Seven Thousand Wonders Of India: An Artistic Pilgrimage Of India’s Lesser Known Temples-Part I

“Full many a gem of purest ray serene, the dark unfathom’d caves of ocean bear
Full many a flower is born to blush unseen, and waste its sweetness in the desert air.”

-Thomas Gray, Elegy in a country churchyard

I recalled this poem, when I first visited Ellora, and gaped in sheer awe. The Kailasanatha temple is almost an entire hill carved into a single temple.

I knew there were cave temples, but not this wonder. A historian once said, “The eighth wonder of the world is that the Ellora Kailasanatha temple is not called the eighth wonder of the world.”

When a land has seven thousand wonders, is it perfidy to list merely seven?

The Sanksrit word kalaa represents art, craft and engineering. But in republican India, we have separated and compartmentalised these. Not a single engineered product, or building, reflects any Indian sensibility.

Our art whether in galleries, movies, advertisements, or public infrastructure, usually aspires to European notions – often utterly unaware and insensitive to a culture that spanned millenia.

Here is a simple test (Image 1). On the left are a European painting and a tower. Can you identify them, and name the artist and engineers who conceived them? On the right are an Ajanta painting and a temple – can you identify them, their artist or the architect?

“Katrathu kai maNN aLavu, kallaathathu ulagu aLavu”, said the Tamil poet Avvaiyaar. What we have learnt (katrathu) is a handful (kai aLavu) of sand (maNN), our ignorance (kallaathathu) is as big(aLavu) as the world(ulagu).

With this series, I hope to introduce some lesser known temples, their sculptures, architecture, inscriptions, a vocabulary of art, a feel for the subtelty, nuance, bhava and rasa that transcends time and space.

Sculptures – shilpa nayanaabhiraama

Bhakti sometimes blinds us to art. I have seen people stand in line for an hour for a darshanam, then close their eyes in prayer when they finally reach the deity in the sanctum! Why?? Wasn’t the whole purpose darshanam – to see the murthy?

Classical Art

A Chola Gangadhara sculpture awakened to me to the subtlety of classical Indian art. I’ve read the Amar Chitra Katha version of Ganga, and illustrated stories. They show Ganga descending like a torrent or a waterfall, on the matted locks of Shiva.

Raja Ravi Varma’s nineteenth century painting depicts a similar theme. Parvati and Bhagiratha gaze, spectators like us.

But that is not how the Chola sculptor depicts this scene. Ganga tells Bhagiratha that only Siva can withstand the force of her descent from Devaloka. Bhagiratha performs penance to Siva, who grants Bhagiratha his boon. But Siva is aware of Ganga’s pride, that she will descend feet first on his head.

When Ganga reaches Bhuloka, he casually extends one strand of hair from his locks - and that is sufficient to withstand her tremendous force. Ganga flows into his matted locks and is trapped, unable to get out.

Parameshvara knows this is just her devaleela - divine play. So he gently but firmly holds Parvati’s shoulder. “Vaak-arthaa-iva-samprktau jagata-pitarau-vande” wrote Kalidasa, as the invocatory phrase of Raghuvamsham. Salutations (vande) to the Parents(pitarau) of all Creation(jagata), inseparable(samprktau) like(iva) word(vaak) and meaning(artha).

A thousand years ago, the Chola sculptor has captured the spirit of this description. At some time during a millennium, artists and rasikas lost this subtlety and classicism.

Compare this Chola sculpture with two predecessors. In the Pallava sculpture, Parvati’s body language may imply jealousy, but look at her face, she’s smiling gently and her face is twisting away from her body – her leela is a response to and reflection or a refraction, of Siva’s leela. Sookshma (Subtlety) governs bhaava (expression).

The Rashtrakuta sculptor chose complexity over subtlety, depicting (1) Ganga entering and (2) escaping Siva’s locks and (3) liberating Bhagiratha’s ancestors.

Three different time periods in one picture. The space for this sculpture is much larger, and hence its scope. Celestials are shown witnessing the grand event, and Bhagiratha watches, and his ancestors express gratitude.

Vocabulary of art - Chitram, chitraardham, chitraabhaasam

Today we think chitram means painting, but in the shilpa shaastraas, chitram means a full sculpture, in the round.

Chitraardham, which means half-sculpture, is the term for a sculpture on a wall, a pillar or some such surface, where only part of the sculpture is etched.

Examples of chitram are Varaha of Eran, the lion and elephant of Mamallapuram, Nandis in Siva temples, the and most images of deities in the main sanctum of a temple.

Chitraardham in walls, pillars, ceilings and roofs come in a bewildering but enchanting cornucopia of size, theme, intricacy, imagination and variety.

Three Postures

Sculptures are depicted in one of three postures.
1. Samabhanga - A sculpture may be symmetric along either its vertical or horizontal axis. This is the usual pose of the main deity in a sanctum, whose hand is in a gesture (mudhra) bestowing a boon or granting refuge.

3. Atibhanga - A sculpture that has extreme bends, capturing figures in moment as of extraordinary vigour, movement, ferocity, action

We don’t need to know these technical terms to enjoy art. But knowing a vocabulary is the first step to develop taste, aesthetics, and discernment, and an Indian ethos.

Portraits and Narratives

The sculptures demonstrating these postures are portraits : they capture a moment. Portrait sculptures are idols for worship. Koshta murthis (niche sculptures) on walls or pillars, are usually portraits. But sometimes a single sculpture or a series can narrate a story, capturing several events.

The most common miniature sculptures are decorative. Lotus patterns, rows of swans, elephants, horses, yaalis, bhutaganas, flowers, dancers, musicians embellish segments of walls and pillars. Intricate miniatures in Hoysala temples in Belur and Halebidu, and in temples of Rajasthan are famous.

Their intricacy and delicacy are possible because they are in soapstone and marble, respectively, which are softer stones than granite(Tamilnadu) or basalt (Maharashtra).

Some miniatures are part of an entire narrative sequence. Ramayana and Mahabharata are the most popular themes. The battle scenes in Ellora are part of such a series. These two from Papanatha temple in Pattadakal, feature two combats between Vali and Sugreeva.

History and Evolution

India abounds in structural temples built in various periods of time, from the fifth century to the present times, and a number of other monuments like stupas and chaityas from even earlier.

Temples of different eras and regions help us understand the development and evolution of art, aesthetics, and sometimes life and artifacts. Sculptures and paintings often preserve fashions, designs, objects, and cultural practices of a particular time, which have since been replaced or expanded. Take the veena, for example, which today has several strings and frets, and a large pot-like resonator. But this modern veena was invented by Maratha king Raghunatha Nayaka in Tanjavur, in the seventeenth century. Before that, the veena was a thin rod like instrument, as seen in these thousand year old sculptures, in Kanchipuram and Bhubaneshvar.

Similar differences in other musical instruments, jewelry, textile design, hairstyle, buildings, utensils, etc. are perceptible, if we pause and observe, rather than pass by glancing.

In future essays, we will discuss specific temples and their sculptures, along with architecture, inscriptions, and history to get a broader, deeper perspective.