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HERITAGE

Legends across panels

NANDITHA KRISHNA looks at two books that are a valuable

documentation of the Tamil heritage of painting. Both are one-of-
a-kind collections of photographs that have made a contribution
to our knowledge of Indian art, she says.

IT is not easy to see paintings in Tamil Nadu prior to those of the

Vijayanagara period. Why? This is because they are either situated
in remote places far from the tourist beat, (like Sittannavasal), or
are in a terrible state of disrepair that very little is visible (like
Pannamalai) or are locked up and visitors kept out (as in
Thanjavur). Thus the two books photographed, designed and
produced by C. Nachiappan (now Sri-la-Sri Nachiappa Swami of
Koviloor Mutt) with assistance from the Rukmini Devi Foundation
and published by Kalakshetra Publications, Chennai, are a
valuable documentation of the great Tamil heritage of painting.

The first book records the paintings at Sittannavasal, Panamalai

and Thanjavur, covering the early Pandya, the early Pallava and
the early Chola periods respectively. These sites, which are not
easy to visit, were photographed 50 years ago by the Koviloor
Swamy. He used an ancient 5"x4" Linhof camera for the
Archaelogical Survey of India (ASI) and sent the transparencies to
Saraswathy Press in Calcutta for exposing. But they got burnt
under powerful lights and were never printed. The Swami retained
a set of transparencies that were enhanced by computer
technology, recreating the colours that would have brightened up
the temples once upon a time. The text is written by the eminent
scholar Professor P.R. Srinivasan, although he has quoted
extensively from earlier works.

Sittannavasal is an "elongated mass of granite", a remote village

15 km beyond Pudukottai town, not far from the early Chola
temples of Narthamalai, consisting of the Eladipattam, a natural
cave on top of the hill with beds and pillows cut into the stone floor
for use by the monks, and Arivarkovil or the Temple of the (Jaina)
Arihants. There is a First Century Tamil Brahmi inscription on a
cave bed, and a Ninth Century inscription on a rock nearby
informing us of the renovation of the temple. The cave temple has
simple pillars and sculptures of Jaina Tirthankaras. The paintings
currently visible probably belong to the Seventh Century, since
they have Pallava features and are reminiscent of later Ajanta
paintings.

The paintings include a dharmachakra on the ceiling, a lotus tank

with frolicking animals, creepers and lotuses, young men
collecting flowers, dancing apsaras and a barely-visible king and
queen, bringing to life the Jaina philosophy of ahimsa and
harmony in nature. One apsara, with her right hand in the pataka
mudra and the left in the danda hasta, is reminiscent of the bronze
figures of the dancing Balakrishna and Balasubrahmanya, while
the other is performing the bhujangatrasita karana, associated with
the dance of Shiva at Chidambaram. The base of the
Sittannavasal paintings is well consolidated, firm yet thin lime
plaster, also used for the binding. The painted stucco is made up
of three layers: rough plaster, fine plaster and a covering layer of
paint.

Little remains of these paintings today, making their appearance in

the book a valuable contribution to South Indian art history. As a
frequent visitor to Sittanavasal, I have seen the paintings gradually
disappear, thanks to the pollution from the stone quarries, which is
also probably weakening the hill. The lone watchman belies the
archaeological importance of the site, surrounded by ancient
dolmens and sacred groves with enormous and elaborately
decorated terracotta horses.

The Talagirishvara Temple at Panamalai is rarely visited, but is

notable for the single remnant painting of an exquisite female
figure, her leg gently bent and resting against a wall, standing
beneath a royal umbrella, wearing a tall bejewelled kirita and
jewellery typical of the Pallava period. The figure has been shaded
to make it appear three-dimensional. This single figure is one of
the most beautiful paintings in India, reminiscent of the women of
Ajanta, and the photograph brings out all her glory. She
resembles Parvati of the Kailasanatha temple, Kanchipuram, and
the Ajanta frescoes. There are traces of painting elsewhere in the
temple, but nothing identifiable. The fresco secco method was
used here as at Sittannavasal.

The best paintings are, of course, those found inside the vimana in
the Brihadishvara temple at Thanjavur. The delicate nature of the
paintings and the gradual erosion due to pollution have resulted in
the ASI locking them up. Today they can only be seen by special
permission. The paintings depict scenes from the Shiva Purana.
But the elaborate tableaux of domestic, public and palace scenes
are an excellent source of information about the Chola period and
the court of Rajaraja, who commissioned them. The paintings are
huge and animated, bringing alive the greatness of the Lord who
destroys evil and ensures peace.

There is a barely-visible Dakshinamurti beneath a banyan tree on

which monkeys are playing, while rishis and animals live together
in the forest. There is a stillness of body and reverence on the face
of the sages worshipping Dakshinamurti, in contrast to the
vivacious animals. Flying apsaras and gandharvas complete the
scene of palatial proportions.

The Sundaramurty Nayanar story depicts a magnificent Cheraman

Perumal on a bejewelled white horse, while an angry
Sundaramurti Nayanar wears a white coat! Shiva, in this scene, is
an old man. A beautiful tableau is that of Rajaraja listening to his
preceptor Karur Devar, the two faces a study of intense
concentration.

In another panel, dancing apsaras — their faces a study of

abhinaya — and Rajaraja and his wives watch in awe the
magnificent ananda tandava, the dance of Nataraja performed in
the golden mandapam of Chidambaram. Exquisite jewellery,
jasmine-bedecked hairstyles, and beautifully featured people with
eyebrows like a bow and compassionate eyes bring alive the
massive compositions in bright colours.

The best painting is that of Tripurantaka, Shiva as the destroyer of

the demon Tripura. With wide-open eyes and raised arms, Shiva
prepares to slay the demon. An animated Durga seated on her
roaring lion prepares to attack the demon's hordes with her raised
sword. Brahma is a charioteer, while Shukracharya leads the
asuras (demons).

What is significant about the Chola paintings of Thanjavur is that

there is great emotion in all the faces, whether it is the compassion
of the guru counselling Rajaraja, or a contemplative rishi, a devout
queen, an animated dancer or an angry Shiva. The photos bring
out the varied emotions on the many faces, a feature rarely seen in
Indian art.

During the reign of king Vijayaraghava Nayak, the Chola paintings

were covered with plaster and painted over, a happy circumstance
that probably preserved the earlier Chola murals.

Apart from the paintings, 80 karanas of Bharatanatyam sculpted in

granite are printed in black-and-white. Each karana is
accompanied by the relevant verse from the Natya Shastra written
in the Roman script, with a translation, description and remarks
about the figure and the karana. This documentation is an
important contribution to both art and dance.

The book includes photographs of the caves and the temples

where the paintings are situated, along with some bronzes and
sculptures found therein. The stone objects have been printed in
black-and-white, thereby emphasising the granular content of the
stone and providing a stark contrast to the colourful paintings.

The second book contains a documentation of the paintings in

Thanjavur style in the collection of the Koviloor math. Over 100
years ago, a temple and tank were constructed in Koviloor by
Sri-la-Sri Veerasekara Gnanadesika Swami of the Koviloor math.
He was a great builder whose sense of aesthetics resulted in the
construction of 12 beautiful vahanas and an extensive collection of
Thanjavur paintings about his Lord Shiva, whose Thiruvilayadal
Puranam is depicted in 64 paintings. The collection also includes
paintings of Vaishnavite, Kaumara, Ganapatya and Sakta themes.
Besides a large Nataraja and Dattatreya, there is also a rare
depiction of Sri Narasimha Bharati, the much revered ascetic
Shankaracharya of Sringeri Math who lived in the first half of the
20th Century. The paintings are not significant for their age: they
are important in that they are a record of the religious preferences
and iconographic developments at the beginning of the 20th
Century. It is not often that one gets to see a private art collection:
Swami Nachiappa has done a great service to art lovers by
publishing this book.

Besides the paintings mentioned above, the collection includes the

famous story of Kannappa Nayanar and several dynamic forms of
Shiva, such as Nataraja, Gajasarmambeswarar and Veerabhadra.
Harihara is represented as Sankaranarayana, while
Ardhanarishvarar, Dakshinamoorthi and the other forms of Shiva
display similar facial and decorative features.
Like all Thanjavur paintings, the central figures are much larger
and generally white, plump and round-faced, while the subsidiary
figures are relatively smaller, with smaller panels at the bottom or
sides of the painting. The gesso relief work typical of Thanjavur
paintings comes out in the borders and mandapams that frame the
figures, while many are framed by oval cameos.

Like the Thanjavur paintings in the Sarasvati Mahal Palace

collection, the paintings are very two-dimensional, with a gentle
roundness and depth created by a range of shades from a light
central colour to dark edges. While the first book is well written,
the paintings in the second book do the talking: the Koviloor
paintings are only labelled, with little description, leaving the
reader time to study them in depth.

The books are well printed and bring out the riot of colours that
characterise Indian painting. Both are one-of-a-kind collections of
photographs that have made a great contribution to our knowledge
of Indian art. They are essential additions to the library of a lover of
Indian art.

Tanjavur Paintings in Koviloor

Sittannavasal Panamalai, Tanjavur Early Chola Paintings;

Photographed by C. Nachiappan (Koviloor Swamy), Kalakshetra

Publications.

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