Bronze figure from the Thanjavur Art Gallery.

Description

This Tripurantaga image is a lean figure with slender legs and a realistic facial expression.

The God is standing in tribhanga on a low padmapitham attached to a large rectangular bhadrapitham with tenons for the support of a prabhavali.

A handsome simple conical jata-makuta with flower decorations on the sides and on the top adorn the head. Siraschakra is shaped like a wheel with simple spokes.

Eleven locks of hair emerge from the jata-makuta, out of which seven are arranged in a circular array over the nape of the neck while the remaining four curl down the shoulders, two on each side.

The usual three-forked streamer of strings with jewellery as skandamala is seen on the right shoulder. A single flower blossom is substituted for a row of bahulamala flowers.

The characteristic backside pendant is also seen behind hanging below the curls of hair. The distended ear lobes are empty. The third eye on the forehead is present.

The well-formed torso has two necklaces, and yajnopavita of two strands with the brahma-bandha knot and an udara-bandha. The under-garment is a simple loin cloth and it is held by a plain waist-girdle without the usual makara or simhamukha clasp.

The plain kachcha with a small flap in front is tucked behind inside the girdle. The God has the usual four hands. The upper arms hold the antelope and the axe between the fingers.

The positions of antelope on the right side and the parasu (axe) on the left are deviations in this image.

The lower two hands are in kataka, in position to hold the bow and arrow. Three wristlets for each hand, baji-bandha, and angada of plumage are the decorative features of the hands.

The addition of a hissing serpent on the left arm similar to those found on the right arm of Nataraja images is a noticeable feature of this Tripurantaga image, in which the axe and the antelope are also reversed.

On stylistic grounds, we may tentatively assign this figure an early Chola date.

Sri Sivaramamurti identified the image as Vinadhara. But how could Siva play on the vina with his hand in the kataka position?

Sri Sivaramamurti has grouped the image in the transitional period on account of the several early Chola characteristics which are observed in the upper portion of the image.

The workmanship on the lower part, however, tends to contradict this.1

Informations

Acc. No.: 26

Century: 10th CE

Place of discovery: Thanjavur

Taluk: Thanjavur

District: Thanjavur

State: Tamil Nadu

Country: India

Exhibition Location: Thanjavur Art Gallery

Height: 81 cm with pedestal, 64 cm without pedestal

Breadth: no information about the breadth

Weight: 29.675 kg

Pictures

Thiripurantagar (Siva)

Thiripurantagar (Siva)

Map

  1. see Rathnasabapathy, S., The Thanjavur Art Gallery – Bronze Sculptures – (A Discriptive Catalogue with Illustrations in Colour) – Volume-I, 2009, pp. 75-76 ↩