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Friday, December 8, 2017

The LOST wax process.

From the ninth to the thirteenth century, the Chola dynasty was the dominant cultural, artistic, religious, and political force in South India! Under their rule every form of art flourished! Notable among them are sculptures using granite stones and metal sculptures using bronze.  


Metal sculptures have been cast for centuries under the patronage of different dynasties in India, but nowhere does it seem to have registered such an acme of development as it did under the Cholas.



Between the 8th and 10th century, Hindu devotees began to involve their Gods into all their rituals and ceremonies outside the temple. So they needed portable deities to participate in these rituals and functions outside the temple. Thus began the creation of spectacular temple bronzes which were either a replica or an imitation of the original deity of the temple's sanctum sanctorum!

Although the making of bronze sculpture was started during the period of Pallavas, it reached its pinnacle under the Chola dynasty. Some of the outstanding bronze sculptures we have today are from Chozha period.  


These bronze sculptures were made by a process called "The LOST wax process" 

Beeswax and kungilium (a resin obtained from a tree called Shala tree (Shorea robusta) are mixed with a little oil and the mixture is kneaded well. With this mixture the necessary wax model is made. All the minute details are fashioned into it. This is the original wax model from which the bronze 
sculpture will be made.

The wax model is made as per the Silpa Sastras. Extreme care is given to the dimensions, the proportions, the pose, the ornaments, the mudras and the bhavas are all are as per the Silpa Sastras. It is said that the sculptor keeps reciting the Dhyana Slokam pertaining to the particular deity he is making as mentioned in the Silpa Sastras, so that the figure of the God he is making fills his mind completely. This helps the sculptor to fashion the sculpture exactly as per the Silpa Sastra.  The entire exercise of making the model with laser focused  attention and contemplation upon a particular deity, makes it a real Yoga.

Clay from a termite-hill is made into a paste and the entire wax model is coated with it over and over again until the mould is of a necessary thickness. Then the whole thing is dried. After that the clay-mould with the wax-model inside is baked over an oven with cow-dung cakes. As heat is generated the wax-model melts and flows out. Now the clay-mould is empty and is ready for casting.

The metal alloy of bronze is melted and then poured into the mould. 

This particular bronze alloy is known as "Pancha Lokam", which primarily contains copper and Tin. In addition often other metals are also added, gold and silver occasionally. It is a myth that Pancha Lokam always contains Gold and silver. Various archeometallurgical studies have proved that Gold and silver are found very rarely in Pancha Lokam.   


When the metal has filled all crevices inside the model and has settled, it is left for hardening and cooling. Once it is settled and cooled the mould is broken off. The basic bronze figure is thus obtained. It is then cleaned, finer details are added, blemishes are removed, smoothened, and polished well. So, there exists only one specimen of that particular work done by that sculptor, and it cannot be moulded or copied. In this process the wax model is lost and hence the name! Since it is the only specimen available at all times, it is unique and expensive.


All the pictures in this post were made by the lost wax process and were photographed in Chennai Government Museum. 

Friday, August 18, 2017

Kunjar - A Unique form of Art

This blog post is about a unique form of art called as 'Kunjar art form'. I am unable to get a clear period during which this art form started to take shape. It is suggested by some that it had its origin in Medieval India. Some literature also claims that it is influenced by Persian artists. 

This art form is identified by the name Kunjar - a Sanskrit word for The Elephant. This is because the
Elephant had a prominent place in every ancient Indian art form. 


This is a very unusual form of art and hence very rare to see! I have seen sculptures made of Kunjar art form in only two temples in South India and a painting in a fort in Orchha Madhya Pradesh! The reason is, to make a sculpture in Kunjar art form the sculptor should be extraordinarily skilled. It highlights the artist's skill of composition and assemblage, importantly within the parameters of a frame work. Animal frames were commonly used, elephant and horse being the most commonly used forms.


Kunjar or the elephant is the main composition of the art form. Elephant's shape is used as the shell within which figures of women are artistically intertwined and seated in a creative manner. The artist uses his creativity and employs various acrobatic postures of women to adjust them within the shell or the frame!  The composition typically followed a set pattern of nine women dressed ostentatiously and it is called Nava Nari Kunjar! When the number of women used is five it is called Pancha Nari Kunjar!



In place of women sculptors have also used birds and you can see one such sculpture from Vaishnava Nambi temple of Thirukurungudi Tamizh Nadu, India.


Friday, August 11, 2017

Panel sculptures of Thirukurungudi Temple tower.


Thirukurunkudi is a tiny village around 45.7 KMs from Tirunelveli, (See the Google Map below) Tamil Nadu. The main attraction of this village is Vaishnava Nambi Temple. In case you want to know more about the temple you can Google and you will get tons of information on this temple. This blog post is confined only to the Panel sculptures of this temple. 


This temple houses hundreds of outstanding sculptures from the  life sized to the ones to just a  few inches in size.  The temple offers a cocktail of Low relief, high relief and sunken relief! It is quite an exhibition of Dravidian style of architecture.


If you are interested in sculptures you can easily spend at least three hours in this temple! The temple tower (Gopuram) itself needs an hour as you need to observe very carefully every nook and corner of the lavishly decorated tower.



One thing which is quite unique to this tower is the Panel sculptures or Relief Panels! I have never seen so many Relief Panels anywhere in India (barring Khajuraho of course!) like it is in this temple. Luckily since these Relief Panels are sculpted on the tower, all the panels are  intact and they are not vandalised as they are difficult to reach! They are so intricately carved you can actually see the emotions in the face and the beauty of the jewellery the Gods are wearing!



Various scenes from Mahabharata and scenes from Vaishnava stories can be seen here. Interestingly there are panels of Shiva too despite this temple being a Vishnu temple! (Although in recent times because of the fight between Vaishnavites and Shaivaites they have uprooted a Shiva Lingam from this temple and installed it in a corner of this village! It seems a case is pending before the Supreme court regarding bringing back the lingam to this temple!)




The size of the panels would vary between two feet to three feet! You essentially need a zoom lens to shoot these panels. Although they are quite visible to the naked eye photographing them is not possible without a zoom lens. 



Photography inside the temple is not allowed but picturing the sculptures on the tower is not prohibited!

I will have another post on this temple shortly on other forms of its sculptures!