Chola Temples

This collection contains images of state-protected monuments in Tamil Nadu produced through a commissioned project from the Department of Archaeology, Government of Tamil Nadu. The images represent documentation of five monuments captured in 2022 through photographs and architectural drawings by the documentation team of the Center for Art and Archaeology (CA&A) of the American Institute of Indian Studies (AIIS). The monuments documented from three districts of Tamil Nadu include (1) Gangaikonda Choleeswarar Temple, Koozampandal, Tiruvannamalai; (2) Twin Temples, Keezhaiyur, Airyalur; (3) Chokkeeswarar Temple, Kancheepuram; (4) Kancheepuram Mahadevar Temple, Edayarpakkam, Kancheepuram; (5) Jeenaswamy Trilokyanathar Temple Thiruparuthi Kundram, Kancheepuram.    

Frederick M. Asher was a specialist in South Asian art. His research considers the architecture of contested religious space and the issue of copying/originality in Indian art. His scholarship focused on issues related to art as commodity, particularly looking at patterns of trade as they relate to works of art in India, and the site of Bodh Gaya. He also examined present-day artists working in traditional modes both because they are interesting in themselves and because they offer models for pre-modern modes of artistic production; they further offer the opportunity to think about the role of the artist in art history that has focused primarily on the product. He was Editor-in-Chief of caa.reviews, the electronic journal of the College Art Association, President and Chair of the Board of Trustees of the American Institute of Indian Studies. He was also President of the National Committee for the History of Art, and South Asia editor for Archives of Asian Art.

Lajja Gauri is the name most widely used in modern India for the image of an Indian Goddess that has a female torso and a lotus flower in place of a head, while her legs are bent up at the knees and drawn up to each side in a pose that has been described as one of “giving birth”.

 

This collection primarily features Carol R Bolon’s documentation of a large corpus of figures of Lajja Gauri spanning across India and time periods. Images of Lajja Gauri have been found in most states of India, though they are especially common in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, and Maharashtra, with concentrations in or around the towns of Nagpur, Ter, Kondapur, Kausambi, and Bhita. 

Images of Lajja Gauri made between the second century and the eleventh century, range in quality from extreme crudity to great refinement. They range in size from two inches to over life-size and are made either of moulded or hand-formed terracotta or of stone carved in relief. The larger images, made of stone, served as icons for worship in temple subshrines. While the smaller terracotta or stone images may have been altarpieces in home shrines.

 

The assumption that Lajja Gauri’s iconography is simply erotic has discouraged serious consideration of her iconography and meaning. Misconceptions about the image have become entrenched in literature so much so that these images are often not displayed by museums. However a profound spiritual message is couched within a seemingly erotic display of Lajja Gauri’s imagery. These Lajja Gauri figures are auspicious images giving blessing, rather than erotic or apotropaic images meant to ward off the evil eye. More properly she is the elemental source of all life, animal and plant, and thereby she is the source of Fortune.

 

Carol R Bolon has formulated four main categories of Lajja Gauri’s imagery that progress from a minimally anthropomorphic form toward a completely anthropomorphic goddess.

 

Form I: The Uttanapad pot imagery is characterized by human legs in uttanapad pose with a shape above the legs that resembles both a pot and a female's lower torso. The figure has no upper torso  and there are no breasts, arms, or head. The pot torso resembled a brimming vase, or purna kumbha.

 

This form was popular in southern India and made in the third and fourth century but not thereafter.

 

Form II: Lotus-headed without arms figures are like those of uttanapad pot Form I except that the torso extends up to the shoulders and includes breasts. There are no arms or head in images in this group, but the lotus is elevated to sit atop the shoulders.

This is the predominant Maharasthrian-type figure especially in the central area and was made from the fourth to the tenth century.

 

Form III: Lotus-headed with arms figures are otherwise anthropomorphic female bodies with breasts and two upraised arms on the full torso with each hand holding a lotus bud, and legs in the uttanapad pose.

This type was made from the fourth to the tenth century. They were made in Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat as early as the fourth century and were made with great refinement of details during the Early Chalukya period in the late seventh century in Andhra and Karnataka; they continued to be made in the south until at least the ninth century.

 

Form IV: Anthropomorphic figure with a human head, full natural female torso, with raised arms, each hand holding a lotus bud as in Form III, and with legs in the uttanapad pose.

 

This is a northern type only and was never made in the south.

 

References:

Bolon, Carol R. Forms of the Goddess Lajja Gauri in Indian Art. University Press: Pennsylvania State, 1992.

Padmabhushan Professor Madhusudan Amilal Dhaky, internationally renowned historian of temple art and architecture, was Director Emeritus, Center for Art and Archaeology, the American Institute of Indian Studies, Gurugram. Dhaky was born on 31st July 1927 in Porbandar, Gujarat. He graduated in science but his interest lied in Indology. He changed his profession frequently after graduation, from banking to agriculture, but finally settled in the field of archaeology after joining the Gujarat Directorate of Archaeology and Museums as Director. Throughout, while in various professions, exploring and documenting temple architecture was his favourite pursuit. His image archives were formed between 1950-1966, before and during his tenure with the archaeology department. He joined American Academy of Benares (AAB) in 1966 which was later renamed as the Center for Art and Archaeology and merged with the American Institute of Indian Studies. Some of his negatives are marked with the year 1972, which indicates he continued photography for a while even during his service with the AIIS when a documentation team was at his disposal. While working with the AIIS he guided documentation and research, formulated and initiated the monumental project, Encyclopaedia of Indian Temple Architecture, fourteen volumes of which are published by the AIIS. The largest section of the AIIS, CA&A Photo-archives documenting monuments and museum objects was created under the direction of M.A. Dhaky. The world of Indian art history lost one of its greatest scholars with the passing away of Dhaky on 29th July 2016. He had gifted all his images to the CA&A during his lifetime and Snehal Shah, architect who is the caretaker of Dhaky’s belongings, shared his negatives with the Center after his demise.

The catalogue consists of images of musical instruments depicted in ancient Indian sculptures and paintings. These images are culled from the massive repertoire of the Center for Art and Archaeology’s Photo-archives which houses meticulously documented photographs of monuments and related sculptures, paintings and coins. While the collection includes a wide variety of musical instruments, it is majorly classified in three broad categories namely-Wind, Percussion and Stringed instruments. It not only represents multiple instrument types, it also gives an insight into regional variations as the collection covers examples from all regions of the Indian subcontinent including some from South Asian countries also such as Indonesia and Sri Lanka.