with exhaustion. The popular version, says that he stops to create a small Linga and offers prayers with flowers to it, to invoke his blessing and taken on his opponent once again, when he is surprised to find the flowers which he offered the Linga are now adorning the hunter. Realising the true identity of his opponent, he falls at his feet and surrenders to his grace. Rest is history. There is another version that during the wrestling brawl, Arjuna accidentally caught Kirata’s feet and since he bestows grace on whoever touched his feet, Shiva immediately stopped fighting etc. But this is the crux of the Kirata Arjunam story.

Now, thanks to Mr. Abhilash Narayanan, Creative designer & Animation director, who is sharing some of his works with us, we see the story brought to life in the technology of today.

you can see more of his works at his site below

Abhiram’s site

Now, we transport ourselves back in time to the Kanchi Kailasantha temple. This panel must have been featured long ago, as its one of my favorite panels. The dynamism and sheer energy captured in this typical Hollywood style ` Face Off ‘ posture is an arresting sight. Maybe it was waiting to be pitted head to head against the best of digital art.

Photos : courtesy Mr Arvind and Mr Swaminathan.

We have the two warriors, standing their ground, locking gazes, as they are caught in the act of drawing their bows. Its interesting to notice how they seem to have slung two quivers on their backs, interesting only one has a waist sword. That this panel depicts the Kirata Arjunam is seen distinctly by the Boar in the background exquisitely sculpted behind the two figures despite the maze of their legs.

Now, comes the difficult question. Who among the two is the Lord Shiva as Kirata the Hunter and who is Arjuna. Lets take a closer look at the two figures.

and focus on the ornamentation and head dress in particular.

Lets list down the major differences between the two fighters.

Clearly, the figure to the left of the panel ( right as you view it) – wears a tall crown and a Yagnopavitham, while the other has his hair tied in a kind of bun, wears the Channavira ( cross belts) and carries a waist sword whose hilt is clearly seen.

The oral tradition is that Arjuna must have gone as an ascetic, must be emaciated from the severe penance ( he is said to have subsisted on air alone in the final months of his penance ) and there is also a ref to him wearing a sword with a golden hilt

Ref in Mahabratha

“At Yudhishthira’s command, Dhananjaya of immeasurable prowess set out (from Kamyaka) to obtain a sight of Sakra, the chief of the celestials and of Sankara, the god of gods. And the strong-armed Arjuna of great might set out armed with his celestial bow and a sword with golden hilt, for the success of the object he had in view, northwards, towards the summit of the Himavat.

But then, when we come to Kirata, he is clearly is portrayed as a hunter and not as a resplendent King, and Shiva is hardly ever shown with a Krita makuda. Further there is this reference in Sri R. Nagasamy’s article.

Kirata or Tripurantaka


However in many Chola sculptures and also Bronzes (Melapperumpallam image) Kirata will be shown like a hunter with round bellied body , beard and cannavira. His hair would be tied as a bun-like knot and not the jata-makuta one sees in the Tripurari form.

But again the Book reference is a bit unclear. When Arjuna exhausts the twin inexhaustible quivers gifted to him by Agni ( burning of the Kandava forest episode
Fire in the Khadava forest ) he tried to use his Bow as a spear , but is thwarted by Shiva.

Ref in Mahabaratha

And beholding his bow snatched from him, Arjuna took up his sword, and wishing to end the conflict, rushed at his foe. And then the Kuru prince, with the whole might of his arms, struck that sharp weapon upon the head of the Kirata, a weapon that was incapable of being resisted even by solid rocks. But that first of swords, at touch of the Kirata’s crown, broke into pieces

So, we are left with an Iconographic puzzle. Whats your take on this?

I would go with Arjuna with the crown and Kirata with the Bun head dress.

The minute aspects to note in a sculpture – finding a needle in perur

There are many wonderful and awe inspiring sculptures in Perur. But as we saw in the previous post, there was this seemingly innocuous looking pillar sculpture, which we would have totally missed, if not for the genius in Sri Padmavasan.

Many people would have passed this sculpture without even batting an eyelid, and to be honest despite our heightened mortar skills, we too missed to even spend the few seconds to capture it on camera. The subsequent trouble we went through to secure the images, is a lesson for us, not to take any sculpture or artist lightly.

Padmavasan sir, showed me his sketch of this pillar and started explaining its uniqueness.

Lets see if we can make out some basic features from the sculpture first.

Obviously, its an ascetic in deep meditation. Perched on one leg, but there are few signs which help us to identify him

A bow on his shoulder and the boar, show us that its Arjuna, the penance to get the Pasupathaastra from Shiva.

The craftsmen’s mastery in handling the relief in the bow is simply astounding. Take a look at this angle.

But, the uniqueness of this relief sculpture is in the way the sculptor has portrayed the intensity of Arjuna’s penance. How?

Do you notice anything different. Let me give you a clue. Normally the sculptor would strictly adhere to framing guidelines – but in this frame the foot seems to extend slightly out of the lower frame. Why?

Try to spot something under the big toe !! Maybe sir’s sketch can help us take notice.

Yes, he is doing penance on a needle point. Thanks to Praveen for capturing the different angles to truly appreciate the greatness of the sculpture. No better way to explain than this angle.

Perur Series – starting off with a penance

About 9 years back, i visited Perur – was stunned by what i saw – for what it had to show was truly a connoisseur’s delight. As my journey into sculpture matured over the years, my love for these beauties grew manifold. But, every time i ventured to photograph these beauties, i was turned down. I had to be content with some small resolution snaps published in a newspaper. But then, each unsuccessful attempt strengthened my resolve, and visit to Perur Patteswarar and a request to photograph was a standard feature of every visit to Coimbatore.

Late in 2008, on a fateful saturday i was reluctantly accompanying my wife and son to an event organised by the Annalaxmi group in Singapore – it was called
Dance of India, Taste of India……as i tried to find an excuse to make myself scarce, i spotted at a distance some lovely pen and ink sketches of ganesha – immaculate art – somewhat like this ( i am kicking myself for leaving my camera behind that day)

http://www.hindu.com/mp/2007/06/09/images/2007060951460301.jpg

I sped to the stall – and below the sketch was a small signature – Padmavasan. Oh oh – i was overjoyed for – the card next to it said, the artist was present there to do spot sketches ( profiles) for sgd 20. Having never had the good fortune of meeting him before i frantically looked around for help, asked the next stall person – and he pointed to a small very innocuous looking man just standing around – clad in a simple kurtha. I couldn’t b’ve my
eyes, there he was – the artist himself.

i went up to him, introduced myself ( ofcourse ponniyin selvan ……..kalki…..silpi…sculpture ) and he warmed up. we spent about 45 min
chatting away.

He talked of his interaction with the great man silpi – the divine
gift of his – He also talked of Silpi’s mindblowing talent – pointing out that once
when he was sketching the natraja in tanjore – he sketched the front profile ( running out of paper – he took another piece and pasted in the bottom to complete) . and he went on to sketch the back head portion alone – ofcourse the two sketches were in different sizes – but most amazing was the fact that mr
padmavasan later – for a book, tried to resize both the sketches to the same size – and when he placed the front on the back – they fit like a glove…such a gift to visually capture the divine proportions!!.

We exchanged numbers, and he wrote his address and phone number on a small piece of paper in pencil ( still treasure it)…

Dec 2009. Another mandatory visit to Perur, but this time, i had made it a point to get the permission – come what may. Was assisted by some very good friends and well wishers, but all pointed to the hands of the Temple Executive Officer. I was expecting to hit a blind alley once again, when after about an hour – we were still waiting. But then we finally managed to get an audience with the EO, a smart Young man, who recognised the passion in our voices, yet it took about an hour to convince him of our mission. He finally yielded and once he saw that we were only there to promote the temple and its beauties, doors opened pretty fast. We faced an unexpected one final hurdle in the mandatory power cuts – yet we still had a spare day – so we returned the next day to complete the shoot – of what we thought was an extensive aka comprehensive coverage of the temple.

Next week in Chennai: I caught up with Sri Padmavasan again for the second time, in his home in chennai – in Dec 2009. I showed him my photo gallery and you could see the glee in his eyes and he started showing me more of his rare work. I mentioned about perur and he came out with his entire collection of Perur including a spectacular rendition of the Moolavar in color.

I was speechless by seeing the true color rendition – including the color and sheen of the copper vessel on top of the Linga.

But among the many sketches, there was one, which he considered very special, but we had overlooked it – for it felt too simple and we just skipped it. Later, i would kick myself many times over for doing so. It took another 3 months and help from Mr Praveen and the EO once again to get the particular pillar in the right angle.



Whats so special about this pillar sculpture? Looks like some Rishi in Tapas.

Well we see that in part 2 of this post

An Unique Panel – Fire in the Kandhava forest…Cambodia

Today we are going to see a very rare and unique sculpture panel from Banteay srei in Cambodia. This is quite a revelation to me, since i had never heard of this story and thanks to this amazing sculpture, i had to dwell deep into the recesses of the mahabaratha to pick up this interesting legend – and present to you this…. The legend of Kandava Dahanam or Burning of the Kandava forest.

As usual we see the legend ( quite lengthy but interesting and very essential to truly appreciate the great sculpture that follows)

The legend starts thus. Vaisampayana is narrating the epic – Once Krishna and Arjuna are met by a Brahman who asks them for Alms – or food to be more particular. The two master marksmen, ask him what kind of food that he
wants, but are shocked when he asks for the entire Kandhava Forest. They soon realise that its no common old man but Agni who has been reduced to such a state.

Despite who it is, they want to know why Agni can’t eat /destroy the forest on his own and more so why he needs to destroy the forest. Agni then goes on tell them the story of the great King Swetaki.

Wanting to crown his achievements the great King wants to conduct a string of sacrifices spreading over a number of years. The priests are given generous gifts and they begin the great sacrifice – but pretty soon they realise that the sheer effort involved is too great and sitting in front of the fire and smoke for so many years is not possible …they leave the sacrifce half done. Enraged Swetaki tries all he can to get others to come and complete the sacrifice but with no luck. Finally he tries once again to reason with the priests and they in jest told him to seek Rudra ( Shiva) to assist him to complete the sacrifices.

Enraged, Swetaki decides to do that as well – he undergoes severe penances, giving up food for months and standing upright with arms raised for ages. Pleased Shiva appears and asks him his wish – when Swetaki asks him to assist in helping him finish the sacrifices, Shiva tests his resolve some more – and instructs him to do a special sacrifice by himself – for 12 uninterrupted years, he had to pour Ghee into fire and lead a life of extreme austerity.

Swetaki completes that as well and returns to Shiva – who is much pleased and instructs Sage Duruvasa to assist in completing his sacrifices. Duruvasa helped him to complete the task and at the apt time, Swetaki ascended to the heavens.

But this left one problem – having been fed a diet of Ghee for 12 years by such a great King, Agni the God of fire became over weight but he could also eat of anyone else – so slowly he began to loose his shine and energy. He appealed to Lord Shiva for help and the lord showed him the the bad demons of who resided in the Khadava forest –
directing him to satiate his hunger on the enemies of the Gods and that will help his regain his vigor.

But when Agni tried to consume the forest there came a small problem. Takshaka, the chief of the Nagas ( snakes) who dwell in the forest was a friend of Indra and hence had his protection. Everytime Agni tried to consume the forest Indra would bring in Varuna ( the god of water/rains) and quench Agni and protect his friend.

Thus Agni sought the help of Krishna and Arjuna to help keep out Indra and Varuna. Jointly they attacked the Kandava forest.

Arjuna – invoking his excellent weapons, prevented that shower of rain by Indra, by means of a shower of his own weapons – he soon covered the forest of Khandava with innumerable arrows like the moon covering the atmosphere with a thick fog. When the sky above that forest was thus covered with the arrows of Arjuna no living creature could then escape from below. And it so happened that while that forest was burning, Takshaka, the chief of the Nagas, was not there, having gone at that time to the field of Kurukshetra. But Aswasena, the mighty son of Takshaka, was there. He made great efforts to escape from that fire; but confined by Arjuna’s shafts he succeeded not in finding a way. It was then that his mother, the daughter of a snake, determined to save him by swallowing him first. She first swallowed his head and then was swallowing his tail. And desirous of saving her son, the sea-snake rose (up from the earth) while still employed in swallowing her son’s tail.

But Arjuna as soon as he beheld her escaping, severed her head from her body by means of a sharp and keen-edged arrow. Indra saw all this, and desiring to save his friend’s son, the wielder of the thunderbolt, by raising a violent wind, deprived Arjuna of consciousness. During those few moments, Aswasena succeeded in effecting his escape. Beholding that manifestation of the power of illusion, and deceived by that snake, Arjuna was much enraged. He forthwith cut every animal seeking to escape by the skies, into two, three, or more pieces.

The chief of the celestials also, seeing Arjuna in anger, sought to fight with him, and hurled his own fierce weapons, covering the wide expanse of the firmament. Then the winds, making a loud roar and agitating all the oceans, brought together masses of clouds in the sky, charged with torrents of rain. Those masses of clouds began to
vomit thunder and terrible flashes of lightning charged with the thunderclap. Then Arjuna possessing a knowledge of all means, hurled the excellent weapon called Vayavya with proper mantras to dispel those clouds. With that weapon the energy and force of Indra’s thunderbolt and of those clouds were destroyed. And the torrents of rain with
which those clouds were charged were all dried up, and the lightning that played amongst them was also destroyed. Within a moment the sky was cleared of dust and darkness, and a delicious, cool breeze began to blow and the disc of the sun resumed its normal state.

Then the eater of clarified butter (Agni), glad because none could baffle him, assumed various forms, and sprinkled over with the fat exuded by the bodies of creatures, blazed forth with all his flames, filling the universe with his roar. Then numerous birds of the Garuda tribe bearing excellent feathers, beholding that the forest was protected by Krishna and Arjuna, descended filled with pride, from the upper skies, desirous of striking those heroes with their thunderlike
wings, beaks and claws. Innumerable Nagas also, with faces emitting fire descending from high, approached Arjuna, vomiting the most virulent poison all the while. Beholding them approach, Arjuna cut them into pieces by means of arrows steeped in the fire of his own wrath. Then those birds and snakes, deprived of life, fell into the burning element below. And there came also, desirous of battle, innumerable Asuras with Gandharvas and Yakshas and Rakshasas and Nagas sending forth terrific yells. Armed with machines vomiting from their throats (mouths?) iron balls and bullets, and catapults for propelling huge stones, and rockets, they approached to strike Krishna and Partha, their energy and strength increased by wrath.

But though they rained a perfect shower of weapons, Arjuna addressing them reproachfully, struck off their heads with his own sharp arrows. That slayer of foes, Krishna, also, endued with great energy, made a great slaughter with his discus. Many Asuras of immeasurable might, pierced with Arjuna’s arrows and smitten with the force of Vishnu’s
discus, became motionless like waifs and strays stranded on the bank by the violence of the waves. Then Indra , the lord of the celestials, riding on his white elephant, rushed at those heroes, and taking up his thunderbolt which could never go in vain, hurled it with great force. And the slayer of Asuras said unto the gods, ‘These two are slain.’ Beholding the fierce thunderbolt about to be hurled by their chief, the celestials all took up their respective weapons.

But he was to be proved wrong ….

Now – a long story, but have not seen this depicted in any sculptures in India till date – but finding this in Banteay Srei stumped me.

What a beautiful, intricate and faithful reproduction of the legend. right from indra on his airavatam – discharging his thunder bolt – to his faithful varuna – depicted by the swelling water under him – to the roof of arrows – holding up the deluge – the escape of awsena, krishna on one side with his discus, arjuna on other with his bow – the forest beings, deers, antelope, rabbits, the flocks of different kinds of birds trying to fly and escape.

an amazing panel.



Arjuna gets the Pasupatha Astra – Chola version

Hi,

In our earlier posts, we saw the famous penance panel of Mahabalipuram and how the Pallava Sculptor masterfully handled it. Now we run ahead 300 years to come to the Big temple in Tanjore.

The pinnacle of Chola art, the great contribution of Raja Raja Chola to south Indian temple architecture – everything about this temple is big, massive, yet today we are seeing a very small wall panel sculpture.

There are a lot of interesting books on the big temple ( every stone there is a subject for research), but to me this book was most useful in helping me identify a lot of these sculptures.

Iconography of the Brihadisvara temple by dr francoise lhernault.

This particular composition is called the Pasupatha astra dana murthi, its a very lively composition and exquisitely crafted. First, lets see the full panel in relief.
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At first glance, seems to be a maze of characters. so lets focus on line by line – bottom up

The row starts with a host of Shiva bootha Ganas ( goblins! for want of a better word) slowly morphing into a wild boar – need to check back the actual story. ***
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Arjuna is advised to beef up his nuclear stockpile and aims at getting the Pasuptha astra from Shiva -he dsoe severe penance. Pleased with his penance, shiva comes with his consort, but as is his wont, wants to sportingly jest with him – to see if he truly has the skill to wield the great weapon. So he comes disguised as a hunter and both seem to shoot down a boar ( was the boar sent by shiva – so could be logical that he sent his attendant himself ) at the same time. Soon an argument ensures as to who will take the prize and both of them engage on a one to one combat. It goes on for a long time, and Arjuna is visibly tired, yet the hunter shows no sign of tiring. This makes Arjuna realise that he is up against a divine force and he submits to his grace. Shiva reveals himself and grants him his weapon.

Now we step back to the panel and see how masterfully the sculptor has interwoven the principal characters….

ok the Gana morphing into a boar could be one of our assumptions.
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then we see Arjuna up on one leg in penance – not as emaciated as the mallai version ( so maybe the mallai one is Bagiratha who is said to have been in penance for a much longer duration)

The next is the famous face off pose ( remember the one from Kanchi Kailasantha temple) –
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you can see how the sculptor has sculpted parvati with a baby skanda clinging to her in such a miniature..amazing.
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Next to them,looks like Brahma, Vishnu and Lakshmi watching the amazing duel. ( but it mallai panel we see Vishnu encased in a temple !!) and a host of other gods.
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We now come to the third tier – the panel read right to left as we see it – all the gods seem to give a hats off salute to the Arjuna – who is in all revenue, head bowed, folded hands – while the majestic posture of Shiva

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– oh, how can i describe it aptly in words – one arm non chalantly on his bent knee, while the other resting on his consort – Parvati too is amazingly graceful. While surprise surprise, a small bootha gana seems to be handing over the boon/weapon ( sadly no belly face for him – remember the belly tiger face of the gana in mallai – will post a seperate thread on him soon)
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The last, looks like Shiva, Parvati ( with baby Skanda on her hip – what a lovely lively depiction) returning to their abode.
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The fourth tier – also has a host of celestials in the act of saluting the great event.
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The last characters – seem to be a ascetic giving a discourse to an ardent pupil – is this the great sage Vyasa dictating the Mahabharata? 1307

** I did some checking and found the actual story – credit to Mr. V. Subramaniam for giving me the correct references from a delightful song from Saint Sambandar’s Devaram ( Tirumurai 1.48.6)

The song indicates it was an asura ( demon) – Mukasura who was disturbing Arjuna’s penance.

More information on the legend

http://www.shaivam.org/siddhanta/makira.html

purANa of the deity

kirAtar : the hunter

This is the only form of Lord Shiva in which He appeared black in color. arjuna wanted to get the peerless weapon pAsupatAstram from Lord Shiva for the battle of mahAbharata. He left the other four pANdavAs, went to the forest and did austere tapas for getting the boon of Lord Shiva. Lord Shiva was satisfied with his prayer, wanted to give the pAsupatAstram to him, but wanted to play a bit too. He took the form of a Hunter with Shakthi as Huntress. That time a demon by name mUkAsura, who was in the form of wild pig came to kill arjuna. To kill the wild pig arjuna fired an arrow from the front, at the same time the Hunter, Who is none other than God Himself, attacked it from the back and killed the pig.

arjuna mocked at the Hunter for firing the arrow from the back. Having great pride of his valor, he was als angry at the Hunter because He aimed at his prey. The Hunter responded that attacking an animal from the back is not against rules of hunting. An argument broke out. They decided to fight deciding who was more valorous between them. The Hunter cut the string in arjuna’s bow with His arrow in the fight! Angered and excited, arjuna started wrestling. He couldn’t match the Lord, and the Lord enjoyed his fighting. At one point of time in wrestling arjuna held the foot of the Hunter. As the Lord is pleased when somebody catches His holy feet, He stopped wrestling appeared with pArvati revealing Who He is. Shocked arjuna pleaded for forgiveness, as he was trying to fight with the Supreme out of his ignorance. However the God, Who is pleased by devotion, blessed him and gave him the invincible pAsupatAstra. (In some books it is told that arjuna couldn’t fight with the Hunter, he started worshipping the Shiva Lingam. To his astonishment he found the flowers he offered to the Lingam on the head of the Hunter. Then he prostrated before the Hunter and the Lord revealed Himself). This can be found in detail in kirAtArjuniyam of bhAravi and mahA bhArata.

A testing Penance – opps a test penance Panel

The Mahabalipuram penance panel which we saw in the last post is the largest open air bas relief sculpture. Just prior to embarking on such a massive sculpt, the sculptors seem to have tested the concept nearby…the little known test panel – but does it give any clues to the mystery of whether the Penace panel depicts – Arjuna’s penance ( to get the pasupatha astra from shiva) or Bagiratha’s penance to bring the ganges down to resurrect his ancestors!!

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Lets analyse the test panel – the depiction of the lighthouse will give you a rough idea on its location. Similar to the Main penance panel, the artist chose a cleft in a boulder to depict his theme – but here the two boulders are split into two.

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Why we call it  a test panel is the story is carved in low relief.

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The majestic elephants have not yet been obviously brought into the theme, though a few heads do appear.
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The flying celestials are all these, but seem to be moving away form the boon giving area towards the descending ganges – to witness this great spectacle. So its a definite give away as to the main story of the test panel – thankfully the boon giver and seeker are much farther away from the cleft ( infact their positions are transposed – left to right)

The most important clue is the absence of the weapon in Shiva’s hands!

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So if this were to be seen in isolation, its a pure story of the descending ganges and thus bagiratha’s penance. This story has been delightfully mixed with Arjuna’s penance in the main panel to come up with a puzzling combo…or is it just two in one or is there another twist to the plot….is it three in one..!!777806