Tag Archives: chalukya

Our voices are heard ! Many thanks

Many a time, after spending many hours working in gathering information, visiting a site, taking photographs, analysing them and presenting to them in a structured way, that you think would appeal to your target audience, you compile a post and beautifully illustrate it and then wait for that little bit of encouragement. Most of the times, its you who have to turn around and pat yourself on your back and carry on, for deep in your heart you know that hard work is done not expecting any reward. But then, sometimes, when you do get a result and in this case a solution to a pressing problem that you addressed in your post, that too from a person of authority, who you think cares a damn for these treasures, it dawns on you that after all your efforts have not gone to waste. Your voice has been heard !

Thanks to the friend who read my initial post why loot a door guardian, and notified me of the damage. If this is the case in a gallery then, thanks to the other reader who took on himself to send it to the concerned authority, and a thousand thanks to the good Samaritan who respected the concern in a blog post and took it on himself to get the problem addressed and in this case – cleaned the sculpture and restored the inscription.

thanks finally to my dear friend for doing a followup and reporting that ALL IS WELL.

If this is the case in a Gallery then ….

The Tanjore millennium celebrations have wound to a close and after the display the exhibits have moved back to their original locations. So we hope. But there is one special exhibit, the one which we featured earlier in a post, which has gone back to its original location at the Tanjore Art Gallery, but then ….
Why loot a door Guardian

The original position of the exhibit was as below

Readers of the post, would remember the speciality of this exhibit – it lies in its base.

“This is the door guardian brought by Lord Vijayarajendradeva after burning (the Chalukya capital) Kalyanapuram.”

But, the care with which the exhibit was displayed at the site exhibition to coincide with the festivities – seen here with a blue carpet in front….

…has not been continued after the event. As with all our exquisite antiques, its been installed with utter disregard for its uniqueness. Senseless is the word that comes to my mind. Take a look yourselves and judge.

The base has been crudely cemented into the floor, painted over – the ignorant mason, having covered up the bottom line !! blood boils….

What can be done to such people, the powers to be, who has scant regard for such treasures.

Why loot a Door Guardian and bring it as a war trophy

War Trophies are always controversial. There have been many such famous trophies – the Vatapi Ganapathy by Narasimha Pallavas commander Paranjothi, The Srivijayan Victory arch brought back by Rajendra chola – Today we are going to see another such. The famed Chalukya door guardian of Darasuram currently housed in the Tanjore Art Gallery. ( images courtesy Satheesh and Sriram)

Its indeed a very beautiful work of art, but why would a Chola King want to bring back a Door guardian as a war trophy ? Well one this is for sure, it was a war trophy for he himself inscribed it in its pedestal


The Tamil inscription at the base of this sculpture, seized by the imperial Cholas in 1045 from their Chalukya enemies, reads: “This is the door guardian brought by Lord Vijayarajendradeva after burning (the Chalukya capital) Kalyanapuram.” Institut Francaise d’Indologie, Pondicherry. Courtesy of Richard H. Davis.

its features are characteristically chalukyan

But there are some intriguing depictions near its base.

The first is a monitor lizard, but what is a mouse doing underneath the uplifted feet of the door guardian. What is it that is next ( to the left of the mouse as you view the image) – like a tail ??. and what is the animal to the extreme left.

Thanks to http://picasaweb.google.com/gildubs/IndeDuSud2008# for the closeups

Well, its a cat toying with a rat !! and what is the other??

Well well well, its a snake eating a mouse. This does remind us of something which we have seen earlier connected to the big temple

Big temple intro post

Lets refresh our memories

Zoom in

Now, we have Raja Raja Chola’s masterful edifice in stone portraying a prancing lion, a snake swallowing an elephant ( see the earlier post and the interesting hypothesis to visualise the Vimana as Mount Kailash itself) and a crocodile / large lizard.

Against this, the chaluykan version has a cat playing with a mouse, and a snake swallowing a mouse plus a mouse underneath the door guardian’s feet. Was this an attempt at ridiculing Chola’ sculpture and as an act of retaliation, was this brought back as a war trophy !!

A Chalukyan “Horned” door guardian – Pattadakkal

Door guardians are the least noticed even today and no exceptions for these mighty but neglected gentlemen and ladies in sculpture – infact it pains me to see men made to stand like statues in popular resorts mocking them !. They are a eclectic mix of emotion and styles and they are dear to me ( as to a few friends who helped this post come up). So was surprised when i came across a book reference in another book – what struck me was the title of the book – THE CULT OF WEAPONS. THE ICONOGRAPHY OF AYUDHA PURUSHAS, by Sri. V. R Mani.

We had been discussing door guardians and horned door guardians and its been my wish to bring out a dedicated series on them, so we rushed to grab a copy (me, satheesh and Arvind) – It was not a large book ( was a bit disappointed) – for if you leave out the plates, bibliography – it was just 45 pages. But the book more than made up for its lack of volume with quality of content. One particular focus on a Chalukyan door guardian, from Pattadakkal, caught my eye. We had earlier carried a series on the Pallava horned door guardians based on an article by Dr. Gift Siromoney, which was more like a theory or a postulate – saying the door guardians could be the personifications of the weapons – ayudha purushas. But this sculpture, a beauty at that, leaves us in no doubt. ( Thanks Kathie – cant imagine what i would do without your help for the image!!)

A very very splendid relaxed stance, leaning slightly to his right, bending his right leg and balancing his weight on his club / mace. The snake on the mace is lively as well.

lets take a closer look at the head dress – our point of interest.

He is four armed ( early Pallava door guardians were two armed – reminds me to do a post on Arvind’s visit to Kanchi for later Pallava door guardians !) , what he holds in his upper right arm is not clear , but his upper left arm is holding his own attribute – a differently shaped trident or trishool. His lower hand postures are relaxed and go with the overall composition ( again, reminds me to do a series on the hand mudras !!). But the major find for us is the trident sculpted behind his crown!

However, this particular line in the book is a topic for further discussion.

” This depiction in addition to the trident held in his upper left hand, reveal his identity as trisulapurusha. The endowment of this new character to to the door guardian is a distinctly Chalukyan contribution to Hindu Iconography. In later examples from both Chalukyan areas and regions south of it , one can find the development of this tradition “

Now, no early pallava examples are studied in this work and the fact that Pattadakkal was constructed to honor the victory of Vikramadtya II over the Pallavas ( between CE 732 – 742 ), cast doubts on the above claim – and in most probability it was Mahendra, Mamalla and Rajasimha’s Pallava traditions that were worked on by the Chaluyan stylists – given the close stylistic resemblances to the Kanchi Kailansatha temple to the monuments in Pattadakkal, it must have been the same artist guild that was used ( taken ?) to construct them.

What do you say?

The vanishing wonders of Mogalrajapuram caves- Vijayawada

Many thanks to Sri Dhivakar for visiting this amazing cave and sharing his experiences and photographs with us. We need to do some more study of the sculptures and would be grateful if readers near Vijaywada can assist in some closeup, high resolution images of the same. Now over to the author for a wonderful guest post:

Its hard to separate Vijayawada from Kanaka Durga, even in our dreams, but today we are not going to see the famous Kanakadurga seated on the sacred abode of Indrakilaadhri, but a 1400 year old sculpted stone Durga and the rock cut caves of Mogalrajapuram (situated in the center of the city only). Some scholars account this to early 5th Century which is quite mind blowing.

In the midst of the sprawling town of Vijayawada, there are two caves which have barely survived, carved into a low hillock not higher than 10 feet. These caves which are under the upkeep of ASI, hold these surprising treasures.

The sculptors have cut into live rock and created a small room to host the main sculpture. The sculpture is much worn out and we have hardly make out the features. We can clearly make out a tail and an animal – a lion behind the sculpture.

As per the ASI board this is Durga.


Can a mere lion mount characterise a sculpture as Durga, the posture and the body proportions create enough doubts in our minds.

Taking the ASI stand that this is indeed Durga, this could be earliest depiction of Her in South India. Dr Kalaikkovan in his lovely work ` Mahendra Kudavaraigal’ lists the vallam ( near chengalpattu) Kotravai sculpted by Gommai as the oldest depiction of Her in South India. The above could make a strong contention to that stand.

The next hillock have some interesting sculptures and designs. The pillar designs are very familiar and the kudus on top contain some very advanced sculptures apparently of the Trinity.

There is a wonderful row of alternating lions and elephants above them and then there is a very badly worn sculpture right on top of this row. You can see the Demon being pressed down by a foot and then only the top portion with only 6 hands wielding various weapons n attributes. The posture and the silhouette of the weapons seem to suggest that this could be a depiction of Mahishasuramardhini but the popular contention is that this is Nataraja. Will present the early chalukya sculptures of Aihole, Badami – natraja ( is he depicted with the asura underneath Shiva as Nataraja) and Mahishasuramardhini ( with Mahisha being trampled ..) later on.

We might need some very detailed closeups of the weapons held in the hands to come to a clear verdict. But the technique is quite advanced and these could be dated to late 6th or 7th Centuries. Compare the kudus with those of Mahendra’s Dhalavanur.

Sadly these unique caves have not quite got the publicity they deserve and hardly anyone visits them. When will people realise the greatness of these treasures and give them the respect that is due to them.