Roda group of Temples-
The Pioneering Monuments of
the Architecture Heritage of Gujarat
-Jayaram Poduval,
Published by:Gujarat Tourism, 2005
There is a thin film of mystery shrouded around the temples of our concern. The mystification starts from the name itself. The site has been known as `Roda' to the historians and art historians though the local population is barely aware of this. The site is situated between the village of Raisingpura and Khed Chandarani, 8 Kms from Himmat Nagar in north Gujarat. Curiously, the writings on Roda never mention these villages. Nor do they mention about the derivation or etymology of the name. UP.Shah mentions thus, "The shrines are called Roda Temples after the hamlet of the name in the vicinity, but the name Roda (In Gujarati, literally meaning brick-bats), is not the original name of the spot, which latter seems to have forgotten now, the place being called Roda on account of the extensive ruins containing brick-bats, and an old habitation site situated close to this village."[1]
May be the first explorer at Roda was informed about this ruined stone blocks by the local population, for whom this site was nothing more than that. Today the devotees from the nearby village do not even glance at the cardinal shrines at the site as they walk past them to the Matrika images outside a shrine in the Kunda. Did they forget the main shrines and the principal deities in them? The neglect to the shrines endured in the works of pioneer scholars who traveled around Western India and listed the monuments of archaeological and historical potential. The early chroniclers like James Tod and archaeologists like R.D.Bhandarkar are silent about the site in our purview. The monumental volume of James Burgess and Henri Cousens never mentioned Roda Group of Temples. Surprisingly Sankhalia in his in depth study of Gujarat Archaeology fail to refer the Roda group.
The studies on Roda was initiated by PA Inamdar [1926] followed by UP Shah and MA Dhaky in the 60’s. Since then barring few articles by Dhaky, Roda has never come into the attention of the scholars or tourists. The sculptures at Baroda Museum & Picture Gallery and other collections in Gujarat definitely points to an intense temple building activity in the region prior to the Solanki period. The activity centered in the present Banaskantha and Sabarkantha districts of Gujarat State, bordering Rajasthan on the north and Madhya Pradesh on the east. For example many sculptures at the Baroda Museum including the ones lying in the storeroom could not have been from the existing temples at Roda. The dilapidation seems to be a continuous process at Roda as Temple No. 4 reduced to a mere plinth between the visits of Inamdar in 1926 and that of UP Shah in 1960. Apart from the seven temples, which form the core of the present study, there are hardly any evidences of the existence of any structure at the site. Moreover the style of some of the sculptures appears to be post-dating the extant structures and thus pointing towards an enduring activity at the site. If one accept this hypothesis the present site itself can present a continuous activity of temple building like that of Pattadakkal [Karnataka] and Mahabalipuram [Tamil Nadu]. The centers like Roda, which deprived of its licit place in the history of Indian architecture, need to be placed in the macro chronology through proper studies, as they set the trend of the regional idiom of art and pave the way for magnificent structures of Gujarat as the Sun Temple at Modhera and Navalakha Temple at Sejakpur.
It was Dr.U.P.Shah who initiated the study on the Roda group of temples, through his book "The Sculptures from Shamalaji and Roda". In this, he introduces a pioneer scholar who visited Roda way back in 1926. P.A.Inamdar, as mentioned by Dr.Shah, visited the sites and provided ample data on the structures and the ruins around. Curiously, the only photographic documentation of the Temple no.4 comes from Inamdar, in 1926 in his book titled "Some Archeological Finds in the Idar State". Inamdar's description of Roda is synoptic and a confession of the lack of methodology. He, as stated in the preface, is only concerned about reporting the historical monuments of the region. "In my tour of inspection of the {Idar} state schools, I was struck with the beautiful scenery of the state, which is studded with hills and is full of forests, fertile valleys watered by great rivers, lakes, and last but not least, old monuments in form of beautiful temples, idols of exquisite beauty and anatomical perfection, tombs of ancient heroes and beautiful step-wells. My Interest in these, especially the monuments, grew more and more as I found these archaeological interest and so with a view to preserve these and to prevent them being further damaged ...[sic]"[2]
Nevertheless, this plea to the authorities did not seem to have any effect as we know at least in case of Roda the structures were well on the way to decay and disappearance. In the portion on Roda, Inamdar notices few structures and few mounds. The few temples as noted by Inamdar was dedicated Shiva, Vishnu, Goddess and Surya which can be identified with the existing temples of No.VII [Shiva], No.V [Vishnu], No.II [Goddess] though the Surya Temple seems to have disappeared. The evidence for the existence of the Surya temple can be endorsed with the help of the image of Surya, now in Baroda Museum. The notion, which one gets reading Inamdar, is of a great archaeological site spotted with "beautiful" monuments. "It appears”, writes Inamdar, “some prosperous city renowned as a place of Hindu-pilgrimage, existed here in the old times as is evident from the large number of temples which are partly destroyed and in many cases exist as mounds only"[3]
Naturally, a question can be asked why one considers Shah as the person initiated the study on Roda. It was for the reason that it was Shah who concentrated on Roda and realized it’s potential as monument of merit and significant in the study of Western Indian temple architecture. The concluding words of Shah on the chronology of Roda are evident of his admiration and understanding of the importance of these structures. Shah states, " This {the comparative study of Roda along with the Saindhava and Maitraka temples of Gujarat} is likely to throw a new light on the history of temple architecture in India"[4]. Shah's work however urged at least some scholars, mainly from Gujarat to take notice of the monuments of Roda. Soon after the publication of the book by Shah, M.A.Dhaky in his article "The Chronology of the Solanki Temples of Gujarat" marked the place of Roda as the fountainhead of Solanki style of architecture in Gujarat. The ancestry of Roda to the magnificent temples at Modhera, Sejakapur and Miani itself was a moral booster to the study of Roda group of temples.
THE SITE
Roda, as the word means in Gujarati, is in ruins and as mentioned earlier the site definitely had more temples than, which are extant. It may not be 109 as the local population claim, but the collection of sculptures in Baroda Museum definitely points towards an established religious site with temples dedicated to almost all in the Hindu pantheon. The ruining of the temples seems to be continuing as the site lost another temple within the span of 34 years [between 1926, (P.A.Inamdar's visit) and 1960 (U.P.Shah's stopover]. The closeness to the River Hathmati can be responsible for this, as even today after the monsoons a frequent visitor is forced to find a new way to reach the Temples. The sandy soiled topography no way helps the temples except the somewhat surfacing bedrock below the structures.
All the temples faces east showing a unanimity of the site planning. One is reminded of the other sacred sites as Mahakut and Pattadakkal [both in Bagalkot District, Karnataka] of the Chalukyans and the sacred structures on the Manmatha Tank at Hampi [Bellary District, Karnataka] of the Vijayanagara rulers. I have mentioned these sites for the specific reason that unanimity of cardinal axis did not mean the affiliation to a solitary patronage in both the centers. There is some other reason for this homogeneity. One, the builders were following the axial pattern already established by one of the structures, as in the case of Mahakut and Hampi where Mahakutesvara Temple and Virupaksha Temple [or at least the pre-Vijayanagara shrine to Pampa and Shiva] respectively determines the axis. Secondly, it determines by a Tirtha or a sacred water resource, which exist on the axis as in Pattadakkal, where River Malaprabha takes a curve. Roda seems to be following the pattern of Pattadakkal aligning the temples to River Hathmati, which again takes a picturesque loop[5].
There is a high possibility that the Shiva Temple [Temple 7] on the southern extreme of the site did determine the axial pattern and the rest followed it. In that case, the chronological placement of the Shiva Temple should be preceding the other structures. At this point, I would opt not to penetrate into the debate on chronology, but even in relation to axial placement, the Shiva Temple appears to be the earliest among the surviving structures. This can be understood thus; the curving of the river is prominent near the Shiva Temple, the temple was definitely connected once with the river through stone steps (now ruined) leading to the river and lastly except Temple 6 and 7 all the Temples are away from the river. Among these structures Temples No.3, 4 and 5 has their sacred water resource that is a Kunda on the east.
Affinity with the water is evident in the temples except those near the Kunda. Temple 7 has jutting out makara heads on the corners of the adhishtana. Temples 6 and 2 follow this. These do not prompt Shah to place them in one group. He was more concerned with the projections of the mandovara. Before we go further into the analysis, it will be pertinent to reiterate the grouping of the previous scholars as Shah and Dhaky. Shah clusters Temple 1,3,5 and 6 in one group which he consider as belonging to be earlier phase. Temple 7 is kept separate for its prominent mukha mandapa. Temple 2 for Shah was an extension of the Maitraka activities and thus an outlaw in the Roda group.
Shah’s theory reads thus, “A study of the recesses of the walls of the Roda shrines points that temples Nos. 1, 4 and 6 fall in one group, having, on each wall, only one central offset, while in another group represented by temples Nos. 3, 5 and 7 are two offsets on each wall and temple No. 2, representing the third group, has no offsets at all. In the second group, it appears that portico of No. 6 was a later addition while No. 7 has a big sabha mandapa not seen in other temples of the group. There is a figure of Lakulisa in centre on top of the doorframe, and above the doorframe, in niches, are figures of Brahma, Kubera, Siva, Ganesa and Vishnu. Temple No. 7 is possibly later than the other shrines.”[6]
The cause, which prompted Shah to group them, was the explicit difference in the mandovara [wall]. Temples 1,5 and 6 definitely followed a single pattern of the mandovara projection with the projecting bhadra and the supporting symmetrical projections on the sides which makes it three projections or tri ratha Mandovara. But the problem arises when he places Temple 3 along with the above mentioned temples. No architectural logic and scholarly intuition would support such a grouping. Another reason which prompted Shah to place temple 7 as the latest in the group probably was the size of Temple 7 which has a gudha mandapa and mukha chatushki to its credit. Shah follows the usual theory followed dealing with architecture, which is “the bigger the later”. He probably was not aware of the dated monuments of western India in the closer chronological proximity of Roda like Siva Temple at Kusuma [Rajasthan], dated 636 AD, had a developed gudha mandapa and mukha chatushki. On the other hand the temples which can be considered later to Roda as the Ranak Devi temple at Wadhwan, which almost clone Temple 3 at Roda, have no gudha mandapa.
Thus the question is when one tries to place the undated temples in the macro chronology of architecture development, especially in the case of Roda, it is the Temple 3 which has been the favorite of the architects of the consecutive years, not Temple 7. If Temple 7 was the most matured among the Roda group, why did not the later temples of Western India emulate it? Or how do we explain the sudden change of architectural pattern cutting down the gudha mandapa and reinstallation of it later? Shah, though concentrated on wall modulations and projection failed look beyond Roda and envisage the pratiratha concept being incepted in Roda 3 with the engaged columns. The next generation of temples from Gujarat especially Sourashtra as Ranak Devi Temple at Wadhwan, Muni Bawa Temple at Than, Siva Temple at Kerakot and Siva Temple at Kotai all follow the syntax of wall modulation in tune with Roda 3 than No.7.
As noted above the makara motifs on the corners of the adhishtana plays a great role in placing the temples in the micro chronology of Roda. If we group the temples into makara and non makara categories Temple Nos. 6, 7, 1 and 2 will come under the former and the rest of the temples near the kunda will be in the latter. There is a distinct stylistic affinity between the temples of these groups. Temple Nos. 7 and 6 are built on the River Hatimati with individual mounts and probably had separate access from the river. Temple Nos. 1 and 2 are built little away from the river, or appear so at present. As mentioned above the flooding or drying of the river would have been a major concern. The intention of symbolically keeping the temple afloat during the monsoons is clear with the makara motifs at the corners. The temples of the other group satisfy this water symbolism with Kunda in the front like Sankara's kamandalu would protect the temples by encompassing the floodwater in it.
Last but not the least point of disagreement with Dr.Shah is in regard to the doorway of the temples of the current discussion. While Temple 7 doorway exhibits austerity in decoration with merely Lakulisha figure on the lalata bimba, with no decoration on the jambs, the doorway of Temple 3 revives the tradition of magnificently decorated jambs with special addition of rupa sakha with cardinal deities. A similar doorway prior to Roda hails from distant Kosala region at Lakshman Temple at Sirpur, where the dasavatara panels grace the jambs. If this trend ended with Roda 3, one could have argued that the medievalization and the decadent severity were creeping into Roda region. The reality, however, remains that the temples, earlier to Roda by date, like the Maitraka and Saindhava temples, had austere doorways, as Temple 7 and the later temples of the region follows the doorway pattern of Temple 3.
The ambiguity, which engulfs the monuments of our purview, begins from their historical placement itself. Though scholars like Shah and Dhaky place them around Eighth century AD on the stylistic grounds, they are not sure who the people responsible for this development. This mystification arises for the lack of documentary evidence in any form from the region. As the area shifted from one power to the other it was difficult pin point the patron the temples of our concern. Dhaky cites the example of Kiradu temples to illustrate such chaotic chronological or dynastic affiliation thus,“Take the example of the temples of Kiratakuta [Kiradu]. Who the authors of these temples were, is still not certain. Agreed, Cahamanas as well as the Paramaras occupied this city in the later half of twelfth century; but the temples in question were already in existence there, the latest being the being older by three generations than the known facts of history. Kiratakupa temples suggest stylistic affiliation with both upper Rajasthan as well as lower Rajasthan, even Gujarat. What dynastic label shall we attach to them?”[7]
The sudden change of architectural syntax can not be considered as a habitual development. As Dhaky and Shah observes if we keep Roda in mid Eighth century the credit of building the site should go either to the Rashtrakutas or the Pratiharas. The dynastic affiliation should come either from south or north. As mentioned earlier Roda shows affinity to Deccan region. This hypothesis can be emphasized further with two more structures from south India. They are Sangamesvara temples at Mahakuta and Kashivisvesvara at Pattadakkal both regarded generally as Chalukyan structures. Except Mallikarjuna and Virupaksha temple no other structures in Pattadakkal has dedicatory inscriptions thus making all the more difficult to place monuments chronologically. Dantidurga the Rashtrakuta ruler was a feudatory of the Chalukyas in the middle of the 8th century. Their existence in Gujarat can be traced right from 738 AD when Dantidurga joined hands with Pulakesi of Navasari branch of Chalukyans to push Junnayid’s invasion of Gujarat in 740 AD. Dasavatara cave inscription at Ellora suggest that Dantidurga captured Malawa and other countries which further confirmed by the Sanjan plates of Amoghavarsh stating Dantidurga made Gurjara lords and other kings as door keepers [Pratiharas] at the Hiranya Garbha ceremony at Ujjain. The Rashtrakuta inscriptions from Sanjan [Surat District], Kavi [Bharuch District], Akota [Baroda District], Kapadvanj [Nadiad District] in Gujarat shows their possible activity in Gujarat. More over there are clear indications of Rashtakuta architectural activity in Malwa which evident through the monuments at Vasavi and to an extant Dhamnar. Indragarh inscription of 767 AD by Nanappa claims his lineage to the Rashtrakutas. Thus when the areas around Roda regions have evidences supporting the Rashtrakuta activity, there is no need to write off the specific areas to the Pratiharas. The historical data further refers to the Pratihara-Rashtrakuta clashes as it informs of the Rashtrakuta king Govinda III’s victory over Pratihara king Nagabhata II in the battle at Bundelkhand.
If we accept the Rashtrakuta hegemony over Gujarat, we may have to find out the Rashtrakuta architecture in Gujarat. It will not logical to argue that the Rashtrakutas never built in Gujarat, as they have been the most voracious builders of the early medieval period. They try to spot their hegemony with a monument whether it is in Ellora, Hampi or in Malwa as medals of war or as Castriota states “advertisements of political suzernity”. Distinctness invites attention and attraction which the watchword of present day advertisements. Rashtrakutas probably addressed this aspect by building unlikely structures at odd places. In Ellora where all the caves were following the horizontal carving, they have hewn out monolith structures. In Hampi they built temple in sandstone just to contrast the granite and schist structure. In Vasavi they attempted to repeat the Ellora monolith, in Dhamnar they carved the first Nagara monolith.
The same feat they must have experimented in Roda. The situation prior to Roda had drastically changed after the construction Temple No.3. No stapati was willing to return to the old Maitraka Saindhava style of masonic buildings because latina type of structure as Temple 3 have promised greater possibilities of vertical and horizontal expansion. Temple 3 had just one anuratha in the form of the engaged column duly decorated. Ranak Devi temple merely follows it while Muni Bawa temple introduces to anurathas with figural decoration on them. At Kerakot and Kotai the madovara become more vibrant with multi facets.
The issues remain to be addressed are what exactly is the Rashtrakuta style of architecture and will the shrines at Roda fit into it. It will be difficult task for architecture historian to tackle these as the only inscribed Rashtrkuta monument is Cave 15 [Dasavatara] at Ellora. This was inscribed soon after Dantidurga claimed his independence from his Chalukyan over lords. In Kailashnath at Ellora we do not have site inscription but copper plate which proclaim that King Krishna was the reason behind the magnificent structure. As the Rashtrakuta Empire extended from Malwa in north to Tondainadu in south they came into contact with already mature styles of Indian temple architecture, that is Nagara, Dravida and Vesara. As many a dynasties stuck one of these and accepted the specific style as their characteristic, Rashtrakutas shuffled them and placed them in the contrasting regions. Thus they need not have to customize the style.
The political hegemony can be expressed through three ways. [1], the rejection of extant style and introducing a contrasting style, which would make the people, forget the older style and their creators. [2], by following the same style and claiming the political legitimacy. [3], through introducing new elements in the existing style and customizing it. The selection of the path depends upon the process of the transfer of power and the definition of the relation between the rulers and the ruled.
Many a rulers in India have followed the second method, as the political legitimacy was crucial to have the acceptance of the subjects. Moreover many of these rulers were the subordinates of the previous dynasties at times having even blood relations. Ucchakalpas of Nachna conformed this method following the Gupta Style. Cholas to an extant followed the Pallava idiom precisely for this purpose. The examples of third method can be observed in the colonial British architecture in India. Rashtrakutas probably followed the first and second method. In Chalukyan regions or even in Ellora they followed the Chalukyan style with the technical collaboration of the Pallava carvers. The regions away from these areas they followed the first method. The reason why the Solanki rulers following Roda was to reclaim the political legitimacy of Chalukyan on Gujarat through Rashtrakutas.
CONCLUSION
Apart from being a group of magnificent monuments, which has drastically changed the architecture pattern of Western India, Roda group of temples appears as a statement made by the architect or the patron with a specific intention behind. The present scholar is suggesting a Rashtrakuta lineage to the temples because of their affinity to the Deccan idiom. Thinking along the line one has to justify the Rashtrakuta hypothesis. The problem arises when we realize that there are no dated authentic Rashtrakuta structures except the Dasavatara Cave Nandi mandapa at Ellora. It become more complex if one attributes the structures to the Pratihara dynasty, as there will be no justification for why there is shift in the style between Osia and Roda. Moreover the Kashivisvera temple at Pattadakkal which shares an emphatic consanguinity to Roda 3, seems to be a Rashtrakuta structure for its placement and style.
This hypothesis is based on the seven extant temples at Roda and their sculpture. The temple building activity at Roda probably has continued at least for two centuries as the Baroda Museum sculptures and the 13th century step well at the nearby village would suggest. In the process of the clashes between the Pratiharas and Rashtrakutas Roda probably might have changed hands but except the minor stylistic shift between the makara group and non-makara group. Along with the stylistic analysis the political interpretation was necessary, as the monuments have changed the visual sense of the people of the region. The complexity of medieval, which will be mainly playing with space and the intricacy of wall modulation starts here at Roda. As architecture history has been perceived as study of terminology and parched description it was inevitable to look beyond the stylistic contemplation. As David Castriota notes, “From earliest times works visual art have directly served and reflected the beliefs and institutions of the societies that produced them. Often careful interpretation of works of art can yield a wealth of cultural in formation that might otherwise lost.”
The temples have been crumbling down since centuries. The local farmer would not even bother to look at these illustrious structures. The zealous master builder has created a history here. The resolute benefactor had his own enigmatic motivations. The current study attempts to delve into these ere they are completely disseminated.
* * *
[1] UP Shah, 1960, pp.88
[2] PA Inamdar, Some Archeological Finds in the Idar State, 1926.
[3] PA Inamdar, Some Archeological Finds in the Idar State 1926.
[4] UP Shah, 1960, pp. 114
6 It may be curious to note that the only imperial house, who had constructed in the above-mentioned sites, leaving Roda for the time being, is the Rashtrakutas.
[6] UP Shah, 1960, pp.
[7] MA Dhaky, 1968, pp. 309
Saturday, January 6, 2007
The Travancore Connection
The Travancore Connection
Jayaram Poduval
Published by: Baroda Kerala Samajam, 2006, Baroda, India
My childhood memories are linked to Thiruvananthapuram as I did my schooling there. Then of course the city was known as Trivandrum in English, it was not the city with crowded roads with bee line of cars, Rickshaw and colored city buses as one sees now from Statue Junction to East fort. It was much greener, less crowded with only few ministers and government officials having cars. Lambretta scooter and the green Benz KSRTC city buses were only other modes of transport with powerful Grey colored buses of ISRO here there. Only place you would see the absolute rush would be in Civil Supplies Super Markets where you could get the vegetables, pulses, household items and even Sari in festival seasons. I am talking about the 70’s Trivandrum when the city was dominated with city buses. A city of middle class population; who work in the government offices, Nationalized Banks, and few Industries. The scene at 5pm in the evening at Statue Junction still gives me nostalgic nightmares. From Spencer junction, near University Collage, till Pulimood Junction, people will be waiting to catch the city buses; vigilantly looking towards the direction of East Fort. They were alert like the cowboys of Hollywood movies, ready for any consequences, holding on to their tiffin boxes and bags, thinking about the rural charm and peacefulness in their homes in Peroorkada, Vattappara, Vattiyurkavu, Peyadu or Veli. It was city in slow motion, innocent and less ambitious.
Among the sea of people opposite the Secretariat, waiting and strategizing about how to jump into a moving bus, stands a statue of a man who is responsible for the Secretariat building and who led the bureaucracy of Trivandrum for almost two decades. He is the person who is instrumental in the modernization of Travancore state; he is Sir T Madhava Rao, the erstwhile Dewan of Travancore State. When I visited Trivandrum or the present Thiruvananthapuram I spent few minutes in front of the Statue of Madhava Rao. In my school days I used to catch the bus next to this sculpture but never bothered to look at it, but my attachment with Baroda forced me to look at the Statue with reverence now.
I saw the statue of Madhava Rao not as the image of the erstwhile Dewan of Travancore but as the image of Sir Sayajirao’s tutor and Dewan of Baroda. A portion of a web page on Sir Sayajirao III reads thus, “Sir Sayajirao III ascended the gadi (throne) at Baroda, 16th June 1875 but being a minor reigned under a Council of Regency until he came of age and was invested with full ruling powers, 28th December 1881. During his minority he was extensively tutored into the administrative skills by Raja Sir T. Madhava Rao who groomed his young protégé into being a ruler with foresight and with a will to provide welfare to his people”.
The concept of welfare state remains only in academic discussions and the political manifestos and never being implemented. Consider this statement which reads thus, “ a welfare state should provide for every subject within a couple of hours journey, the advantages of a doctor, a school master, a judge, a magistrate, a registering officer and a post master”. This is the statement of T Madhava Rao way back in 1870. If one changes the hour to minute considering the elapsed 130 plus years, this statement still holds value in many parts of India. Education for all, regardless of caste and creed, upliftment of women through education all these seem to be having contemporary relevance and the vision of T Madhava Rao. His students, the Maharajas of Travancore and Baroda took initial steps in this direction through the establishment of Baroda Collage, and Arts Collage in Thiruvananthapuram.
One of the web sites on women education in India states thus, “It was in 1863 that Augusta M. Blanford, one of the earliest English Zenana Missionaries, came to Trivandrum. In July 1864, when she was introduced to Maharaja Ayilyam Tirunal, Augusta expressed her desire to establish a school for the girls of the upper caste communities. Both the Maharaja and the Dewan, Sir T. Madhava Rao, agreed to help her. In her book, `The Land of the Conch Shell', she describes how she came to start the school. "The Dewan appropriated for my use a large old palace (Vadakkekottaram) built for a former Dewan. It was within the Fort, the most sacred enclosure in Trivandrum. Though it was meant to be for a former Dewan, he explained as he walked upstairs, it was never inhabited, being thought to be haunted. You, as a Christian, will not be afraid of ghosts, he added smiling". Augusta soon occupied the building and the school was opened on November 3, 1864. The school started out with the daughter and niece of Sir T. Madhava Rao and two little girls of the Nair community.
The story sighted above was to illustrate how Madhava Rao was open to fresh ideas which would suite his ideas of the welfare state. This attitude of Madhava Rao enabled him to pioneer many projects in Travancore and at Baroda. His understanding of the local [also can be read as the native] sentiments and the British ideas gave him the position of a perfect arbitrator between the Princely states and that British administration. The financial administration of Madhava Rao was exemplary as it has been proved in the cases of Travancore, Indore and Baroda. He was appointed as Dewans in these princely states when they were going through a financial crisis. As soon as Madhava Rao came to the scene the same states recorded surplus in revenue.
He hailed from the family lineage of Dewans as his father Venkata Rao was a Dewan of Travancore himself. Madhavarao’s father Venkata Rao was a tutor of young Swati Tirunal. Col. Welsh in his Military Reminiscences states: “I have not made any mention of the present Dewaun, an uncommonly handsome, fair and elegant Carnatic Brahmin [should be understood as Tamil Brahmin]. His name is Venkit Rao and he is one of the most intelligent, well educated men, I have met with in India, and writes an excellent letter. As far as I could learn he was most attentive and unremitting in his exertions for the improvement of the country and the good of the State. Such a man to educate the young princes would have been “worth his weight in gold”.
Son of this refined Carnatic Brahmin, Madhava Rao joined the service of the Travancore Maharaja in 1857 when he was appointed as the Dewan. He started as tutor to the Maharaja when he was elevated to the position of Deputy Dewan and subsequently to the highest post in the princely state administration. He had to sort out the chaos in the financial administration and face the revolt of the Channar community in the southern Travancore right in the outset of his office as the Dewan. The relation between the Travancore administration and British Government was also at low ebb. Madhava Rao would set them all right within no time. He believed that His efforts got commented upon in the House of Commons as an architect of the “Model Native State”. Visakham Tirunal the heir to the Travancore throne would describe his efforts stating that “Madhava Rao grasped the helm of the ship of state firmly, guiding the vessel not only to safety but to glory.”
The period when Madhava Rao held the office of Dewan, the financial state of the country developed from deficit to surplus resulting in the development of public works and introduction of new colonial style of building style. The prominent colonial architects like Robert Fellowers Chisholm (1840-1915) got engaged in the building activities of the state. The main museum at Thiruvananthapuram called as Napier Museum to commemorate the erstwhile Governor of Madras Lord Napier was conceived during the fag end of Madhava Rao’s stint as the Dewan.
1872 Madhava Rao left the service of the Travancore Maharaja but the British administration asked him to look after the affairs of Indore which was in a chaotic situation. As a man now identified by the British as the trouble shooter set the records straight in no time. The rich state of Baroda was going under a crisis at that time. Again the trouble shooting job fell on Madhava Rao who joined the service of Gaekwads as the tutor to young Sayajirao Gaekwad. He no doubt inculcated the spirit of welfare state in the young Sayajirao which is proved in the able administration of this most revered Maharaja later.
Baroda was one among the princely state of western India prior to Maharaja Sayajirao III, however his rule saw Baroda being counted among the richest, best administered princely state in India with a reputation of being the centre of education, culture and arts. It was during Sayajirao’s reign, Baroda got the epithet proudly displayed as the cultural capital of Gujarat. The architecture wonders of Baroda like the Baroda Collage, Nyaya Mandir, Lakshmivilas Palace, Music Collage, Museum and Picture Gallery were built in this period. The architect of many of these buildings was none other than Chisholm who started his career as the architect of princely state in Travancore under the Dewanship of Madhava Rao. Madhava Rao also contributed to the painting tradition of Baroda introducing M C Naidu and Ravi Varma to Maharaja Sayajirao. Both served the Baroda for a long time as “artist in the court service”. The contribution of Ravi Varma, the real Malayalee to Baroda art scene need no further eulogizing.
So, next time when you are in Thiruvanthapuram, at Statue Junction just look for the statue of this visionary responsible for the modernization of Travancore and Baroda states, right in front of the Government Secretariat and the earlier Legislative Assembly of Kerala, amidst shops like Kairali, Mukkadan Wines, NBS, Current Books and DC books. The junction has become crowded with cars and two wheelers parked all around, occasional political processions walking by, with red and yellow striped city buses and white colored plush “Ananthapuri Fasts” clogging the road. Madhava Rao stands there the symbol of administrative brilliance of a welfare state, opposite to Velu Thampi Dalava who stood for the spirit of freedom in a welfare state. The politicians who aspire make the welfare state has migrated long ago. May be they could stand the stare of these symbols of good governance.
Jayaram Poduval
Published by: Baroda Kerala Samajam, 2006, Baroda, India
My childhood memories are linked to Thiruvananthapuram as I did my schooling there. Then of course the city was known as Trivandrum in English, it was not the city with crowded roads with bee line of cars, Rickshaw and colored city buses as one sees now from Statue Junction to East fort. It was much greener, less crowded with only few ministers and government officials having cars. Lambretta scooter and the green Benz KSRTC city buses were only other modes of transport with powerful Grey colored buses of ISRO here there. Only place you would see the absolute rush would be in Civil Supplies Super Markets where you could get the vegetables, pulses, household items and even Sari in festival seasons. I am talking about the 70’s Trivandrum when the city was dominated with city buses. A city of middle class population; who work in the government offices, Nationalized Banks, and few Industries. The scene at 5pm in the evening at Statue Junction still gives me nostalgic nightmares. From Spencer junction, near University Collage, till Pulimood Junction, people will be waiting to catch the city buses; vigilantly looking towards the direction of East Fort. They were alert like the cowboys of Hollywood movies, ready for any consequences, holding on to their tiffin boxes and bags, thinking about the rural charm and peacefulness in their homes in Peroorkada, Vattappara, Vattiyurkavu, Peyadu or Veli. It was city in slow motion, innocent and less ambitious.
Among the sea of people opposite the Secretariat, waiting and strategizing about how to jump into a moving bus, stands a statue of a man who is responsible for the Secretariat building and who led the bureaucracy of Trivandrum for almost two decades. He is the person who is instrumental in the modernization of Travancore state; he is Sir T Madhava Rao, the erstwhile Dewan of Travancore State. When I visited Trivandrum or the present Thiruvananthapuram I spent few minutes in front of the Statue of Madhava Rao. In my school days I used to catch the bus next to this sculpture but never bothered to look at it, but my attachment with Baroda forced me to look at the Statue with reverence now.
I saw the statue of Madhava Rao not as the image of the erstwhile Dewan of Travancore but as the image of Sir Sayajirao’s tutor and Dewan of Baroda. A portion of a web page on Sir Sayajirao III reads thus, “Sir Sayajirao III ascended the gadi (throne) at Baroda, 16th June 1875 but being a minor reigned under a Council of Regency until he came of age and was invested with full ruling powers, 28th December 1881. During his minority he was extensively tutored into the administrative skills by Raja Sir T. Madhava Rao who groomed his young protégé into being a ruler with foresight and with a will to provide welfare to his people”.
The concept of welfare state remains only in academic discussions and the political manifestos and never being implemented. Consider this statement which reads thus, “ a welfare state should provide for every subject within a couple of hours journey, the advantages of a doctor, a school master, a judge, a magistrate, a registering officer and a post master”. This is the statement of T Madhava Rao way back in 1870. If one changes the hour to minute considering the elapsed 130 plus years, this statement still holds value in many parts of India. Education for all, regardless of caste and creed, upliftment of women through education all these seem to be having contemporary relevance and the vision of T Madhava Rao. His students, the Maharajas of Travancore and Baroda took initial steps in this direction through the establishment of Baroda Collage, and Arts Collage in Thiruvananthapuram.
One of the web sites on women education in India states thus, “It was in 1863 that Augusta M. Blanford, one of the earliest English Zenana Missionaries, came to Trivandrum. In July 1864, when she was introduced to Maharaja Ayilyam Tirunal, Augusta expressed her desire to establish a school for the girls of the upper caste communities. Both the Maharaja and the Dewan, Sir T. Madhava Rao, agreed to help her. In her book, `The Land of the Conch Shell', she describes how she came to start the school. "The Dewan appropriated for my use a large old palace (Vadakkekottaram) built for a former Dewan. It was within the Fort, the most sacred enclosure in Trivandrum. Though it was meant to be for a former Dewan, he explained as he walked upstairs, it was never inhabited, being thought to be haunted. You, as a Christian, will not be afraid of ghosts, he added smiling". Augusta soon occupied the building and the school was opened on November 3, 1864. The school started out with the daughter and niece of Sir T. Madhava Rao and two little girls of the Nair community.
The story sighted above was to illustrate how Madhava Rao was open to fresh ideas which would suite his ideas of the welfare state. This attitude of Madhava Rao enabled him to pioneer many projects in Travancore and at Baroda. His understanding of the local [also can be read as the native] sentiments and the British ideas gave him the position of a perfect arbitrator between the Princely states and that British administration. The financial administration of Madhava Rao was exemplary as it has been proved in the cases of Travancore, Indore and Baroda. He was appointed as Dewans in these princely states when they were going through a financial crisis. As soon as Madhava Rao came to the scene the same states recorded surplus in revenue.
He hailed from the family lineage of Dewans as his father Venkata Rao was a Dewan of Travancore himself. Madhavarao’s father Venkata Rao was a tutor of young Swati Tirunal. Col. Welsh in his Military Reminiscences states: “I have not made any mention of the present Dewaun, an uncommonly handsome, fair and elegant Carnatic Brahmin [should be understood as Tamil Brahmin]. His name is Venkit Rao and he is one of the most intelligent, well educated men, I have met with in India, and writes an excellent letter. As far as I could learn he was most attentive and unremitting in his exertions for the improvement of the country and the good of the State. Such a man to educate the young princes would have been “worth his weight in gold”.
Son of this refined Carnatic Brahmin, Madhava Rao joined the service of the Travancore Maharaja in 1857 when he was appointed as the Dewan. He started as tutor to the Maharaja when he was elevated to the position of Deputy Dewan and subsequently to the highest post in the princely state administration. He had to sort out the chaos in the financial administration and face the revolt of the Channar community in the southern Travancore right in the outset of his office as the Dewan. The relation between the Travancore administration and British Government was also at low ebb. Madhava Rao would set them all right within no time. He believed that His efforts got commented upon in the House of Commons as an architect of the “Model Native State”. Visakham Tirunal the heir to the Travancore throne would describe his efforts stating that “Madhava Rao grasped the helm of the ship of state firmly, guiding the vessel not only to safety but to glory.”
The period when Madhava Rao held the office of Dewan, the financial state of the country developed from deficit to surplus resulting in the development of public works and introduction of new colonial style of building style. The prominent colonial architects like Robert Fellowers Chisholm (1840-1915) got engaged in the building activities of the state. The main museum at Thiruvananthapuram called as Napier Museum to commemorate the erstwhile Governor of Madras Lord Napier was conceived during the fag end of Madhava Rao’s stint as the Dewan.
1872 Madhava Rao left the service of the Travancore Maharaja but the British administration asked him to look after the affairs of Indore which was in a chaotic situation. As a man now identified by the British as the trouble shooter set the records straight in no time. The rich state of Baroda was going under a crisis at that time. Again the trouble shooting job fell on Madhava Rao who joined the service of Gaekwads as the tutor to young Sayajirao Gaekwad. He no doubt inculcated the spirit of welfare state in the young Sayajirao which is proved in the able administration of this most revered Maharaja later.
Baroda was one among the princely state of western India prior to Maharaja Sayajirao III, however his rule saw Baroda being counted among the richest, best administered princely state in India with a reputation of being the centre of education, culture and arts. It was during Sayajirao’s reign, Baroda got the epithet proudly displayed as the cultural capital of Gujarat. The architecture wonders of Baroda like the Baroda Collage, Nyaya Mandir, Lakshmivilas Palace, Music Collage, Museum and Picture Gallery were built in this period. The architect of many of these buildings was none other than Chisholm who started his career as the architect of princely state in Travancore under the Dewanship of Madhava Rao. Madhava Rao also contributed to the painting tradition of Baroda introducing M C Naidu and Ravi Varma to Maharaja Sayajirao. Both served the Baroda for a long time as “artist in the court service”. The contribution of Ravi Varma, the real Malayalee to Baroda art scene need no further eulogizing.
So, next time when you are in Thiruvanthapuram, at Statue Junction just look for the statue of this visionary responsible for the modernization of Travancore and Baroda states, right in front of the Government Secretariat and the earlier Legislative Assembly of Kerala, amidst shops like Kairali, Mukkadan Wines, NBS, Current Books and DC books. The junction has become crowded with cars and two wheelers parked all around, occasional political processions walking by, with red and yellow striped city buses and white colored plush “Ananthapuri Fasts” clogging the road. Madhava Rao stands there the symbol of administrative brilliance of a welfare state, opposite to Velu Thampi Dalava who stood for the spirit of freedom in a welfare state. The politicians who aspire make the welfare state has migrated long ago. May be they could stand the stare of these symbols of good governance.
Indian Baroque - Kochi
KOCHI
THE GATEWAY TO BAROQUE
Jayaram Poduval
THE GATEWAY TO BAROQUE
Jayaram Poduval
Published in : Marg Publication, Mumbai, 2001, India & Portugal- Cultural Interations, Ed. Jose Periera & Pradapaditya Pal
* *
"Thus to the Eastern wealth through storm we go;
But now, the cape once doubled, fear no more:
A constant Trade wind will securely blow,
And gently lay us on the spicy shore”
* *
"Thus to the Eastern wealth through storm we go;
But now, the cape once doubled, fear no more:
A constant Trade wind will securely blow,
And gently lay us on the spicy shore”
Vondel.
In praise of Navigation[1]
Beyond the Eastern Darkness lay the sands of the black gold and spices, a land of milk and honey, of abundance, of the legendary Prester John, of the Three Wise Kings of the East. The land, to which the 15th century enlightened Europe, looked forward to. They ended their anticipation with a sigh of relief when Vasco Da Gama set his foot on the sands of Kappattu, near Calicut on 27 of May 1498.
Unlike the other port towns on the Kerala coast like Vilinjam, Musiris, Pantalayini and Nura, Kochi does not figure in the early navigation maps. In fact the central and south Kerala trade was controlled at Musiris, which was part of the erstwhile Princely State of Kochi. It was at Musiris the legendary Apostle St.Thomas reputedly landed way back in 52 AD. Musiris remained the gateway to welcome the Christian immigrants from Edessa under the leadership of Thomas of Kanai in 485 AD. The legendary ruler of unified Kerala, Ceraman Perumal left for Macca from Musiris itself. Ceraman Perumal prior to his departure is said to have divided his domain among three vassals. Venad region [Southern Kerala], bequeathed to the Tiruvitancore [Travancore] Kings, Kochi region [Central Kerala], to the Perumpadappu Kings and the remaining portion of north to Kunnalakonatiri [Skt.Samutiri] Kings. Probably after the disintegration of the Cera Kingdom of Mahodayapuram the commercial strategic position of Musiris was taken over by Calicut [Kozhikkode] under the patronage of the Samutiris. The indigenous Muslim traders in partnership with the pardesi Muslims controlled the spice trade at Calicut. There were other communities too; who participated in the trade like the vaniyas [baniya], Parsis and Borah Muslims of Gujarat, Tamil and Telugu Chettis, Syrian Christians of Kerala and the Chinese. However, the West bound trade was dominated by the Mappilas [Kerala Muslim traders] along with the Muslim traders of Hurmuz, Saudi Arabia and Egypt. The sea route from Kerala in the pre Carreira da India [Cape route] was laborious and expensive as it had to pass through ports and toll points as Hurmuz, Jidda, Cairo, Alexandria and Venice, as the local informant Gasper Da Gama would explain[2]. The intention of the Portuguese endeavour was precisely against this Moor-Egyptian and Venetian network.
As Adam Smith establishes, "The discovery of America and that of a Passage to the East Indies by the Cape of Good Hope are the two greatest and most important events recorded in the History of mankind"[3]. Both Gama and Columbus discovered the Indies, one the West and the other the East. If Gama's discovery was significant then, the journey of Columbus was pivotal to the development of the Western World. Both these sailors wished to reach One land; one believed that he did and the other really did land. This was the land as Gaspar da Gama[4] would state as the “land from which there originates the spice that is eaten in the west, and in the Levent, and in Portugal and equally so in all provinces of the world”. The land where “the half naked monarchs” held the monopoly over the "Black Gold” assisted by the Moorish traders who exclaimed to the first Portuguese sailors in Calicut, "Devil take you, what the hell are you doing here?”[5]
* *
The land of immense fertility Kerala could provide the stage for the production of the spices for the traders whose land was lacking the suitable climatic conditions. Of all the spices the most important was the "Black gold" or Pepper. Along with Pepper the spices traded were Cardamom, turmeric, Ginger and Cinnamon. The Pre-Christian notes of Pliny [1st Century. AD], and Ptolemy [2nd Century. AD] mentions the "Land of Pepper". The anonymous author of the "Periplus of the Erythrian Sea" gives a first hand information of the land of Kerala referring to few ports as Musiris [or Kodungallur Port was destroyed in a massive flood in 1345 which incidently created the Kochi harbor], Tindi [identified as Pantalayini] , Barake [may be Purakkad in South Kerala] and Nura [Cannanore][6]. The Roman intelligentsia laments in 2nd century AD of the gold reserve flowing to east in exchange to Pepper and other spices. When the Alaric I, a Visigoth ruler invaded Rome in 410 AD, he asked for a ransom of 3000 Pounds of Pepper to spare the city[7]. The final word on the importance of Pepper can be that of Stephen Neill who wrote, “The History of Europe can almost be written in terms of Pepper... In a world which as yet knew neither the potato nor the turnip, the winter diet of salt meat and hard bread must have been almost unendurable, unless eastern spices were available to disguise in some measure the unpleasant flavour of what without them would have been almost uneatable[8]”
The Chinese were the allies of the Kerala traders for a long time. They gave way for the Arab traders who in turn controlled the western trade in the sea till the arrival of the European powers. This pre Islamic Arabs from Oman coast were the main suppliers of spices to Europe. They never revealed the source of these spices and even spread the stories of great birds protecting these spices in their nests in the unapproachable mountains of Arabia and Ethiopia[9].
The early European travellers to the Pepper land include Marco Polo [13th century], John of Monti Corvino [13th century], Friar Jordanus [14th century], and Nicolo Conti [15th century]. M.N. Pearson[10] summarise the pre-Gama or endeavour of the Europeans to east thus, "For centuries European traders and travellers had adventured through the middle East to the Indian Ocean. We know of several European Visitors to India in the fifteenth century. One of them was Pero de Covilham, sent out by the Portuguese sovereign D. Joao II in 1487 to investigate the conditions in the Indian Ocean. He visited Cannanore, Calicut, Goa, Hurmuz and also East African ports as far south as Sofala".
Pearson put forward another incident, that "In September 1498 Gama came across [in Calicut] a Polish Jew who spoke, reputedly, Hebrew, Venetian, Arabic, German and a little Spanish". This Alexandrian born Jew [who later, on board of Vasco da Gama’s ship near Malindi, converted to Christianity and was given the name Gasper da Gama] was a treasure of information on the political and commercial matters of the Indian Ocean. Dom Manuel, the Portuguese monarch admits in a letter the indebtedness to him thus “for had he not come, it would have taken many years to know what had been found, in as great length, and as deeply, as we know now. May god be praised. This man knows how to speak Hebrew, Chaldean, Arabic, and German; he also speaks Italian mixed with Spanish so clearly that one can follow him like a Portuguese, and he can understand our people no less[11].” Gasper da Gama came board on the Portuguese ship as a spy of one of the “Moorish” [Islamic] ruler of Western India, probably the Adil Shahi Sultans of Bijapur who tried to chase away the Portuguese explorers to eliminate the threat to the Moorish trade on the Arabian Sea. Later Gasper became the key informer of the Portuguese on the political and maritime affairs of the Indian Ocean. He is the key figure in the history of Portuguese settlement at Kochi, as it was on his advise that Cabral sought alliance with the King of Kochi when the Samutiri continued his hostility to the Portuguese.
Portuguese for Spice and Christians
The intentions of the first voyage were quite simple, find a sea route to east and establish commercial links to the East. Gama was not happy with the receptions he got in Calicut as the pressure from the Arab merchants forced the Samutiri of Calicut to act hostile to the Portuguese. The Moorish/Arabian traders did not want any of the European powers enter directly into the spice trade, that was exactly the intention of the Portuguese. The Egyptian rulers who benefited from the spice trade to West even tried to pressurise the Portuguese through Pope himself. The Papal authority at this juncture supported the Portuguese may be reasoning on the religious fervour shared by them. The treatment Gama received from these traders at Calicut was enough to unveil their intentions. “The anonymous account assures us when any Portuguese went ashore, the Muslim merchants would spit on the ground near them, and say `Portugal, Portugal’ in an insulting fashion; besides, we are told that `from the beginning they sought means to capture us and kill us.’[12] The sole European trading community trusted by the Muslim merchants at Calicut was that of the Venetian and the only language interpreter whom Gama trusted was a non-Muslim.
Gama landing on 27th of May lingered in Calicut port without making much progress on the trade agreement. He was growing nervous and annoyed with the treatment of Samutiri and took some drastic steps as capturing few Calicut merchants as hostages to retrieve his people ashore. At last some agreement and a letter of acceptance was received and without much delay they decided to leave. Portuguese were unhappy that they “could not manage to leave the land in peace and as friends of the people”[13]. These developments at Calicut would bear its impact on the relation of the Portuguese with Calicut all through the history of Estado da India.
It may be an amusing fact of history that the discoverer of Brazil [in 1500] was the first Portuguese to reach Kochi. It was Pedro Alvarez de Gouveia, later knows as Cabral. Starting his journey from Lisbon he reached Brazil and then travelled on to Malabar Coast through Carriera da India. Cabral was well received at Calicut, may be because of the new Samutiri at the helm. The Portuguese did establish a factory at Calicut this time under the factor Aires Correia. Samutiri even asked the help of Cabral to capture a ship from Kochi which allegedly was carrying an elephant, which belonged to Calicut. But matters turned for worse after the Portuguese captured a Muslim ship leaving for Jeddah. The Muslim merchants reacted violently killing around 40 Portuguese including the factor Aires Correia. Cabral retaliated by bombarding Calicut and Pantalayini. To avoid further skirmishes he left for Kochi following the advice of Gasper da Gama. Thus on 24th December 1500 Cabral landed at Kochi.
The adversaries of the Calicut-Moorish trade on the Indian Ocean joined to support the Portuguese, which included the kingdoms of Kochi and Cannanore. Trading communities like the Baniyas of Gujarat, Konkanis and Syrian Christians of Kerala also aided the Portuguese in this tussle. The Syrian Christians who dominated the production and trade of Spices in South Kerala found the shifting of Portuguese to Kochi quite befitting their trade interests. Sanjay Subrahmanyam[14] notes thus about the stand of Kochi King thus, “the Kochi ruler, Unni Goda Varma, appears to have grasped directly the political advantages that would acquire to him by diverting the Portuguese away from Calicut.” Cabral established a factory at Kochi under the factor Goncalo Gil Barbosa, which would remain in the Portuguese hands, despite some interruptions, till 1663.
Cabral on his journey back in January 1501 took three Indians on board. Two of them were from the service of the King of Kochi namely Idikkela Menon and Parangoda [n {?] Menon. The third was a Christian called Joseph of Cranganore. Joseph belonging to the Syrian Church was no novice in foreign travel as we were informed as he had travelled to Antioch in connection with the appointment of the Bishop of Malabar.
Soon after Cabral a Portuguese fleet under Joao da Nova landed at Kochi. Joao da Nova had the ritualistic pleasure of bombarding Calicut en route to Kochi. This fleet reportedly found the factory at Kochi in bad shape. It was now the turn of Vasco da Gama, now elevated in his political and social position to return Malabar. The second voyage of Gama was crucial in forging an alliance between the Portuguese and the Kerala Christians. In November 1502 some of the community members of Syrian Christians met Gama and offered an alliance and even presented a ceremonial offering of a red staff with silver bells on it. This network helped the Portuguese to have an access to the Spice trade in South Kerala. But soon after Gama returned Samutiri put pressure on Raja of Kochi to hand over the Portuguese factor at Kochi. The refusal to which ensued in a War between the Kingdoms. In this war of 1503 the King of Kochi Unni Goda Varma had lost his life. The arrival of Alfonso de Albuquerque eased the tension mounting on the Arabian Sea not because of Albuquerque’s diplomatic abilities but his reputation as ruthless conqueror. In 1503 Albuquerque obtained permission to build fortification to the factory. The building materials for the fortifications were mainly stems of Coconut trees bound with iron bands. Within the fort, which was named as Manuel Kotta [Fort of Manuel, after the King of Portugal], they also built a Church dedicated St.Bartholomew, another patron saint of India along with St.Thomas. Raja of Cochin Unnirama Koyikkal II pleased by the Golden crown presented by Dom Francisco Almeida in 1506, permitted the Portuguese to build a new city of mortar and stone. Apart from the fortifications, a new Church, was built in 1516 and dedicated to St. Anthony. The fortification and the settlement would remain with the Portuguese for all most 150 years, though from the time of Albuquerque itself the focus of Estado da India was gradually shifting from Kochi to Goa. It also marked the shift from trade to that of territorial interest.
Portuguese and Christians Jesuits in Kerala
The second intention of the Portuguese was to propagate Christianity in the new- world, but this was not as easy as they thought. To his amazement of Gama found that Christianity did exist in the region. The Kerala Christians were quite helpful to the new traders, not because they found fraternity with the Portuguese but they themselves were traders dealing with spices. An Italian letter of 1505 [probably from the Portuguese sources to the Papal authority] quoted by Rogers explain the stupefaction the Early European traders had of the Kerala Church. "In this kingdom [Kochi] there are many Christians converted by St. Thomas, whose apostolic life their priests follow with great devotion and strictness. They have churches where there is only the cross and celebrate mass with unleavened bread and wine, which is made from raisins and water as nothing else, is available to them. All Christians go with their hair uncut and beard unshaved”[15]
From the above description along with that of Jordanus would give us a vivid picture of the Eastern Christians, prior to the arrival of the Europeans. The areas where there were no Christians as Goa in the early 16th century, the soldiers themselves took in their hands the conversion affair. As a missionary would lament in 1550 from Goa, “These ... soldiers began to baptise ... people whom they enslaved without any respect and reverence for the sacrament and without catechising or indoctrination”[16]. In the areas as Kerala where Christianity did exist, the Portuguese tried to “re-Christianise” them, of course with the help of the Jesuits. Jesuits came to Kochi in 1524. Famous among these Jesuits missionaries was St. Francis Xavier who came to India, “as an emissary not only of Christ but of John III of Portugal”[17]. St. Francis travelled in Travancore and converted many that mainly belonged to the fishing community who lovingly called him as Great Father. He seemed to have built 45 churches in Travancore before he left India in 1552. In 1577 the Jesuits established the first Printing press of South India at Kochi under a Spanish Missionary named Joannes Gonzalvez. In 1603 this press was shifted from Kochi to Kodungallur.
Apart from initiating the colonial trade and exchange of Flora from Kerala to the New World and back the Portuguese introduced to the Indian shores Christian Iconography. The Christian art of Kerala has a great indebtedness to the Portuguese art and to the other styles as that of Dutch, ironically through the Portuguese and the Jesuits under them. Even under the Dutch and the English domination Christian art remained in the style as introduced by the Portuguese. The difference of course is visible, however between the Colonial art of the Portuguese [as seen in Goa, Daman and Diu] to that of the Church art of Kerala. Prior to the discussion regarding Christian art of Kerala it will be pertinent to look at the history Kerala Christianity.
Christianity in Kerala prior to Portuguese
The legend of St. Thomas maintains that the Apostle landed near Musiris in 52 AD and converted few families and established seven churches. To quote Nicol Macnicol[18] "If it were possible to accept as historical the legend that is recorded in the apocryphal Acts of Judas Thomas (dated by Harnack in the 3rd Century AD), the Christian religion was first preached in India by the Apostle Thomas about A.D.50. Similarly the Tradition preserved by the Syrian Christian Church in Travancore claims St. Thomas as its founder and dates arrival in India in the year 52 [AD]" This legend is acceptable only to few believers and historians. When one consider the trade connection with East and West that might have passed through Jerusalem, it is not impossible for an Apostle or Evangelist to travel to East. Jerome who wrote in 4th Century observes “The Son of God was present to all places, with Thomas in India, with Peter in Rome, with Paul in Illyria...”[19]. Another literary reference from Briton points towards the acceptance of St. Thomas as the Apostle of India. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle reads thus. "The Year 883, in the same year Singhlem and Aethalstan conveyed to Rome the alms, which the King [King Alfred] had vowed to send hither, and also to India to St. Thomas and St. Bartholomew, when they sat down against the [Danish] army at London: and there, God be thanked, their prayer was very successful after that vow"[20]. Andrian Fortescue provide us with further information about these alms as, "He [King Alfred] sent Singhelm, the Bishop of Shireburn with gifts. Singhelm came to Rome and then went on to the Malabar Coast. He made his offerings here and brought back from his long journey jewels and spices. Strange to see an English Bishop in India in 883"[21]
It is still a mystery whether the Apostle Thomas himself or the descendants of the Church he established in the Near Eastern City of Edessa had come to India. Another tradition proposes that 400 Christians belonging to seven clans from Baghdad, Ninevah and Jerusalem migrated to Kerala in 345 AD to escape the persecution of the Sassanid Emperor of Persia. "A merchant called Thomas Cannaneo or Thomas of Jerusalem drew the attention of the Edessan Church to this neglected outpost and caused to succour to be sent to it in the year 345[22]”. In 6th century an Alexandrian merchant namely Cosmos Indicopleustes mentions about a Christian Church in the port town of Kollam in south Kerala. When Sthanu Ravi Varma of the Second Chera Dynasty [12th Century AD] was ruling, a local chieftain Ayyanadigal Thiruvadigal issues the copper plate of Tarisa palli giving concessions to the Christian merchant of Kollam. The Dominican Friar Jordanus states in 1330 "In this India, there is a scattered people, one here, another there, who calls themselves Christians, but are not so, nor have any baptism, nor do they know anything else about the faith. Nay, they believe St. Thomas the Great to be Christ"[23].
Conversion of Kerala Christians and the Koonan Kurisu Episode
It is for sure that though the Portuguese was happy to see Christians in India, but they were least pleased to realise that these Christians believed in what the Roman Church considered as heresy. For the Portuguese and the Jesuits the true Christian was the one who accepted a True incarnation for Christ, the term “theotokos” for the Virgin Mother and who used the Roman doctrine of the mass; not to mention the authority of the Pope. Under the Portuguese, the Eastern Christians were “made to renounce Nestorianism and all connections with the Katholikos in Mesopotamia, accept the Catholic faith and the Pope’s authority”[24].
The Latinisation of the Kerala church was administered by Alexio de Menezies, the Bishop of Goa with due support by the Pope and the Portuguese monarch in 1599. Menezies organised the synod of Diamper few Kilometres south of Kochi [Udayamperoor in Malayalam] on 20th June 1599. The aim of the Synod was as stated in the statement including; “[25]{1} Submission of all Syrian books in the Archdiocese for correction or burning as the Archbishop thought fit; {2} Rejection of the authority of the Patriarch of Babylon and severing all connections from him; {3} Recognition of the Pope as Supreme Head of the Church of Christ; {4} Rejection of all Bishops not approved by Goa and {5} Acknowledgement of Archbishop of Goa as the ecclesiastical superior”. The Portuguese offered protection to the new Roman Catholics though officially it meant the protection of the spiritual matters as Menezies would clarify in a letter to the Rajah of Kochi.
This attempt for the union of the Eastern Church to that of Rome never endured. The breach in the New Roman Catholic community was soon erupted through the revolt of the 1653 when Syrian Christians sworn on the Koonan Cross at Mattancherry in Kochi that they will never obey the Bishop of Goa and refuted whatever the Synod of Diamper stood for. In 1665 Gregory, Monophysite Bishop of Jerusalem came to India and ordained a Metropolitan for India, thus creating the Jacobite Syrian Christians named thus after the Jacob Baradai, a Edessan Monophysite monk of 6th century.
As part of the Christianisation and education of the Kerala Christians, the missionaries surely must have imported the icons from Europe. Even the sailors carried the images, predominantly wooden, on board of ship as a talisman. The Marhina Musuem at Belam [Portugal] has an image of St.Raphael [Santo Raffello] reputedly travelled to Kerala and back along with Vasco da Gama in all his three expeditions. Sanjay Sbrahmanyam mentions another incident where Samutiri mentions to Gama that, “he had heard that the Portuguese had an icon of the virgin made of gold, to which Gama replied that, first, it was not made of gold, and second, that he could not part with it in any case, since it was a talisman which he had kept him safe on his voyage”. A few among the icons, which were imported from Europe are still preserved in few churches of Kerala. The St. Thomas Church at Tumboli, Alappuzha District has an image of Virgin Mary that the local people call as the “Kappalkkarattiyamma” [Trans.: The mother who came by ship]. The image St. Sebastian [locally known as Veluttacchan] in the Church of St Andrews at Arthungal was transported from France[26]. One could never propose that the Christian icons in Kerala were imports from Europe. The few imported icons definitely acted as the role models. The role model to a different art tradition, divergent in theme and form, from the indigenous Hindu tradition in wood.
The facades and retables in the altars of the Kerala churches, regardless of the patronage and cultic difference, follow the Portuguese style. The facades with curving Dutch gables have fan like curving members on the sides like the one at St.Mary’s Church at Tripunittura. The niches at times appear in the triangle format occupied by the figures of saints. The nave doors have curved portals with slender pilasters reminding of the Romanesque tradition. The interior avoids any decoration on the nave ceiling that remains open to the roof. The Altar region would have a lower ceiling occasionally having paintings or a coffered pattern. The pioneer Church builders in the Portuguese time used wood as the prime material for construction. The Church of St.Francis at Kochi has a wooden chapel, which built in 1503, which was rebuilt in masonary in 1506-1516.
The ground plans of the churches present again an unwritten treaty between the indigenous and European traditions. The columns inside the churches never show their affinity with the religious architecture, as they remain as austere as in any other traditions. In Kerala these oblong halls with columns were common in the Hindu temples and Mosques. An agrasala [the ceremonial feast hall] or koothambalam [ritual performance hall] in a Hindu temple complex would have the similar architecture plan. Thus the colonial builders had no hesitation in appropriating the style. Anyhow the shape of a temple and that of church was not that different in 16th century, which lead Vasco Da Gama to mistake a Kali temple [probably Pishari Kavu Bhagavati temple at Pantalayini Kollam] for a church. Some of the pre Colonial churches followed the existing religious architecture tradition of Kerala. The church in Chegannur has a roof, gable and front hall similar to the Narasimha Temple at Chengannur itself. The Churches in Kaduthuruthi, Muttachira and Kuruvilangad has the Cross mounted on a pedestal strikingly akin to the balikkals of Kerala temples. This spirit of appropriation that occur in architecture is absent in the case of sculpture.
Finding the source of this imported architecture would take one to the doors of many European nations. The popular gable style of the Kerala Churches was the Dutch gables. The retables on the altars are very similar to the Portuguese Baroque style. The contemporary Churches in Goa, Lisbon and Brazil are more majestic and decorative compared to the churches of Kerala. The only reason for this disparity may be that Kerala, except Kochi, was never under the direct control of the Portuguese.
A brief look into the Portuguese art History would give us another dimension. What was the official architecture of Portugal in the 16th and 17th Centuries? The Portuguese monarchs like D.Manuel and Dom Joao V looked to Italy for the inspiration. They even imported artists and architects from Italy. The dependence Portugal to Rome in matters of religion would rationalise the acceptance of Italian art by the Portuguese. Among all the imported architecture styles during Renaissance, the Fillippo Terzi style found great recognition. Terzi initiated the Portuguese style of architecture by late 16th century. Terzi’s style was acceptable for the Jesuits all over the New World, who were primarily responsible for the building of the churches. It was acceptable for them as it based on the Italian principles, approved by the papal authority. Writes James Lees-Milne, “Terzi himself an Italian, indoctrinated Portuguese architects with contemporary Italian principles, introduced the Jesuit Style of Church decoration and indirectly paved the way for Portuguese Baroque. The Terzi facade is found not only in mother country, but in Brazil, Goa and Macao.”[27]
One architecture feature that appears distinctly Portuguese is the retables, appearing on the extreme end of the altar. This highly decorated, gilded mostly wooden, backdrops of the altar was the decorative focus of church interior. They have niches flanked with twisted pilasters toped with Corinthian foliage capitals. The niches, usually in three tiers, have curved arches and in many occasions they are styled as decorated shells, as one would observe in the Romanesque and Baroque period. The top portions of the retables are curved similar to the facades outside. The whole architecture composition is decorated with creepers, foliage, supported by cherubs and soldier figures. Surprisingly even there are many disparities between the Goan and Kerala churches, the retables remain more or less the same in both the regions. The description of Portuguese Baroque retables given by Milne would fit well on the retables of Kerala and Goa. To quote him, “The 17th Baroque was marked by a peculiar simplicity of structure, and an extreme complexity of decoration. It is chiefly found in the interiors of small churches. Notably in retables, and, what is unique Portugal, in the curious decorative pelmets over the entrance to shrines, suggesting rows of the massive curtain boxes. These strange adjuncts are of heavily carved wood, gilded and occasionally multi-coloured. The retables are architectural compositions, frames in alternating salomonicas and pilaster, and usually stepped back to a considerable depth to convey a sense of distance and mystery.”[28]
The retables at Kerala betray their Portuguese lineage. Even the motifs remain unaltered. The retables in Kerala would have twisted wine creepers, corn, wheat and acanthus leaf, similar to that of Goa and Portugal. None of these produced in Kerala even now. So the decorative flora seems to have imported, say along with the architecture. The 16-17th Century indigenous architecture decorative patterns were achieved through palm, lotuses, makara and vyali motifs, which are conspicuously, absent in the church decorations. Both these traditions never seem to be aware of the other or fail to acknowledge the existence of the other.
This position is operative in the sculpture tradition too. As mentioned elsewhere in the paper, we see that the Jesuits brought in or imported sculptures from Europe. The question that ensues here is that from which country in Europe. They were not indispensably from Portugal as evident from the figure of St.Sebastion at Arthungal, which was reputedly brought from France. Then there is a possibility of Portuguese nobles or Jesuits, commissioning someone from Italy, as it was the case of St. Francis Xavior’s Mausoleum in Goa, patronised by an Italian noble, Grand Duke Cosimo III and executed by an Italian artist Placido Francesco Rampani in 1698. Obviously Kerala was not in the European noble man’s itinerary. The sculptures that came to Kerala were mainly woodcarvings with features strikingly similar to the wooden sculptures of Germany or painted figures of Netherlands. They lacked the grandeur of the Italian Baroque. They still had a medieval gloom on their face. The compositions were rather rigid with no attempts for figura Serpentinata.
Ever since the Manoeline time the Portuguese rulers invited artists from Italy and send selected artists to the workshops in Italy to boost the art activity in Portugal. This tradition continued even in 18th Century during the reign of Joao V [1706-50] when he established a sculpture gallery and workshop at Mafra for the development of Italia-Portuguese Art. This does not seem have effected the ingenuous tradition of Portugal, which still persisted in the northern districts[29]. Among the non-Mafra artists one Jacinto Viera’s works are quite similar to the figures in Kerala. The figures of Veira are “touchingly unsophisticated, earnest, and intensely Portuguese”.[30] Milne tries to trace the non-sophistication of these figures and the ingenuous tradition to the Renaissance connection between the Flemish and Portuguese. Nuno de Goncalvez, called the “father of the nation’s [Portugal] painters” of the mid-15th Century has derived his style from masters like his contemporary, Dieric Bouts and his predecessor Jan Van Eyck. The spirit of the indigenous tradition in painting probably had influenced the sculptures too. The figures that came to Kerala might have been from this indigenous school, while Goa, a part of the Portuguese Empire inherited the works of the ’Italio-Portuguese’ school.
In case of Kerala, the wood carving tradition that was active at the time of the Portuguese arrival and the Jesuits continued without acknowledging the new tradition. The wood carving tradition had idealised and stylised forms, tracing the roots to the Pan-South Indian Dravidian style. Interestingly the many temples went under renovation in 16 and 17th centuries, thanks to the financial augmentation the rulers and nobles achieved through the European spice trade. Still nowhere would one observe an approach to naturalism as in the Christian figures. The naturalistic figures of Vishnu and Siva started appearing only after the English Company School of Painting and the acceptance of paintings and oleographs by Ravi Varma in the late 19th century.
The other facet of the query however is why the Sculptor of Christian icons did not carve any image in the indigenous idealised form. He seems to be adhering to the naturalist tradition. He would not even try to ethnically appropriate the form of Christ. To indigenous sculptor, the Christian icons had to posses certain features, the knowledge of which he presumably acquired through the study of the imported images. For the sculptor it was the identity of the images. The formal aspects of the imported images happened to be European Naturalism. The sculptor never tried to decode the complexity of form and symbol. The artists of both the Hindu and Christian tradition clung to their tradition shying away from any modulation.
Like the Chillies, Tomato and Tapioca which is very much part of the Kerala diet, the art tradition brought by the Portuguese entered so deeply in to culture of Kerala it is difficult to distinguish between indigenous and the foreign. It was so much rooted in the art tradition of Kerala Christian art, even the successors of Portuguese in Kerala did not venture to change it. Dutch and the British might have replaced the Portuguese political base of Kochi in 1663 and 1795 respectively, but they could not replace the Portuguese legacy on art in Kerala with Kochi as its fountainhead.
· *
Endnotes
[1]Vondel [Dutch]. In Praise of Navigation [Het lof der zeevaart] 1623.
Quoted by PETER N.SKRINE. The Baroque.London.1978. pp.77
[2] Sanjay Subrahmanyam. THE CARRER AND LEGEND OF VASCO DA GAMA, New Delhi, 1998.
[3]Field House. COLONIAL EMPIRES.
Though Field House would not completely agree with Adam Smith.
"Smith was of course, taking a narrowly Eurocentric view. Europe had no monopoly of distant trading or overseas empire. ...[sic].. Hence the importance of the first expansion of Europe lay in its effects on Europe rather than its uniqueness as a world phenomenon.
[4] Sanjay Subrahmanyam. THE CARRER AND LEGEND OF VASCO DA GAMA, New Delhi, 1998.
[5]Livermore, HV. PORTUGAL, A SHORT HISTORY, Edinburgh, 1973
[6]. Sreedhara Menon. The Culture of Kerala [Malayalam]
[7]. Sreedhara Menon. The Culture of Kerala [Malayalam]
[8]Stephen Neill. COLONIALISM AND CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. London. pp.35
[9]Sreedhara Menon...History of Kerala.
[10] M.N.Pearson: The Portuguese in India, THE NEW CAMBRIDGE HISTORY OF INDIA, Gen.Ed.Gordon Johnson 1987. Cambridge. pp.11
[11] As quoted by Sanjay Subrahmanyam. THE CARRER AND LEGEND OF VASCO DA GAMA, New Delhi, 1998
[12] As quoted by Sanjay Subrahmanyam. THE CARRER AND LEGEND OF VASCO DA GAMA, New Delhi, 1998
[13] As quoted by Sanjay Subrahmanyam. THE CARRER AND LEGEND OF VASCO DA GAMA, New Delhi, 1998
[14] Sanjay Subrahmanyam. THE CARRER AND LEGEND OF VASCO DA GAMA, New Delhi, 1998
[15]As quoted by Rogers
[16]Stephen Neill. COLONIALISM AND CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. pp72
[17]Nicol Macnicol. THE LIVING RELIGION OF INDIAN PEOPLE. PP. 276
[18]Nicol Macnicol. THE LIVING RELIGIONS OF THE INDIAN PEOPLE [WILDE LECTURES, OXFORD, 1932-34]. pp.269
[19]As quoted by P.Thomas. CHRISTIANS AND CHRISTIANITY IN INDIA AND PAKISTAN.London.1954.pp19
[20]As quoted by J.N.Ogilvie in THE APOSTLES OF INDIA,1915
[21]As quoted by Nicol Macnicol. LIVING RELIGIONS OF THE INDIAN PEOPLE. London
[22] Nicol Macnicol. LIVING RELIGIONS OF THE INDIAN PEOPLE. London
[23]As quoted by Nicol Macnicol LIVING RELIGIONS OF THE INDIAN PEOPLE. London
[24]Nicol Macnicoll LIVING RELIGIONS OF THE INDIAN PEOPLE. London
[25]P.Thomas. CHRISTIANITY IN INDIA AND PAKISTAN.London.pp.92
[26] Sreedhara Menon. The Culture of Kerala [Malayalam], Kottayam, 1992
[27]James Lees Milne. BAROQUE IN SPAIN AND PORTUGAL, London pp.161-162
[28]James Lees Milne. BAROQUE IN SPAIN AND PORTUGAL, London pp. 164
[29]James Lees-Milne BAROQUE IN SPAIN AND PORTUGAL, London. pp.179
[30]James Lees-Milne BAROQUE IN SPAIN AND PORTUGAL, London. pp.179
In praise of Navigation[1]
Beyond the Eastern Darkness lay the sands of the black gold and spices, a land of milk and honey, of abundance, of the legendary Prester John, of the Three Wise Kings of the East. The land, to which the 15th century enlightened Europe, looked forward to. They ended their anticipation with a sigh of relief when Vasco Da Gama set his foot on the sands of Kappattu, near Calicut on 27 of May 1498.
Unlike the other port towns on the Kerala coast like Vilinjam, Musiris, Pantalayini and Nura, Kochi does not figure in the early navigation maps. In fact the central and south Kerala trade was controlled at Musiris, which was part of the erstwhile Princely State of Kochi. It was at Musiris the legendary Apostle St.Thomas reputedly landed way back in 52 AD. Musiris remained the gateway to welcome the Christian immigrants from Edessa under the leadership of Thomas of Kanai in 485 AD. The legendary ruler of unified Kerala, Ceraman Perumal left for Macca from Musiris itself. Ceraman Perumal prior to his departure is said to have divided his domain among three vassals. Venad region [Southern Kerala], bequeathed to the Tiruvitancore [Travancore] Kings, Kochi region [Central Kerala], to the Perumpadappu Kings and the remaining portion of north to Kunnalakonatiri [Skt.Samutiri] Kings. Probably after the disintegration of the Cera Kingdom of Mahodayapuram the commercial strategic position of Musiris was taken over by Calicut [Kozhikkode] under the patronage of the Samutiris. The indigenous Muslim traders in partnership with the pardesi Muslims controlled the spice trade at Calicut. There were other communities too; who participated in the trade like the vaniyas [baniya], Parsis and Borah Muslims of Gujarat, Tamil and Telugu Chettis, Syrian Christians of Kerala and the Chinese. However, the West bound trade was dominated by the Mappilas [Kerala Muslim traders] along with the Muslim traders of Hurmuz, Saudi Arabia and Egypt. The sea route from Kerala in the pre Carreira da India [Cape route] was laborious and expensive as it had to pass through ports and toll points as Hurmuz, Jidda, Cairo, Alexandria and Venice, as the local informant Gasper Da Gama would explain[2]. The intention of the Portuguese endeavour was precisely against this Moor-Egyptian and Venetian network.
As Adam Smith establishes, "The discovery of America and that of a Passage to the East Indies by the Cape of Good Hope are the two greatest and most important events recorded in the History of mankind"[3]. Both Gama and Columbus discovered the Indies, one the West and the other the East. If Gama's discovery was significant then, the journey of Columbus was pivotal to the development of the Western World. Both these sailors wished to reach One land; one believed that he did and the other really did land. This was the land as Gaspar da Gama[4] would state as the “land from which there originates the spice that is eaten in the west, and in the Levent, and in Portugal and equally so in all provinces of the world”. The land where “the half naked monarchs” held the monopoly over the "Black Gold” assisted by the Moorish traders who exclaimed to the first Portuguese sailors in Calicut, "Devil take you, what the hell are you doing here?”[5]
* *
The land of immense fertility Kerala could provide the stage for the production of the spices for the traders whose land was lacking the suitable climatic conditions. Of all the spices the most important was the "Black gold" or Pepper. Along with Pepper the spices traded were Cardamom, turmeric, Ginger and Cinnamon. The Pre-Christian notes of Pliny [1st Century. AD], and Ptolemy [2nd Century. AD] mentions the "Land of Pepper". The anonymous author of the "Periplus of the Erythrian Sea" gives a first hand information of the land of Kerala referring to few ports as Musiris [or Kodungallur Port was destroyed in a massive flood in 1345 which incidently created the Kochi harbor], Tindi [identified as Pantalayini] , Barake [may be Purakkad in South Kerala] and Nura [Cannanore][6]. The Roman intelligentsia laments in 2nd century AD of the gold reserve flowing to east in exchange to Pepper and other spices. When the Alaric I, a Visigoth ruler invaded Rome in 410 AD, he asked for a ransom of 3000 Pounds of Pepper to spare the city[7]. The final word on the importance of Pepper can be that of Stephen Neill who wrote, “The History of Europe can almost be written in terms of Pepper... In a world which as yet knew neither the potato nor the turnip, the winter diet of salt meat and hard bread must have been almost unendurable, unless eastern spices were available to disguise in some measure the unpleasant flavour of what without them would have been almost uneatable[8]”
The Chinese were the allies of the Kerala traders for a long time. They gave way for the Arab traders who in turn controlled the western trade in the sea till the arrival of the European powers. This pre Islamic Arabs from Oman coast were the main suppliers of spices to Europe. They never revealed the source of these spices and even spread the stories of great birds protecting these spices in their nests in the unapproachable mountains of Arabia and Ethiopia[9].
The early European travellers to the Pepper land include Marco Polo [13th century], John of Monti Corvino [13th century], Friar Jordanus [14th century], and Nicolo Conti [15th century]. M.N. Pearson[10] summarise the pre-Gama or endeavour of the Europeans to east thus, "For centuries European traders and travellers had adventured through the middle East to the Indian Ocean. We know of several European Visitors to India in the fifteenth century. One of them was Pero de Covilham, sent out by the Portuguese sovereign D. Joao II in 1487 to investigate the conditions in the Indian Ocean. He visited Cannanore, Calicut, Goa, Hurmuz and also East African ports as far south as Sofala".
Pearson put forward another incident, that "In September 1498 Gama came across [in Calicut] a Polish Jew who spoke, reputedly, Hebrew, Venetian, Arabic, German and a little Spanish". This Alexandrian born Jew [who later, on board of Vasco da Gama’s ship near Malindi, converted to Christianity and was given the name Gasper da Gama] was a treasure of information on the political and commercial matters of the Indian Ocean. Dom Manuel, the Portuguese monarch admits in a letter the indebtedness to him thus “for had he not come, it would have taken many years to know what had been found, in as great length, and as deeply, as we know now. May god be praised. This man knows how to speak Hebrew, Chaldean, Arabic, and German; he also speaks Italian mixed with Spanish so clearly that one can follow him like a Portuguese, and he can understand our people no less[11].” Gasper da Gama came board on the Portuguese ship as a spy of one of the “Moorish” [Islamic] ruler of Western India, probably the Adil Shahi Sultans of Bijapur who tried to chase away the Portuguese explorers to eliminate the threat to the Moorish trade on the Arabian Sea. Later Gasper became the key informer of the Portuguese on the political and maritime affairs of the Indian Ocean. He is the key figure in the history of Portuguese settlement at Kochi, as it was on his advise that Cabral sought alliance with the King of Kochi when the Samutiri continued his hostility to the Portuguese.
Portuguese for Spice and Christians
The intentions of the first voyage were quite simple, find a sea route to east and establish commercial links to the East. Gama was not happy with the receptions he got in Calicut as the pressure from the Arab merchants forced the Samutiri of Calicut to act hostile to the Portuguese. The Moorish/Arabian traders did not want any of the European powers enter directly into the spice trade, that was exactly the intention of the Portuguese. The Egyptian rulers who benefited from the spice trade to West even tried to pressurise the Portuguese through Pope himself. The Papal authority at this juncture supported the Portuguese may be reasoning on the religious fervour shared by them. The treatment Gama received from these traders at Calicut was enough to unveil their intentions. “The anonymous account assures us when any Portuguese went ashore, the Muslim merchants would spit on the ground near them, and say `Portugal, Portugal’ in an insulting fashion; besides, we are told that `from the beginning they sought means to capture us and kill us.’[12] The sole European trading community trusted by the Muslim merchants at Calicut was that of the Venetian and the only language interpreter whom Gama trusted was a non-Muslim.
Gama landing on 27th of May lingered in Calicut port without making much progress on the trade agreement. He was growing nervous and annoyed with the treatment of Samutiri and took some drastic steps as capturing few Calicut merchants as hostages to retrieve his people ashore. At last some agreement and a letter of acceptance was received and without much delay they decided to leave. Portuguese were unhappy that they “could not manage to leave the land in peace and as friends of the people”[13]. These developments at Calicut would bear its impact on the relation of the Portuguese with Calicut all through the history of Estado da India.
It may be an amusing fact of history that the discoverer of Brazil [in 1500] was the first Portuguese to reach Kochi. It was Pedro Alvarez de Gouveia, later knows as Cabral. Starting his journey from Lisbon he reached Brazil and then travelled on to Malabar Coast through Carriera da India. Cabral was well received at Calicut, may be because of the new Samutiri at the helm. The Portuguese did establish a factory at Calicut this time under the factor Aires Correia. Samutiri even asked the help of Cabral to capture a ship from Kochi which allegedly was carrying an elephant, which belonged to Calicut. But matters turned for worse after the Portuguese captured a Muslim ship leaving for Jeddah. The Muslim merchants reacted violently killing around 40 Portuguese including the factor Aires Correia. Cabral retaliated by bombarding Calicut and Pantalayini. To avoid further skirmishes he left for Kochi following the advice of Gasper da Gama. Thus on 24th December 1500 Cabral landed at Kochi.
The adversaries of the Calicut-Moorish trade on the Indian Ocean joined to support the Portuguese, which included the kingdoms of Kochi and Cannanore. Trading communities like the Baniyas of Gujarat, Konkanis and Syrian Christians of Kerala also aided the Portuguese in this tussle. The Syrian Christians who dominated the production and trade of Spices in South Kerala found the shifting of Portuguese to Kochi quite befitting their trade interests. Sanjay Subrahmanyam[14] notes thus about the stand of Kochi King thus, “the Kochi ruler, Unni Goda Varma, appears to have grasped directly the political advantages that would acquire to him by diverting the Portuguese away from Calicut.” Cabral established a factory at Kochi under the factor Goncalo Gil Barbosa, which would remain in the Portuguese hands, despite some interruptions, till 1663.
Cabral on his journey back in January 1501 took three Indians on board. Two of them were from the service of the King of Kochi namely Idikkela Menon and Parangoda [n {?] Menon. The third was a Christian called Joseph of Cranganore. Joseph belonging to the Syrian Church was no novice in foreign travel as we were informed as he had travelled to Antioch in connection with the appointment of the Bishop of Malabar.
Soon after Cabral a Portuguese fleet under Joao da Nova landed at Kochi. Joao da Nova had the ritualistic pleasure of bombarding Calicut en route to Kochi. This fleet reportedly found the factory at Kochi in bad shape. It was now the turn of Vasco da Gama, now elevated in his political and social position to return Malabar. The second voyage of Gama was crucial in forging an alliance between the Portuguese and the Kerala Christians. In November 1502 some of the community members of Syrian Christians met Gama and offered an alliance and even presented a ceremonial offering of a red staff with silver bells on it. This network helped the Portuguese to have an access to the Spice trade in South Kerala. But soon after Gama returned Samutiri put pressure on Raja of Kochi to hand over the Portuguese factor at Kochi. The refusal to which ensued in a War between the Kingdoms. In this war of 1503 the King of Kochi Unni Goda Varma had lost his life. The arrival of Alfonso de Albuquerque eased the tension mounting on the Arabian Sea not because of Albuquerque’s diplomatic abilities but his reputation as ruthless conqueror. In 1503 Albuquerque obtained permission to build fortification to the factory. The building materials for the fortifications were mainly stems of Coconut trees bound with iron bands. Within the fort, which was named as Manuel Kotta [Fort of Manuel, after the King of Portugal], they also built a Church dedicated St.Bartholomew, another patron saint of India along with St.Thomas. Raja of Cochin Unnirama Koyikkal II pleased by the Golden crown presented by Dom Francisco Almeida in 1506, permitted the Portuguese to build a new city of mortar and stone. Apart from the fortifications, a new Church, was built in 1516 and dedicated to St. Anthony. The fortification and the settlement would remain with the Portuguese for all most 150 years, though from the time of Albuquerque itself the focus of Estado da India was gradually shifting from Kochi to Goa. It also marked the shift from trade to that of territorial interest.
Portuguese and Christians Jesuits in Kerala
The second intention of the Portuguese was to propagate Christianity in the new- world, but this was not as easy as they thought. To his amazement of Gama found that Christianity did exist in the region. The Kerala Christians were quite helpful to the new traders, not because they found fraternity with the Portuguese but they themselves were traders dealing with spices. An Italian letter of 1505 [probably from the Portuguese sources to the Papal authority] quoted by Rogers explain the stupefaction the Early European traders had of the Kerala Church. "In this kingdom [Kochi] there are many Christians converted by St. Thomas, whose apostolic life their priests follow with great devotion and strictness. They have churches where there is only the cross and celebrate mass with unleavened bread and wine, which is made from raisins and water as nothing else, is available to them. All Christians go with their hair uncut and beard unshaved”[15]
From the above description along with that of Jordanus would give us a vivid picture of the Eastern Christians, prior to the arrival of the Europeans. The areas where there were no Christians as Goa in the early 16th century, the soldiers themselves took in their hands the conversion affair. As a missionary would lament in 1550 from Goa, “These ... soldiers began to baptise ... people whom they enslaved without any respect and reverence for the sacrament and without catechising or indoctrination”[16]. In the areas as Kerala where Christianity did exist, the Portuguese tried to “re-Christianise” them, of course with the help of the Jesuits. Jesuits came to Kochi in 1524. Famous among these Jesuits missionaries was St. Francis Xavier who came to India, “as an emissary not only of Christ but of John III of Portugal”[17]. St. Francis travelled in Travancore and converted many that mainly belonged to the fishing community who lovingly called him as Great Father. He seemed to have built 45 churches in Travancore before he left India in 1552. In 1577 the Jesuits established the first Printing press of South India at Kochi under a Spanish Missionary named Joannes Gonzalvez. In 1603 this press was shifted from Kochi to Kodungallur.
Apart from initiating the colonial trade and exchange of Flora from Kerala to the New World and back the Portuguese introduced to the Indian shores Christian Iconography. The Christian art of Kerala has a great indebtedness to the Portuguese art and to the other styles as that of Dutch, ironically through the Portuguese and the Jesuits under them. Even under the Dutch and the English domination Christian art remained in the style as introduced by the Portuguese. The difference of course is visible, however between the Colonial art of the Portuguese [as seen in Goa, Daman and Diu] to that of the Church art of Kerala. Prior to the discussion regarding Christian art of Kerala it will be pertinent to look at the history Kerala Christianity.
Christianity in Kerala prior to Portuguese
The legend of St. Thomas maintains that the Apostle landed near Musiris in 52 AD and converted few families and established seven churches. To quote Nicol Macnicol[18] "If it were possible to accept as historical the legend that is recorded in the apocryphal Acts of Judas Thomas (dated by Harnack in the 3rd Century AD), the Christian religion was first preached in India by the Apostle Thomas about A.D.50. Similarly the Tradition preserved by the Syrian Christian Church in Travancore claims St. Thomas as its founder and dates arrival in India in the year 52 [AD]" This legend is acceptable only to few believers and historians. When one consider the trade connection with East and West that might have passed through Jerusalem, it is not impossible for an Apostle or Evangelist to travel to East. Jerome who wrote in 4th Century observes “The Son of God was present to all places, with Thomas in India, with Peter in Rome, with Paul in Illyria...”[19]. Another literary reference from Briton points towards the acceptance of St. Thomas as the Apostle of India. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle reads thus. "The Year 883, in the same year Singhlem and Aethalstan conveyed to Rome the alms, which the King [King Alfred] had vowed to send hither, and also to India to St. Thomas and St. Bartholomew, when they sat down against the [Danish] army at London: and there, God be thanked, their prayer was very successful after that vow"[20]. Andrian Fortescue provide us with further information about these alms as, "He [King Alfred] sent Singhelm, the Bishop of Shireburn with gifts. Singhelm came to Rome and then went on to the Malabar Coast. He made his offerings here and brought back from his long journey jewels and spices. Strange to see an English Bishop in India in 883"[21]
It is still a mystery whether the Apostle Thomas himself or the descendants of the Church he established in the Near Eastern City of Edessa had come to India. Another tradition proposes that 400 Christians belonging to seven clans from Baghdad, Ninevah and Jerusalem migrated to Kerala in 345 AD to escape the persecution of the Sassanid Emperor of Persia. "A merchant called Thomas Cannaneo or Thomas of Jerusalem drew the attention of the Edessan Church to this neglected outpost and caused to succour to be sent to it in the year 345[22]”. In 6th century an Alexandrian merchant namely Cosmos Indicopleustes mentions about a Christian Church in the port town of Kollam in south Kerala. When Sthanu Ravi Varma of the Second Chera Dynasty [12th Century AD] was ruling, a local chieftain Ayyanadigal Thiruvadigal issues the copper plate of Tarisa palli giving concessions to the Christian merchant of Kollam. The Dominican Friar Jordanus states in 1330 "In this India, there is a scattered people, one here, another there, who calls themselves Christians, but are not so, nor have any baptism, nor do they know anything else about the faith. Nay, they believe St. Thomas the Great to be Christ"[23].
Conversion of Kerala Christians and the Koonan Kurisu Episode
It is for sure that though the Portuguese was happy to see Christians in India, but they were least pleased to realise that these Christians believed in what the Roman Church considered as heresy. For the Portuguese and the Jesuits the true Christian was the one who accepted a True incarnation for Christ, the term “theotokos” for the Virgin Mother and who used the Roman doctrine of the mass; not to mention the authority of the Pope. Under the Portuguese, the Eastern Christians were “made to renounce Nestorianism and all connections with the Katholikos in Mesopotamia, accept the Catholic faith and the Pope’s authority”[24].
The Latinisation of the Kerala church was administered by Alexio de Menezies, the Bishop of Goa with due support by the Pope and the Portuguese monarch in 1599. Menezies organised the synod of Diamper few Kilometres south of Kochi [Udayamperoor in Malayalam] on 20th June 1599. The aim of the Synod was as stated in the statement including; “[25]{1} Submission of all Syrian books in the Archdiocese for correction or burning as the Archbishop thought fit; {2} Rejection of the authority of the Patriarch of Babylon and severing all connections from him; {3} Recognition of the Pope as Supreme Head of the Church of Christ; {4} Rejection of all Bishops not approved by Goa and {5} Acknowledgement of Archbishop of Goa as the ecclesiastical superior”. The Portuguese offered protection to the new Roman Catholics though officially it meant the protection of the spiritual matters as Menezies would clarify in a letter to the Rajah of Kochi.
This attempt for the union of the Eastern Church to that of Rome never endured. The breach in the New Roman Catholic community was soon erupted through the revolt of the 1653 when Syrian Christians sworn on the Koonan Cross at Mattancherry in Kochi that they will never obey the Bishop of Goa and refuted whatever the Synod of Diamper stood for. In 1665 Gregory, Monophysite Bishop of Jerusalem came to India and ordained a Metropolitan for India, thus creating the Jacobite Syrian Christians named thus after the Jacob Baradai, a Edessan Monophysite monk of 6th century.
As part of the Christianisation and education of the Kerala Christians, the missionaries surely must have imported the icons from Europe. Even the sailors carried the images, predominantly wooden, on board of ship as a talisman. The Marhina Musuem at Belam [Portugal] has an image of St.Raphael [Santo Raffello] reputedly travelled to Kerala and back along with Vasco da Gama in all his three expeditions. Sanjay Sbrahmanyam mentions another incident where Samutiri mentions to Gama that, “he had heard that the Portuguese had an icon of the virgin made of gold, to which Gama replied that, first, it was not made of gold, and second, that he could not part with it in any case, since it was a talisman which he had kept him safe on his voyage”. A few among the icons, which were imported from Europe are still preserved in few churches of Kerala. The St. Thomas Church at Tumboli, Alappuzha District has an image of Virgin Mary that the local people call as the “Kappalkkarattiyamma” [Trans.: The mother who came by ship]. The image St. Sebastian [locally known as Veluttacchan] in the Church of St Andrews at Arthungal was transported from France[26]. One could never propose that the Christian icons in Kerala were imports from Europe. The few imported icons definitely acted as the role models. The role model to a different art tradition, divergent in theme and form, from the indigenous Hindu tradition in wood.
The facades and retables in the altars of the Kerala churches, regardless of the patronage and cultic difference, follow the Portuguese style. The facades with curving Dutch gables have fan like curving members on the sides like the one at St.Mary’s Church at Tripunittura. The niches at times appear in the triangle format occupied by the figures of saints. The nave doors have curved portals with slender pilasters reminding of the Romanesque tradition. The interior avoids any decoration on the nave ceiling that remains open to the roof. The Altar region would have a lower ceiling occasionally having paintings or a coffered pattern. The pioneer Church builders in the Portuguese time used wood as the prime material for construction. The Church of St.Francis at Kochi has a wooden chapel, which built in 1503, which was rebuilt in masonary in 1506-1516.
The ground plans of the churches present again an unwritten treaty between the indigenous and European traditions. The columns inside the churches never show their affinity with the religious architecture, as they remain as austere as in any other traditions. In Kerala these oblong halls with columns were common in the Hindu temples and Mosques. An agrasala [the ceremonial feast hall] or koothambalam [ritual performance hall] in a Hindu temple complex would have the similar architecture plan. Thus the colonial builders had no hesitation in appropriating the style. Anyhow the shape of a temple and that of church was not that different in 16th century, which lead Vasco Da Gama to mistake a Kali temple [probably Pishari Kavu Bhagavati temple at Pantalayini Kollam] for a church. Some of the pre Colonial churches followed the existing religious architecture tradition of Kerala. The church in Chegannur has a roof, gable and front hall similar to the Narasimha Temple at Chengannur itself. The Churches in Kaduthuruthi, Muttachira and Kuruvilangad has the Cross mounted on a pedestal strikingly akin to the balikkals of Kerala temples. This spirit of appropriation that occur in architecture is absent in the case of sculpture.
Finding the source of this imported architecture would take one to the doors of many European nations. The popular gable style of the Kerala Churches was the Dutch gables. The retables on the altars are very similar to the Portuguese Baroque style. The contemporary Churches in Goa, Lisbon and Brazil are more majestic and decorative compared to the churches of Kerala. The only reason for this disparity may be that Kerala, except Kochi, was never under the direct control of the Portuguese.
A brief look into the Portuguese art History would give us another dimension. What was the official architecture of Portugal in the 16th and 17th Centuries? The Portuguese monarchs like D.Manuel and Dom Joao V looked to Italy for the inspiration. They even imported artists and architects from Italy. The dependence Portugal to Rome in matters of religion would rationalise the acceptance of Italian art by the Portuguese. Among all the imported architecture styles during Renaissance, the Fillippo Terzi style found great recognition. Terzi initiated the Portuguese style of architecture by late 16th century. Terzi’s style was acceptable for the Jesuits all over the New World, who were primarily responsible for the building of the churches. It was acceptable for them as it based on the Italian principles, approved by the papal authority. Writes James Lees-Milne, “Terzi himself an Italian, indoctrinated Portuguese architects with contemporary Italian principles, introduced the Jesuit Style of Church decoration and indirectly paved the way for Portuguese Baroque. The Terzi facade is found not only in mother country, but in Brazil, Goa and Macao.”[27]
One architecture feature that appears distinctly Portuguese is the retables, appearing on the extreme end of the altar. This highly decorated, gilded mostly wooden, backdrops of the altar was the decorative focus of church interior. They have niches flanked with twisted pilasters toped with Corinthian foliage capitals. The niches, usually in three tiers, have curved arches and in many occasions they are styled as decorated shells, as one would observe in the Romanesque and Baroque period. The top portions of the retables are curved similar to the facades outside. The whole architecture composition is decorated with creepers, foliage, supported by cherubs and soldier figures. Surprisingly even there are many disparities between the Goan and Kerala churches, the retables remain more or less the same in both the regions. The description of Portuguese Baroque retables given by Milne would fit well on the retables of Kerala and Goa. To quote him, “The 17th Baroque was marked by a peculiar simplicity of structure, and an extreme complexity of decoration. It is chiefly found in the interiors of small churches. Notably in retables, and, what is unique Portugal, in the curious decorative pelmets over the entrance to shrines, suggesting rows of the massive curtain boxes. These strange adjuncts are of heavily carved wood, gilded and occasionally multi-coloured. The retables are architectural compositions, frames in alternating salomonicas and pilaster, and usually stepped back to a considerable depth to convey a sense of distance and mystery.”[28]
The retables at Kerala betray their Portuguese lineage. Even the motifs remain unaltered. The retables in Kerala would have twisted wine creepers, corn, wheat and acanthus leaf, similar to that of Goa and Portugal. None of these produced in Kerala even now. So the decorative flora seems to have imported, say along with the architecture. The 16-17th Century indigenous architecture decorative patterns were achieved through palm, lotuses, makara and vyali motifs, which are conspicuously, absent in the church decorations. Both these traditions never seem to be aware of the other or fail to acknowledge the existence of the other.
This position is operative in the sculpture tradition too. As mentioned elsewhere in the paper, we see that the Jesuits brought in or imported sculptures from Europe. The question that ensues here is that from which country in Europe. They were not indispensably from Portugal as evident from the figure of St.Sebastion at Arthungal, which was reputedly brought from France. Then there is a possibility of Portuguese nobles or Jesuits, commissioning someone from Italy, as it was the case of St. Francis Xavior’s Mausoleum in Goa, patronised by an Italian noble, Grand Duke Cosimo III and executed by an Italian artist Placido Francesco Rampani in 1698. Obviously Kerala was not in the European noble man’s itinerary. The sculptures that came to Kerala were mainly woodcarvings with features strikingly similar to the wooden sculptures of Germany or painted figures of Netherlands. They lacked the grandeur of the Italian Baroque. They still had a medieval gloom on their face. The compositions were rather rigid with no attempts for figura Serpentinata.
Ever since the Manoeline time the Portuguese rulers invited artists from Italy and send selected artists to the workshops in Italy to boost the art activity in Portugal. This tradition continued even in 18th Century during the reign of Joao V [1706-50] when he established a sculpture gallery and workshop at Mafra for the development of Italia-Portuguese Art. This does not seem have effected the ingenuous tradition of Portugal, which still persisted in the northern districts[29]. Among the non-Mafra artists one Jacinto Viera’s works are quite similar to the figures in Kerala. The figures of Veira are “touchingly unsophisticated, earnest, and intensely Portuguese”.[30] Milne tries to trace the non-sophistication of these figures and the ingenuous tradition to the Renaissance connection between the Flemish and Portuguese. Nuno de Goncalvez, called the “father of the nation’s [Portugal] painters” of the mid-15th Century has derived his style from masters like his contemporary, Dieric Bouts and his predecessor Jan Van Eyck. The spirit of the indigenous tradition in painting probably had influenced the sculptures too. The figures that came to Kerala might have been from this indigenous school, while Goa, a part of the Portuguese Empire inherited the works of the ’Italio-Portuguese’ school.
In case of Kerala, the wood carving tradition that was active at the time of the Portuguese arrival and the Jesuits continued without acknowledging the new tradition. The wood carving tradition had idealised and stylised forms, tracing the roots to the Pan-South Indian Dravidian style. Interestingly the many temples went under renovation in 16 and 17th centuries, thanks to the financial augmentation the rulers and nobles achieved through the European spice trade. Still nowhere would one observe an approach to naturalism as in the Christian figures. The naturalistic figures of Vishnu and Siva started appearing only after the English Company School of Painting and the acceptance of paintings and oleographs by Ravi Varma in the late 19th century.
The other facet of the query however is why the Sculptor of Christian icons did not carve any image in the indigenous idealised form. He seems to be adhering to the naturalist tradition. He would not even try to ethnically appropriate the form of Christ. To indigenous sculptor, the Christian icons had to posses certain features, the knowledge of which he presumably acquired through the study of the imported images. For the sculptor it was the identity of the images. The formal aspects of the imported images happened to be European Naturalism. The sculptor never tried to decode the complexity of form and symbol. The artists of both the Hindu and Christian tradition clung to their tradition shying away from any modulation.
Like the Chillies, Tomato and Tapioca which is very much part of the Kerala diet, the art tradition brought by the Portuguese entered so deeply in to culture of Kerala it is difficult to distinguish between indigenous and the foreign. It was so much rooted in the art tradition of Kerala Christian art, even the successors of Portuguese in Kerala did not venture to change it. Dutch and the British might have replaced the Portuguese political base of Kochi in 1663 and 1795 respectively, but they could not replace the Portuguese legacy on art in Kerala with Kochi as its fountainhead.
· *
Endnotes
[1]Vondel [Dutch]. In Praise of Navigation [Het lof der zeevaart] 1623.
Quoted by PETER N.SKRINE. The Baroque.London.1978. pp.77
[2] Sanjay Subrahmanyam. THE CARRER AND LEGEND OF VASCO DA GAMA, New Delhi, 1998.
[3]Field House. COLONIAL EMPIRES.
Though Field House would not completely agree with Adam Smith.
"Smith was of course, taking a narrowly Eurocentric view. Europe had no monopoly of distant trading or overseas empire. ...[sic].. Hence the importance of the first expansion of Europe lay in its effects on Europe rather than its uniqueness as a world phenomenon.
[4] Sanjay Subrahmanyam. THE CARRER AND LEGEND OF VASCO DA GAMA, New Delhi, 1998.
[5]Livermore, HV. PORTUGAL, A SHORT HISTORY, Edinburgh, 1973
[6]. Sreedhara Menon. The Culture of Kerala [Malayalam]
[7]. Sreedhara Menon. The Culture of Kerala [Malayalam]
[8]Stephen Neill. COLONIALISM AND CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. London. pp.35
[9]Sreedhara Menon...History of Kerala.
[10] M.N.Pearson: The Portuguese in India, THE NEW CAMBRIDGE HISTORY OF INDIA, Gen.Ed.Gordon Johnson 1987. Cambridge. pp.11
[11] As quoted by Sanjay Subrahmanyam. THE CARRER AND LEGEND OF VASCO DA GAMA, New Delhi, 1998
[12] As quoted by Sanjay Subrahmanyam. THE CARRER AND LEGEND OF VASCO DA GAMA, New Delhi, 1998
[13] As quoted by Sanjay Subrahmanyam. THE CARRER AND LEGEND OF VASCO DA GAMA, New Delhi, 1998
[14] Sanjay Subrahmanyam. THE CARRER AND LEGEND OF VASCO DA GAMA, New Delhi, 1998
[15]As quoted by Rogers
[16]Stephen Neill. COLONIALISM AND CHRISTIAN MISSIONS. pp72
[17]Nicol Macnicol. THE LIVING RELIGION OF INDIAN PEOPLE. PP. 276
[18]Nicol Macnicol. THE LIVING RELIGIONS OF THE INDIAN PEOPLE [WILDE LECTURES, OXFORD, 1932-34]. pp.269
[19]As quoted by P.Thomas. CHRISTIANS AND CHRISTIANITY IN INDIA AND PAKISTAN.London.1954.pp19
[20]As quoted by J.N.Ogilvie in THE APOSTLES OF INDIA,1915
[21]As quoted by Nicol Macnicol. LIVING RELIGIONS OF THE INDIAN PEOPLE. London
[22] Nicol Macnicol. LIVING RELIGIONS OF THE INDIAN PEOPLE. London
[23]As quoted by Nicol Macnicol LIVING RELIGIONS OF THE INDIAN PEOPLE. London
[24]Nicol Macnicoll LIVING RELIGIONS OF THE INDIAN PEOPLE. London
[25]P.Thomas. CHRISTIANITY IN INDIA AND PAKISTAN.London.pp.92
[26] Sreedhara Menon. The Culture of Kerala [Malayalam], Kottayam, 1992
[27]James Lees Milne. BAROQUE IN SPAIN AND PORTUGAL, London pp.161-162
[28]James Lees Milne. BAROQUE IN SPAIN AND PORTUGAL, London pp. 164
[29]James Lees-Milne BAROQUE IN SPAIN AND PORTUGAL, London. pp.179
[30]James Lees-Milne BAROQUE IN SPAIN AND PORTUGAL, London. pp.179
A Layman's Guide to Ajanta
A Brief Description of the Caves Ajanta
Jayram Poduval
The Buddhist cave cluster at Ajanta is situated 100Kms north of Aurangabad City in Maharashtra. Having 30 caves in a single complex, Ajanta can be ranked as the second largest cave cluster of India, surpassed in number only Ellora, hailing again from the same region. Ajanta can boast about 30 caves belonging to the Hinayana and Mahayana phases of Buddhism excavated in a horseshoe shaped gorge created by River Waghora. Among these, Caves, 9, 10, 19 and 26 are Chaitya caves housing the stupa at the rear of the apsidal interior. Caves 9 and 10 belong to the Hinayana phase and the rest to the Mahayana activity around 5th Century AD as evident from the absence [in the former] and the presence of Buddha image on the Stupa [as in the latter examples]. The numbering of the caves at Ajanta is no way an indication of their position in the chronological placement.
Cave 1, which display developed architectural decoration as the jutting out porch and the fluted pillars of the verandah betray its later chronological order compared to few of the caves in the complex. The outer portion of the abutting eaves of the cave has life of Buddha depicted in sculpture; a unique feature at the site. Entering the main hall through the nave door, the visitor will be welcomed by the figures of Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara and Bodhisattva Maitreya [also known as Padmapani and Vajrapani respectively] at the rear aisle of the cave, flanking the antechamber leading to the shrine. The walls have been adorned with the painted Jatakas.
On the left of the nave door is the story of Sibi followed by a probable depiction of the poem by Asvaghosa namely Soundarananda, the story of Buddha’s cousin Nanda and his beautiful wife Sundari. The Sankhapala Jataka occupy a minor portion the left wall of the hall, rest being painted with the story of Mahajanaka Jataka. Another version of the same story fills the space next to Padmapani. The Antechamber walls are adorned with the story of Buddha’s victory over Mara where Mara’s army along with his charming daughters surrounds Buddha for the ultimate test prior to the enlightenment. Rest of the antechamber walls are occupied by the seated Buddha images, recreating the Miracle at Sravasti, where Buddha multiplies himself. The Doorway is embellished with pilasters and intricately carved doorjambs. The carved image of Buddha occupies the inner shrine, seated in dhyana posture on the throne attended by couple of deer.
To the right of the rear wall is the episode from the Champeyya Jataka. The serpent king Champeyya is captured and made to perform by a snake charmer. Champeyya’s wife begs the ruler of Varanasi to release her husband; both kings are seen seated for the final deliverance scene. The figures on the right wall of the cave do not allow us to infer any story from it. Another important painted panel from Cave 1 is the celebrated Embassy scene on the right of the cardinal door. This scene has been identified as Persian Embassy in the court of the Calukyan king, Pulikesin II. The authenticity of this observation is questionable.
Cave 2, appears to be on the same chronological bracket as Cave 1 as the basic schema of the cave reveals. More ornate through painting and sculpture this cave has the sub-shrines at the lateral ends of the verandah. These shrines are preceded by anti-chambers adorned with slender columns and sculpted figures of Nagaraja with his retinue. The nave doorway has sculpted doorjambs flanked by riverine goddesses. The interior walls narrate the story of Buddha’s previous lives as well the present one. Hamsa Jataka occupies the space on the left end of the front aisle. The left wall of the aisle surrounding the central colonnade has the story of Buddha’s birth in hues and shades. The other important Jataka in the cave is that of Vidhura Pandita which occupies the entire right wall. The rest of the wall space in the cave has been filled with the seated figures of Buddha. The cardinal shrine houses the figure of Buddha in the meditation aspect. The sub-shrines, one dedicated to Hariti and the other to yaksha flank the main shrine. Both the sub-shrines have the sculpted figures of the respective deities, duly worshiped by the painted devotees.
Cave 4, probably the most ambitious project at the site remain unfinished except the poignantly sculpted nave doorway. The state of Cave 5 does not differ from that cave 4 where the termination of activity is more premature than cave 4. Cave 6, is the only cave at Ajanta with an upper level, though the upper level shows signs of later activity in relation to the lower level. The lower level has octagonal columns arranged in four rows unlike the other caves leaving no space for the large central opening. This cave was entirely painted as cave 1 and 2, but only few survived like that of Miracle of Sravasti [left] and Victory over Mara[right] on the antechamber walls.
Cave 9, 10 and 12, belong to the Hinayana phase of Ajanta among which cave 10 will be the earliest excavation. Both Chaityagrihas, cave 10 has a façade which belong to the “palace gate way” type with the arch of the nave opening encompass the whole façade, unlike Cave 9, where the chaitya arch has been separated from the small nave opening with a stone screen. The differences between these caves would persist in the ground plans too. Cave 10 retains the conventional apse shape for the colonnade and the overall plan, while Cave 9 alter the ground plan to square. The walls of the caves are embellished by mural paintings, though only the paintings of Cave 10 can affirm its contemporeinity to the architecture. Painted Buddha images on the octagonal columns of Cave 10 are of part of the Mahayana revamping of the cave. An interesting graffiti on the 13th column on the right reads the name John Smith, the British officer who brought back Ajanta to the limelight. Cave 12 is vihara or monastic dwelling place with a central hall and cells opening to it. The façade wall and the entrance door have been completely vanished. Cave 11, a Mahayana excavation, with a verandah and central hall, is squeezed into this Hinayana nucleus. The surviving paintings on the walls mainly deal with Buddha images. The ceiling decoration is closer to cave 2, though highly weathered.
Cave 16, excavated on the center of the horseshoe shape of the site has a ceremonial entrance flanked by elephants. This cave is considered as the earliest among the Mahayana excavations at Ajanta. The inexperience of the carvers can be observed in the over dependence on the Hinayana architecture tradition and the sloppiness of the detailing of architecture. The porch doorway has painted jambs with sculpted figures of riverine goddesses on the pilasters. The unique feature of this cave is the carved ceiling closely imitating the wooden ceilings. The columns on the front have flying couples and gana figures as bracket figures. The absence of antechamber and the shrine doorway added by the awkward positioning of the Buddha image, seated in the “European posture”, surely indicates these developments as an after thought. There are traces of paintings on the walls and ceiling of the verandah, though not up to the quality of Cave 1 or the next door monastery of Cave 17.
Cave 17, bearing the inscription of the Risika king Upendra Gupta, is a monastery as Cave 16. The verandah has profusely painted with well-configured natural motifs as gees and foliage. The painted nave doorway has jambs with creeper motif and sculpted pilaster bearing the riverine goddesses. The lintel is occupied by the Seven Manushi Buddhas seated under the trees associated with them. The doorway was once flanked by the Bodhisattvas, evident from the extant fragments. The Jataka depicted on the right of the wall probably that of Vessantara story. On the opposite side is story of the subjugation of the elephant Nalagiri by Buddha. The central hall has square shaped colonnade creating the central opening and aisles. The exquisitely carved columns have their facets and brackets painted. The walls of the cave narrate the stories from Jataka tales. The Chhadanta Jataka initiates the narration from space left of the nave door followed by Maha Kapi Jataka and Hasti Jataka where Bodhisattva as an elephant sacrifices his body to the hungry travelers. Vessantara Jataka utilizes the whole wall of the left aisle. Mahasutasoma Jataka on the rear aisle stand as a victim of an erroneous restoration attempts in the modern time. The antechamber has figure of Buddha, preaching in the Tushita heaven. The Inheritance Scene flanks the shrine door on one side, where Buddha gifts his begging bowl as the soul legacy to his son Rahula. The painters of Cave 17 seems to be interested in animals many of the stories depicted here are Bodhisattvas life as an animal like the Chaddata, Hasti and Matiposhaka, where he is the elephant. In Ruru, Nigrodha Mriga Jatakas he is born as a Deer. In the Story of Simhala Avadana enveloping the entire wall of the right aisle, Bodhisattva a white horse rescues the hero of the story from the island of ogresses. Ruru and Nigrodha Mriga Jataka follow Simhala Avadana on the corner and wall of the front aisle.
Cave 19, is probably the one mentioned in the inscription of Upendra Gupta at Cave 17 as Gandhakuti. It has a beautiful façade, with nicely carved Buddha images on either side of the porch doorway, proficiently decorated pillars. With stupendous grandeur there stand the nidhi figures flanking the chaitya window. The side shrines accommodate seated Buddha images. Apart from the fluted columns and the painted ceiling of aisles there hardly any decoration in this cave. The entablature has makara torana with padmapatra molding to flank the Buddha images and aquatic bulls and elephants to standing next to. An innovation is the introduction of Buddha image on the front of the cardinal stupa, placed beneath the makara torana. The tier of umbrellas with supporting figures that rises above the stupa are monolithic, which had been mentioned by Hue-Tsang as hearsay.
Caves 20 to 25 do not excite a visitor much though an extant demonstration of the carving technique of the caves can be observed at Cave 24. Cave 21 has few painted panels and the overall plan similar Cave 3 at Aurangabad, which is later than the Ajanta example.
Cave 26, the most important and interesting cave after Cave 17 for the inscription. The inscription on top of the right aisle door mentions monk Buddhabhadra and his long association with the minister of the Asmakan king. A chaityagriha quite akin to Cave 19, this cave had a columned verandah in the front with well-defined nave aisle doorways opening into the cave. This cave is in all likelihood the most sculpted cave at Ajanta. The scenes as Subjugation of Nalagiri, Litany of Avalokitesvara, Dipankara Buddha and the Inheritance scene are carved on the entablature. The right aisle was given space for the events from Life of Buddha as victory over Mara and Maha Parinirvana and the left aisle for the seated Buddha images. Moreover the cave introduces a new strategy of using the architectural motifs to embellish the stupa with seated Buddha image. Buddha images on the entablature are well placed in mandapas flanked by Bodhisattvas. Underneath the mandapa are hoards of ganas, semi aquatic creatures, keechakas and flying gandharvas. On top of the mandapa on the gavaksa motifs tiger cubs play hide and seek, unaware of the divine paraphernalia which they are part of. No space is left unembellished and this laborious work does succeed in achieving the exuberance the patron was aiming to.
Jayram Poduval
The Buddhist cave cluster at Ajanta is situated 100Kms north of Aurangabad City in Maharashtra. Having 30 caves in a single complex, Ajanta can be ranked as the second largest cave cluster of India, surpassed in number only Ellora, hailing again from the same region. Ajanta can boast about 30 caves belonging to the Hinayana and Mahayana phases of Buddhism excavated in a horseshoe shaped gorge created by River Waghora. Among these, Caves, 9, 10, 19 and 26 are Chaitya caves housing the stupa at the rear of the apsidal interior. Caves 9 and 10 belong to the Hinayana phase and the rest to the Mahayana activity around 5th Century AD as evident from the absence [in the former] and the presence of Buddha image on the Stupa [as in the latter examples]. The numbering of the caves at Ajanta is no way an indication of their position in the chronological placement.
Cave 1, which display developed architectural decoration as the jutting out porch and the fluted pillars of the verandah betray its later chronological order compared to few of the caves in the complex. The outer portion of the abutting eaves of the cave has life of Buddha depicted in sculpture; a unique feature at the site. Entering the main hall through the nave door, the visitor will be welcomed by the figures of Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara and Bodhisattva Maitreya [also known as Padmapani and Vajrapani respectively] at the rear aisle of the cave, flanking the antechamber leading to the shrine. The walls have been adorned with the painted Jatakas.
On the left of the nave door is the story of Sibi followed by a probable depiction of the poem by Asvaghosa namely Soundarananda, the story of Buddha’s cousin Nanda and his beautiful wife Sundari. The Sankhapala Jataka occupy a minor portion the left wall of the hall, rest being painted with the story of Mahajanaka Jataka. Another version of the same story fills the space next to Padmapani. The Antechamber walls are adorned with the story of Buddha’s victory over Mara where Mara’s army along with his charming daughters surrounds Buddha for the ultimate test prior to the enlightenment. Rest of the antechamber walls are occupied by the seated Buddha images, recreating the Miracle at Sravasti, where Buddha multiplies himself. The Doorway is embellished with pilasters and intricately carved doorjambs. The carved image of Buddha occupies the inner shrine, seated in dhyana posture on the throne attended by couple of deer.
To the right of the rear wall is the episode from the Champeyya Jataka. The serpent king Champeyya is captured and made to perform by a snake charmer. Champeyya’s wife begs the ruler of Varanasi to release her husband; both kings are seen seated for the final deliverance scene. The figures on the right wall of the cave do not allow us to infer any story from it. Another important painted panel from Cave 1 is the celebrated Embassy scene on the right of the cardinal door. This scene has been identified as Persian Embassy in the court of the Calukyan king, Pulikesin II. The authenticity of this observation is questionable.
Cave 2, appears to be on the same chronological bracket as Cave 1 as the basic schema of the cave reveals. More ornate through painting and sculpture this cave has the sub-shrines at the lateral ends of the verandah. These shrines are preceded by anti-chambers adorned with slender columns and sculpted figures of Nagaraja with his retinue. The nave doorway has sculpted doorjambs flanked by riverine goddesses. The interior walls narrate the story of Buddha’s previous lives as well the present one. Hamsa Jataka occupies the space on the left end of the front aisle. The left wall of the aisle surrounding the central colonnade has the story of Buddha’s birth in hues and shades. The other important Jataka in the cave is that of Vidhura Pandita which occupies the entire right wall. The rest of the wall space in the cave has been filled with the seated figures of Buddha. The cardinal shrine houses the figure of Buddha in the meditation aspect. The sub-shrines, one dedicated to Hariti and the other to yaksha flank the main shrine. Both the sub-shrines have the sculpted figures of the respective deities, duly worshiped by the painted devotees.
Cave 4, probably the most ambitious project at the site remain unfinished except the poignantly sculpted nave doorway. The state of Cave 5 does not differ from that cave 4 where the termination of activity is more premature than cave 4. Cave 6, is the only cave at Ajanta with an upper level, though the upper level shows signs of later activity in relation to the lower level. The lower level has octagonal columns arranged in four rows unlike the other caves leaving no space for the large central opening. This cave was entirely painted as cave 1 and 2, but only few survived like that of Miracle of Sravasti [left] and Victory over Mara[right] on the antechamber walls.
Cave 9, 10 and 12, belong to the Hinayana phase of Ajanta among which cave 10 will be the earliest excavation. Both Chaityagrihas, cave 10 has a façade which belong to the “palace gate way” type with the arch of the nave opening encompass the whole façade, unlike Cave 9, where the chaitya arch has been separated from the small nave opening with a stone screen. The differences between these caves would persist in the ground plans too. Cave 10 retains the conventional apse shape for the colonnade and the overall plan, while Cave 9 alter the ground plan to square. The walls of the caves are embellished by mural paintings, though only the paintings of Cave 10 can affirm its contemporeinity to the architecture. Painted Buddha images on the octagonal columns of Cave 10 are of part of the Mahayana revamping of the cave. An interesting graffiti on the 13th column on the right reads the name John Smith, the British officer who brought back Ajanta to the limelight. Cave 12 is vihara or monastic dwelling place with a central hall and cells opening to it. The façade wall and the entrance door have been completely vanished. Cave 11, a Mahayana excavation, with a verandah and central hall, is squeezed into this Hinayana nucleus. The surviving paintings on the walls mainly deal with Buddha images. The ceiling decoration is closer to cave 2, though highly weathered.
Cave 16, excavated on the center of the horseshoe shape of the site has a ceremonial entrance flanked by elephants. This cave is considered as the earliest among the Mahayana excavations at Ajanta. The inexperience of the carvers can be observed in the over dependence on the Hinayana architecture tradition and the sloppiness of the detailing of architecture. The porch doorway has painted jambs with sculpted figures of riverine goddesses on the pilasters. The unique feature of this cave is the carved ceiling closely imitating the wooden ceilings. The columns on the front have flying couples and gana figures as bracket figures. The absence of antechamber and the shrine doorway added by the awkward positioning of the Buddha image, seated in the “European posture”, surely indicates these developments as an after thought. There are traces of paintings on the walls and ceiling of the verandah, though not up to the quality of Cave 1 or the next door monastery of Cave 17.
Cave 17, bearing the inscription of the Risika king Upendra Gupta, is a monastery as Cave 16. The verandah has profusely painted with well-configured natural motifs as gees and foliage. The painted nave doorway has jambs with creeper motif and sculpted pilaster bearing the riverine goddesses. The lintel is occupied by the Seven Manushi Buddhas seated under the trees associated with them. The doorway was once flanked by the Bodhisattvas, evident from the extant fragments. The Jataka depicted on the right of the wall probably that of Vessantara story. On the opposite side is story of the subjugation of the elephant Nalagiri by Buddha. The central hall has square shaped colonnade creating the central opening and aisles. The exquisitely carved columns have their facets and brackets painted. The walls of the cave narrate the stories from Jataka tales. The Chhadanta Jataka initiates the narration from space left of the nave door followed by Maha Kapi Jataka and Hasti Jataka where Bodhisattva as an elephant sacrifices his body to the hungry travelers. Vessantara Jataka utilizes the whole wall of the left aisle. Mahasutasoma Jataka on the rear aisle stand as a victim of an erroneous restoration attempts in the modern time. The antechamber has figure of Buddha, preaching in the Tushita heaven. The Inheritance Scene flanks the shrine door on one side, where Buddha gifts his begging bowl as the soul legacy to his son Rahula. The painters of Cave 17 seems to be interested in animals many of the stories depicted here are Bodhisattvas life as an animal like the Chaddata, Hasti and Matiposhaka, where he is the elephant. In Ruru, Nigrodha Mriga Jatakas he is born as a Deer. In the Story of Simhala Avadana enveloping the entire wall of the right aisle, Bodhisattva a white horse rescues the hero of the story from the island of ogresses. Ruru and Nigrodha Mriga Jataka follow Simhala Avadana on the corner and wall of the front aisle.
Cave 19, is probably the one mentioned in the inscription of Upendra Gupta at Cave 17 as Gandhakuti. It has a beautiful façade, with nicely carved Buddha images on either side of the porch doorway, proficiently decorated pillars. With stupendous grandeur there stand the nidhi figures flanking the chaitya window. The side shrines accommodate seated Buddha images. Apart from the fluted columns and the painted ceiling of aisles there hardly any decoration in this cave. The entablature has makara torana with padmapatra molding to flank the Buddha images and aquatic bulls and elephants to standing next to. An innovation is the introduction of Buddha image on the front of the cardinal stupa, placed beneath the makara torana. The tier of umbrellas with supporting figures that rises above the stupa are monolithic, which had been mentioned by Hue-Tsang as hearsay.
Caves 20 to 25 do not excite a visitor much though an extant demonstration of the carving technique of the caves can be observed at Cave 24. Cave 21 has few painted panels and the overall plan similar Cave 3 at Aurangabad, which is later than the Ajanta example.
Cave 26, the most important and interesting cave after Cave 17 for the inscription. The inscription on top of the right aisle door mentions monk Buddhabhadra and his long association with the minister of the Asmakan king. A chaityagriha quite akin to Cave 19, this cave had a columned verandah in the front with well-defined nave aisle doorways opening into the cave. This cave is in all likelihood the most sculpted cave at Ajanta. The scenes as Subjugation of Nalagiri, Litany of Avalokitesvara, Dipankara Buddha and the Inheritance scene are carved on the entablature. The right aisle was given space for the events from Life of Buddha as victory over Mara and Maha Parinirvana and the left aisle for the seated Buddha images. Moreover the cave introduces a new strategy of using the architectural motifs to embellish the stupa with seated Buddha image. Buddha images on the entablature are well placed in mandapas flanked by Bodhisattvas. Underneath the mandapa are hoards of ganas, semi aquatic creatures, keechakas and flying gandharvas. On top of the mandapa on the gavaksa motifs tiger cubs play hide and seek, unaware of the divine paraphernalia which they are part of. No space is left unembellished and this laborious work does succeed in achieving the exuberance the patron was aiming to.
Friday, January 5, 2007
Master of Maravijaya
A TRIBUTE TO THE
“MASTER OF MARAVIJAYA”
AT AJANTA
Jayaram Poduval
“Pleasure is brief as a flash of lightning,
Or like an autumn shower, only for a moment.
Why should I then covet the pleasure you speak of,
I see your bodies are full of all impurity,
Birth and Death, Sickness and Age are yours
I seek the highest prize, hard to attain by men,
The true and constant wisdom of the wise”.
: Buddha
**********
In the evening, Siddharta Goutama made his way to the Bodhi tree on the bank of River Niranjana. He was resolute that, “though my skin my nerves and my bones should waste away and my life blood dry I will not leave this seat until I have attained the Supreme, enlightenment”. He took his seat at the foot of the tree facing east. Soon the prince of an inconsequential state of Kapilavastu was to attain unprecedented feat of his life, the Buddha hood through the enlightenment. But prior to that he had to go through the ordeal of Mara and the consequent victory over Mara.
******
Mara Vijaya appear to be the most dramatic episode taken shape in the life of the “great one”. The ancient Buddhist authors were excited in describing this great event. No wonder its repercussions are audible in the plastic art also. Any one visited Ajanta Caves would never forget the awe he experienced in the left aisle of cave 26. For a moment he forgets who he is and where he stands, the life around him disappear behind the aura of the power of expression radiating from the sculpture he pears into – the victory of Buddha on Mara; the Mara Vijaya. He hears only a thunderous voice thus proclaims;
“The Blessed Buddha – he hath prevailed;
And the tempter is overthrown”
This paper is tribute to the master who carved this great relief. We have no names for this master (with every sense of that word) sculptor; thus I would like to call him “Master of Mara Vijaya”.
**********
Any Warburg wrote thus in 1927, “not until art History can show that it sees the work of art in few more dimensions that it had been done so far will our activity again attract the interest of the scholars of the general public”. These words of the patriarch of art History discipline seem relevant even after half a century, especially in the case of Indian Art History. Though have not achieved perfection Indian Art Historian did venture in the intricacy of some of the art historical riddles. Such an are is the study of the ancient Indian Artists, Here the names like M. A. Dhaky, R. N. Misra, Srinivas Padigar and K. V. Ramesh should be mentioned. Among these, all except Dhaky have based their views on the epigraphical or literal evidences. Dhaky, on the other hand, in his paper on the involvement of two guilds on the sculptural panels of the Dhumar Lena cave at Ellora had used the stylistic and morphological approach. He identified a Dravidian, may be a Calukyan sculptor at work on an individual figure in a relief where rest of the portions are sculpted by the other guild in action. Here there, an individual sculptor is being identified and appreciated. If we implement the same methodology in the case of Ajanta, we do feel that certain individualistic approach to the form, which had been left over by the specific painter and sculptor.
In the paintings of Ajanta we do see this individualistic approach jutting out from the total style of the site. An example can be illustrated with the comparison of the paintings of the Yakasa Shrine wall and that of the antechamber ceiling of Cave 2. The treatment of the background modulation of the contours of the figures seems as originated from single hand. In certain other cases the drawing remain the same though not the treatment. Here one should consider the possibility of a “Master Drawing”, made by one master or the “sutradhara” for different sculpted and painted panels. If we accept this possibility, yet another question do arise that the use of the same master drawing by the apprentices for both sculpture and painting. It seems at least in the architectural decoration this was the case. The best available proof for this aspect is the consanguinity between the painted porch doorway of cave 17 and the carved porch doorway of cave 1. If one would exclude the Manushi Buddhas from the master drawing of the cave 17 doorway, that would look the same as the master drawing of cave 1 porch doorway. The relation between the mandapa of cave 20 and that of cave 26 left wing can also be furnished as another proof for the master drawing theory.
**********
The activity of the master of the Mara Vijaya begins somewhere in the “hiatus” [hypothetically if one agrees to the chronology suggested by Prof. Spink] period of the Ajanta chronology. As Prof. Walter Spink points out that in the “Post-Hiatus period” the main activity at Ajanta had already faded out from caves 19, 17 and 20 which were the Rsikan sponsored caves. The nucleus now the Asmakan group of caves and its center of attraction – cave 26. Obviously in the Emperor’s cave activity continued without any disruption. The doorways of caves 21, 22, 23 and 24 have already finished and the ceiling of cave 21 begun to dazzle the onlooker with its charming hues and shades. But over and all the priority of the patron was to finish his chaitya grha (cave 26). Moreover, the monk in charge of the excavation, Bhadrabandhu, duly appointed by his teacher Buddhabhadra [as mentioned in the inscription of Cave 26] had a Herculean task, to surpass the beauty of the Gandhakuti (cave 19) [inscription of Cave 17 refer thus] in exuberance. Gandhakuti had a beautiful façade, with nicely carved Buddha images on either side of the porch doorway, proficiently decorated pillars and, with stupendous grandeur there stood the nidhi figures flanking the chaitya window. Bhadrabandhu of cave 26 had only one way to surpass this serenity, that was to décor his cave walls with imposing carvings depicting the life of Buddha and that of Jatakas. For this Bhadrabandhu could not have commissioned a better sculptor than the man of our concern – the “Master of Mara Vijaya”.
**********
The master looked quite worn out when he arrived at the site. A long journey along the caravans might weaken him a bit as his drooping shoulders and the ring around the eyes showed. But the spirit of his genius was never curtailed, as his eyes proclaimed. The boy with him looked bewildered – a typical apprentice clinching a grindstone as his master tool. Nobody know from where the master came, only they knew was that a caravan from Andhradesa passed the mountain pass previous day. The mere look of the master was sufficient to prove his genius. His wrinkled but firm hands proclaimed his intention – he wants to sculpt and nothing else. Bhadrabandhu never had a second thought. The master was commissioned to do any narrative panel on the life of Buddha. The old man entered the cave bowed the great Buddha on the stupa, paced along the left aisle, bowed at the master of the “Maha Parinirvana” Panel, went few steps further – turned back and looked at the aisle door way and the empty space on the cave wall next to him. His face brightened for the first time as he smiled. With deep voice which echoed in the cave interior he sang: a gatha from Buddha Charita:
“Though all the void of space rained swords upon my head,
Though limb by limb and joint by body were divided,
If I attain not to the other shore of life and death,
Never will I leave this Bodhitree”.
**********
A comparison between the chaitya grhas of the Mahayana phase at Ajanta, i.e., cave 19 and cave 26 would prove the anxiety and ambition of the patron of the latter cave. It would appear that the Asmakan watchword was nothing but – exuberance. This was emphasized because of three reasons, as it seems to be. First, as we mentioned above, the rivalry between the patrons second, to give a miraculous attire to the whole cave, and third the possible availability or even excess labor power of sculptors at the site.
Asmakans at the height of their glory did not appreciate their archrival’s (Rsikans) cave being the gem of the site. At any coast they had to surpass the beauty and elegance of the Rsikan Chaitya hall, Gandhakuti. The only way out was to adorn their cave with narrative sculptural panels and monumental Buddha images. Thus the scenes as Subjugation of Nalagiri, Litany of Avalokitesvara, Dipankara Buddha and the Inheritance scene were carved on the entablature. The right aisle was given space for the Maha parinirvana and the left aisle for the Buddha images.
Moreover the Asmakans or the clever stapati they employed, planned a new strategy that to use architectural motifs to embellish the entablature. A comparison of cave 19 entablature and that of cave 26 would prove this strategy of the stapati of cave 26. When cave 19 entablature had makara torana with padmapatra molding to flank the Buddha images and aquatic bulls and elephants to stand next to; Cave 26 Buddha images on the entablature were well placed in mandapas flanked by Avalokitesvaras. Underneath the mandapa there are hoards of ganas, semi aquatic creatures, keechakas and flying gandharvas. On top of the mandapa on the gavaksa motifs tiger cubs play hide and seek, unaware of the divine paraphernalia which they are part of. No space is left unembellished and this laborious work does succeed in achieving the exuberance the patron was aiming to.
*********
The Master was pretty sure what to carve as his disciple understood from the gatha master sang in front of the untouched rock surface of the left aisle of cave 26. But the master seems to be contemplating how to go about it.
“Whatever we carve however we slog on it we could never represent thousandth portion of the anxiety and victorious feeling “Thatagatha” experienced under the Boddhitree”, Master sighed.
“Master”, asked the obedient disciple, “You have traveled a lot and seen almost all aramas (monasteries) in this vast country. You might have come across a lot of representations of the Maravijaya theme. Tell me some thing about them”.
“Listen, 0 my son” Master started” once I was traveling in Malava Desa. The great stupa there on an idyllic hill over there has beautiful torana gateways narrate in silky voice the jatakas and the story of our lord. The torana on the north direction has a masterly depiction of the subject Maravijaya. The whole panel is full of udaramukhas, terrible looking ganas encircled the divine seat, which represents the Great Lord”
“Is it the best one you have seen, 0 master”
“0 no, my son”
“Why it is not the best, 0 Master”.
“Listen, 0 my son, It depicts only the terrible aspect of Mara’s attack. It does not show the Srngara aspect of the attack which only Sakya Muni could vanquish”.
“Is there any sculpture which shows the Srngara aspect, 0 Master?”
“Oh yes, my son. Once I went to Gandhara Desa and I saw one of the sangharamas there had a sculpture which showed the Srngara aspect through Mara Kanyas”.
“Is that the best, O Master?”
“No my son, Though it showed the Mara Kanyas it give importance to the dana aspect of the great Lord which he had attained in his previous birth as Vessantara. Thus the sculpture at Gandhara Desa did not glorify tathagatha’s life as Goutama but his previous life as Vessantara.”
“Tell me which is the best hitherto, O Master”
“Listen O my son, In Andhra Desa there is a stupa dedicated to the Great Lord, constructed with due reverence by the Ikshvaku Kings. On the drum of the stupa, there is a depiction of Mara Vijaya. It shows the grandeur and royal attire of the Mara King as he approaches on his great elephant to attack the Bodhisattva. The mara kanyas dance in front of the divine seat of the great lord with their sensuous bodies, exposing the charm of the samasara. Even the maligned monsters of the Mara’s army froze if the stupendous voluptuousness of these divine virgins. No one in the world could resist his passion overflowing, to join the enchanting rhythm of the dance of the Marakanyas – except the Sakya Muni who remained in vow that unless and until he attain the enlightenment he would not shift from his divine seat under the Bodhi tree on the banks of river Niranjana”.
“Is that the Best, O Master”
“No” Master smiled, “The best is yet to come”.
**********
The state of cave 26 was quite in a chaotic situation when the Maravijaya panel seems to have started. This assumption is based on the fact that we never see the workman ship of the Master of Mara vijaya put into use a second time in cave 26 or in any other cave at Ajanta. By the time the Master arrived at the site, Ajanta apparently was anticipating the final doom of its fate. The Rsikan caves were already sealed, and the work in the Emperor’s cave and the adjacent cave 2 were undergoing the finishing touches.
In the Asmakan group cave 21 was scooped completely and was under the carvers and painters. In the chaitya cave of the Asmakans i.e., cave 26, the verandah and the upper façade area has been embellished and the Buddha images on the left aisle were being carved. In this state of hurry and confusion and above all the anxiety, a much thought out sculpture like the Mara Vijaya panel appears as a wonder – a gold fish in the deluge.
Immediately after the scooping the interior of the chaitya cave (26) the sculptors might have worked on the stupa. As Prof. Walter Spink pointed out, the Buddha towards the right rear of the stupa might have carved first as the light fall directly there on the summer months than any other spot in the cave. Immediately after that few Buddha images might have been commissioned. The Maha Pari Nirvana Panel was assigned soon. The seated Buddha image on the right aisle was to be carved next. The Buddha image next to the Maha Pari Nirvana panel seems as if carved prior to the Mara Vijaya panel, otherwise the Master of Mara Vijaya would have definitely selected that particular spot for his work.
Structural analysis and comparison of the composition of the two panels i.e., Maha Pari Nirvana and Mara Vijaya would prove the chronological sequence of these panels.
In Maha Pari Nirvana the sculptor used the parallel composition with the intervening levels. For instance the figures in the level –1 (see fig 1 ), i.e., the celestial beings have no link with the figures of the 3rd level i.e., mourners other than through the figure in the level 2 i.e., the Dying Buddha. Thematically the figures of level 1 and level 3 have contradictory functions in the narrative structure. When the celestial beings of the level 1 rejoices the immortality of the Great Lord, the mourners of the level 3 wail on the mortal end of the great Teacher. The only character who acts as a link between these contradictory aspects, apart from the Dying Buddha is Ananda, who well aware of the immortality of the tathagatha mourns the death of Buddha, as any other mortal would do. Curiously, in the Maha Parinirvana Panel no figure has been repeated twice and no narrative flow is achieved nor implied. It is a frieze of great inaction –, as it has to be.
Celestial Beings
Ananda
Dying Buddha
Mourners
[Fig.1]
On the other hand Mar Vijaya panel has a ‘star shaped’ composition, which we would elaborate upon subsequently.
**********
“Master…. Master….” called out the disciple.
The silence of the afternoon siesta was disturbed a little by the young boy’s shrill voice. Few pigeons chirped on the chaitya arch flew away flapping their silver wings.
No one seemed to know where the Master of Mara Vijaya has disappeared except the porter who carried the rock boulders down the river.
“I saw him walking towards ‘Sapta kunda’ (Water fall)”
Disciple rushed towards ‘Satpa kunda’
Master was sitting on the bank of the pool underneath the waterfall, like an ascetic under penance.
He was staring into the depth of the water, throwing pebbles into it. Each pebble made a quiet circle of waves, which intercepted the waves of the previous pebble. The Master continued with lazy but rhythmic interludes.
The boy sat next to him – without disturbing him.
“Just as blue, red and white lotuses originate, grows up, make the appearance in water and yet not defiled by water; in the same way the Perfect One grows up in the world, subdues the world and yet not defiled by the world” Exclaimed the Master. “What an image?”
“And this great detachment was proved by the Perfect One’s Victory over Mara. Is it not Master?”
“Yes My son, You are right…Though the Great One begun his tug of war to detach from the worldly ties, say samsara, ever since his Great Departure (Maha Pari Nishkramana) his real breaking point was revealed during his triumph over the Mara”
“O Master, please explain me the philosophical implications of the Mara Vijaya Theme”.
“Listen, O My Son,” said the Master” through the victory over Mara the great lord expounded the two great asset of a perfect soul, jnana and dana. Because of his jnana or knowledge about the samsara the great one could sustain the raga / dvesha, two maligned faces of the samasara cheshta (worldly emotions / actions) which is supported by his dana in his previous births. For his jnana the witness is his conscience and for the dana the witness can be none else than the earth as dana is done in earth alone. When one aspect i.e., dana is material, the other, jnana is immaterial. Only the Great One who fulfilled these material and immaterial or in other words, the physical and spiritual requirement to achieve the Supreme Enlightenment. For this the triumph on Mara become an incident to prove the greatness of the great one”.
“That is why you selected this theme for your sculpture?” asked the eager boy.
“No, not only that; Bhaya and sringara are the most appealing sentiments. It appeared to me that in the life of Buddha, Mara Vijaya has the maximum possibility to expound these emotions without harming the greatness of the Buddha. In this panel, the more you put sensuous figures the more you include grotesque monsters the more you highlight the greatness of Buddha.”
“Like Asvaghosha”, the Master continued” who goes on describing the war, maras army waged on Buddha, as;
“One danced, shaking a trident,
Another made a crash dragging a club,
Another bounded with joy like a Bull,
Another blazed out flames from every hair”
Or
“A wind of intense violence blew in all directions
the stars did not shine, the moon gave no light,
And a deeper darkness of night spread around,
And all the oceans were agitated”.
“But Asvaghosha did not talk about the sringara aspect of Mara Vijaya”
“It is thus, because to Asvanghosha, Buddha had already vanquished the samsara maya during his “Maha Prinishkramana, where Asvaghosha a narrates in length the beauty of the place damsels, evident from the concluding statement of Siddharatha.
“If a man would but consider the natural state of women
And this change produced by sleep,
Assuredly he would not cherish his jolly;
But he is smitten from a right will and so succumb to passion”.
“If so, Master, you should have selected the Maha Parishkramana scene if you wanted to show sringara”.
“No my son, Maha Parinishkramana or the Maha Parinirvana does not have the narrative flow that which Mara Vijaya offers. More over the concept of crisis and victory over it is manifested only in the Mara Vijaya. The anguish of the spectators is well explained in ancient texts. As Asvaghosha says
“The Mountain deities and the nagas who honored the law,
Indignant at the attack on the saint,
Rolling their eyes in anger against Mara,
Have deep sighs and opened their mouth wide”.
Thus there is an explicit tension created in the whole description – the paramount point of the great ones struggle”.
The Master and disciple walked past the river Waghora when the sun struggled to touch the feet of the Buddha of the emperor’s cave with his golden rays.
**********
If one analyze the inscription of cave 26 at Ajanta it would appear as if Mara Vijaya is the Master theme of the cave. The inscription emphasizes on the basic virtues as charity, welfare, revelation, compassion, immannucipation and the victory over passion. Only the Mara Vijaya could represent all these from the life of Buddha. Interestingly the Mara Vijaya become a popular theme in the twilight of the art activity at Ajanta.
The verse No. 1 of cave 26 inscription propagates the virtues as welfare of the people and charity. Verse No. 5 and verse Nos. 9 to 13, describe the charity and refer to the concept of the rebirth. Verse No. 15 concludes thus; “Whatever merit is here, may be that be fore the attainment of the fortune (in the shape) of the supreme knowledge as well as the multitude of all pure qualities by them and by (all the beings in all the three) worlds”.
In the life of Buddha, only the Mara Vijaya episode contains synoptically the principles of virtue, welfare, charity and the victory over passion and the supreme knowledge. The great ones virtue lead him to the Boddhi tree, the quest for the welfare of the fellow beings initiated his penance, his victory over passion made him victorious over the ordeals of the Mara and the charity lead him to Boddha, the supreme knowledge.
**********
Every one at the site came to see the cartoon of the Mara Vijaya panel drawn with red chalk on the wall of the aisle of cave 26 with steady hands exhibiting great mastery over the form and contour. Master finished the drawing in one morning itself.
“He never even stopped to think and never drew over the lines” wondered the disciple.
The Mara in the drawing was the Mara Raja revered with all the divine attributes. The Mara Bhrithyas are eager for the final assault. The Mara kanyas tied bells to their anklets for the dance.
The boy sat in front of the yet to be sculpted panel, staring at the drawing never able to take his eyes off it. The whole drama of the enlightenment scene unfolded in front of him.
The fortieth day, on the banks of river Niranjana the breeze grew chiller, in the air there grew an anxiety anticipating some unprecedented happening. Boddhisatva sat with his face towards east with a divine aura developing around him. Then there appeared Mara with a dizzy head because of the previous nights dreams. Along with came personification of world maligned feelings enjoying themselves in their grotesque state. Emulating flames, terrifying the terrible. Bodhiasattva sat there; firm on his Kusa grass seat, his divine aura changing into an all consuming fire, scaring the scary marabhrutyas. The next moment the whole atmosphere changed. There was intoxicating fragrance from millions of unknown flowers the wind brought soft whisperings and suppressed giggles and there heard lazy footsteps evident from the tickling sound of the anklets…. And behold…. There appeared the Mara Kanyas…..
“Please come this way, O Great Monk,” said some one.
The startled boy turned back to, see Buddhabhadra himself.
Buddhabhadra stood in front of the sculpture as his eager eyes graced each figure. He turned towards the Master only see to see him engrossed in appreciating in the drawing every figure of it every line of it. Buddha Bhadra smiled approvingly and gave an affectionate smile to Buddhabandhu.
“Pray, O Master, say something about it,” Buddhabhadra broke the silence.
“O, Great Monk, I started to build up the composition from the monastic concept that, there is the great lord and every things happens around him, but he is never part of it. Here the Buddha remains calm engrossed in his penance, and Mara’s attack encircles him, but fails to affect him. Thus symbolically there is lord; the omnipotent, the omnipresent remaining in the center of the samsara, though never touched by its malice”.
“So…. Did you use the spiral composition?” asked Buddha Bhadra.
“No. I used a typical composition, quite new to this part of the country called “Star Pattern”.
“Oh, how is that?”
“This way, please look here o great Monk” said the master looking more relaxed now as his movements become more free.
“He is into his world, where he is the soul ruler,” thought the disciple.
“Here the Mara approaches on his royal elephant and attacks the lord through the monsters the emphasis is on the Bhaya aspect” said the master pointing to the upper left of the panel, “and we have him here in the retreating position on the lower left, discussing with Mara Kanyas…
**********
[Panel.1]
Mara’s Arrival
&
Attack of Ferocious
Udaramukhas
Celebration of Celestial Beings
[Panel.5]
Question on Dana
&
Mara’s Final retreat
Buddha
[Panel.2]
Mara’s Retreat [1]
[Panel.3]
Attack of Mara
MaraKanya’s Dance
[Panel.4]
Mara’s Retreat [2]
[Fig.2]
If one analyze the compositional pattern of Mara Vijaya panel, it would appear that the master was right to call it the “star Pattern”. The upper left of the panel has the Mara’s attack (see Fig.2). Next to it the lower level has the retreating Mara. Then the attack of Mara through Mara Kanyas, again a retreat is shown. Thus there are alternative placement of attack and retreat. Say, panel 1, 3, 5 are attacks and 2, 4 are retreat.
**********
“Still you have not explained the empty space beneath the seat of the Great Lord” queried Buddha Bhadra.
“That symbolically represents the earth, who is the witness of the great lord’s enlightenment. More than a witness she supports him; to support to his Karmas, supports to his danas support to his jnana. The space around Buddha can be explained thus,
“ The fire engulfs him,
Earth supports him
And the sky venerates him.”
"Great," exclaimed Buddha Bhadra repeating unaware of the surrounding as he walked away “Fire engulfs, Earth supports and the sky venerates.”
**********
The Mara Vijaya panel presents an anxious interlude between the great penance and the enlightenment of Buddha. Like the climax scene of a theatrical performance, the approaching villain challenges the dignity and ideology of the hero and the hero vanquishes him through his virtues. The master of Mara Vijaya at Ajanta was well informed of the textual narratives eolising the Mara Vijaya theme. To furnish few examples, one of the texts says that the Mara Raja had bad dreams in the previous night and had dizzy head. In Ajanta, the Mara holds his head with Left hand. Another text refers thus “hearing the news of the great penance Mara rushed to the scene”. Here Mara is goading the elephant so that it would rush to the scene. On the other side of the panel the same gesture is used to show his feeling away. The use of single gesture to signify two aspects is an interesting aspect no doubt. The fully opened palms of the Marabhrityas mean attack on one side and reverence in the other.
The lower portion of the panel is reserved for Sringara attitude. The dancing Mara Kanya of this relief is one of the best-sculpted female figures in Ajanta. She sways little towards right and shoots her glances to left. The paraphernalia of a performance is created with the girl with flowers and female percussionists. The next scene shows the disillusioned Mara Kanyas shocked by the words of Buddha. The jumping female figure on the left of the Marakanya can be the figure of Bhumi who appears to proclaim that she is the witness to the dana which Buddha had done in his life as Vessantara. Her personification can be observed in few of the Maravijaya panels from Gandhara region. Or it can be a marakanya also who according to one of the texts takes of her cloths to entice Buddha, as the figure in discussion holds a folded cloth in her right hand while proclaiming something with her hand next to her mouth.
Most interesting thing in this panel is the play of light. Though the light source is on the left parallel to the sculpted phase. Master of Mara Vijaya used the curvilinear carving technique, which can be observed, in the caves as Rameshvara cave at Ellora and Elephanta caves.
Thus, the sculptor of this panel initiates monumental rock cut sculptures rooted greatly in the narrative tradition of the Buddhist art, which would bear fruit in the caves of Elephanta and culminate in magnificence of Ellora. An art historian may wonder – “Isn’t Mara Vijaya panel, the best sculpture of 5th century A.D., a break point from austere classicism to the exuberant Mannerism”.
**********
It was a gloomy day. The horse rider was exhausted from a long ride and his face showed the worry of his mind. He walked straight to Buddha Bandhu.
Soon the news spread.
The Emperor is dead.
A thunderstorm passed over Ajanta.
The guilds started packing their belongings.
The sound of the chisels now gave way for the cries of cartmen and the fading sound of the bells of the bulls.
Silence of death prevailed.
“Master are we leaving too”.
“Not ‘we’, I am leaving”.
“What about me?”
Master looked into the ages of the boy as he passed a chisel into his hand. The cold metal vibrated in the hands of the disciple giving shivers on his spine as he heard the echoing voice of his master.
“Find your own way, O Master”, said the Master of Mara Vijaya in choking voice.
At the door of the cave Master turned back and looked at his masterpiece for the last time.
He touched the shoulder of the boy – now in tears.
He walked away –along the river Waghora as the sun was setting behind the western horizon.
Leaving Ajanta in darkness.
- A prolonged one.
**********
Endnote: This article is based on the chronological hypothesis of Prof.Walter Spink whose personality has influenced the creation of the character of the Master of Mara Vijaya. The verses are from Ananda Coomaraswamy’s book “Life of Buddha”. It is not an art historical paper nor fiction but merely a Tribute to a sculptor of ancient India. Not just a sculptor, but a master indeed.
“MASTER OF MARAVIJAYA”
AT AJANTA
Jayaram Poduval
“Pleasure is brief as a flash of lightning,
Or like an autumn shower, only for a moment.
Why should I then covet the pleasure you speak of,
I see your bodies are full of all impurity,
Birth and Death, Sickness and Age are yours
I seek the highest prize, hard to attain by men,
The true and constant wisdom of the wise”.
: Buddha
**********
In the evening, Siddharta Goutama made his way to the Bodhi tree on the bank of River Niranjana. He was resolute that, “though my skin my nerves and my bones should waste away and my life blood dry I will not leave this seat until I have attained the Supreme, enlightenment”. He took his seat at the foot of the tree facing east. Soon the prince of an inconsequential state of Kapilavastu was to attain unprecedented feat of his life, the Buddha hood through the enlightenment. But prior to that he had to go through the ordeal of Mara and the consequent victory over Mara.
******
Mara Vijaya appear to be the most dramatic episode taken shape in the life of the “great one”. The ancient Buddhist authors were excited in describing this great event. No wonder its repercussions are audible in the plastic art also. Any one visited Ajanta Caves would never forget the awe he experienced in the left aisle of cave 26. For a moment he forgets who he is and where he stands, the life around him disappear behind the aura of the power of expression radiating from the sculpture he pears into – the victory of Buddha on Mara; the Mara Vijaya. He hears only a thunderous voice thus proclaims;
“The Blessed Buddha – he hath prevailed;
And the tempter is overthrown”
This paper is tribute to the master who carved this great relief. We have no names for this master (with every sense of that word) sculptor; thus I would like to call him “Master of Mara Vijaya”.
**********
Any Warburg wrote thus in 1927, “not until art History can show that it sees the work of art in few more dimensions that it had been done so far will our activity again attract the interest of the scholars of the general public”. These words of the patriarch of art History discipline seem relevant even after half a century, especially in the case of Indian Art History. Though have not achieved perfection Indian Art Historian did venture in the intricacy of some of the art historical riddles. Such an are is the study of the ancient Indian Artists, Here the names like M. A. Dhaky, R. N. Misra, Srinivas Padigar and K. V. Ramesh should be mentioned. Among these, all except Dhaky have based their views on the epigraphical or literal evidences. Dhaky, on the other hand, in his paper on the involvement of two guilds on the sculptural panels of the Dhumar Lena cave at Ellora had used the stylistic and morphological approach. He identified a Dravidian, may be a Calukyan sculptor at work on an individual figure in a relief where rest of the portions are sculpted by the other guild in action. Here there, an individual sculptor is being identified and appreciated. If we implement the same methodology in the case of Ajanta, we do feel that certain individualistic approach to the form, which had been left over by the specific painter and sculptor.
In the paintings of Ajanta we do see this individualistic approach jutting out from the total style of the site. An example can be illustrated with the comparison of the paintings of the Yakasa Shrine wall and that of the antechamber ceiling of Cave 2. The treatment of the background modulation of the contours of the figures seems as originated from single hand. In certain other cases the drawing remain the same though not the treatment. Here one should consider the possibility of a “Master Drawing”, made by one master or the “sutradhara” for different sculpted and painted panels. If we accept this possibility, yet another question do arise that the use of the same master drawing by the apprentices for both sculpture and painting. It seems at least in the architectural decoration this was the case. The best available proof for this aspect is the consanguinity between the painted porch doorway of cave 17 and the carved porch doorway of cave 1. If one would exclude the Manushi Buddhas from the master drawing of the cave 17 doorway, that would look the same as the master drawing of cave 1 porch doorway. The relation between the mandapa of cave 20 and that of cave 26 left wing can also be furnished as another proof for the master drawing theory.
**********
The activity of the master of the Mara Vijaya begins somewhere in the “hiatus” [hypothetically if one agrees to the chronology suggested by Prof. Spink] period of the Ajanta chronology. As Prof. Walter Spink points out that in the “Post-Hiatus period” the main activity at Ajanta had already faded out from caves 19, 17 and 20 which were the Rsikan sponsored caves. The nucleus now the Asmakan group of caves and its center of attraction – cave 26. Obviously in the Emperor’s cave activity continued without any disruption. The doorways of caves 21, 22, 23 and 24 have already finished and the ceiling of cave 21 begun to dazzle the onlooker with its charming hues and shades. But over and all the priority of the patron was to finish his chaitya grha (cave 26). Moreover, the monk in charge of the excavation, Bhadrabandhu, duly appointed by his teacher Buddhabhadra [as mentioned in the inscription of Cave 26] had a Herculean task, to surpass the beauty of the Gandhakuti (cave 19) [inscription of Cave 17 refer thus] in exuberance. Gandhakuti had a beautiful façade, with nicely carved Buddha images on either side of the porch doorway, proficiently decorated pillars and, with stupendous grandeur there stood the nidhi figures flanking the chaitya window. Bhadrabandhu of cave 26 had only one way to surpass this serenity, that was to décor his cave walls with imposing carvings depicting the life of Buddha and that of Jatakas. For this Bhadrabandhu could not have commissioned a better sculptor than the man of our concern – the “Master of Mara Vijaya”.
**********
The master looked quite worn out when he arrived at the site. A long journey along the caravans might weaken him a bit as his drooping shoulders and the ring around the eyes showed. But the spirit of his genius was never curtailed, as his eyes proclaimed. The boy with him looked bewildered – a typical apprentice clinching a grindstone as his master tool. Nobody know from where the master came, only they knew was that a caravan from Andhradesa passed the mountain pass previous day. The mere look of the master was sufficient to prove his genius. His wrinkled but firm hands proclaimed his intention – he wants to sculpt and nothing else. Bhadrabandhu never had a second thought. The master was commissioned to do any narrative panel on the life of Buddha. The old man entered the cave bowed the great Buddha on the stupa, paced along the left aisle, bowed at the master of the “Maha Parinirvana” Panel, went few steps further – turned back and looked at the aisle door way and the empty space on the cave wall next to him. His face brightened for the first time as he smiled. With deep voice which echoed in the cave interior he sang: a gatha from Buddha Charita:
“Though all the void of space rained swords upon my head,
Though limb by limb and joint by body were divided,
If I attain not to the other shore of life and death,
Never will I leave this Bodhitree”.
**********
A comparison between the chaitya grhas of the Mahayana phase at Ajanta, i.e., cave 19 and cave 26 would prove the anxiety and ambition of the patron of the latter cave. It would appear that the Asmakan watchword was nothing but – exuberance. This was emphasized because of three reasons, as it seems to be. First, as we mentioned above, the rivalry between the patrons second, to give a miraculous attire to the whole cave, and third the possible availability or even excess labor power of sculptors at the site.
Asmakans at the height of their glory did not appreciate their archrival’s (Rsikans) cave being the gem of the site. At any coast they had to surpass the beauty and elegance of the Rsikan Chaitya hall, Gandhakuti. The only way out was to adorn their cave with narrative sculptural panels and monumental Buddha images. Thus the scenes as Subjugation of Nalagiri, Litany of Avalokitesvara, Dipankara Buddha and the Inheritance scene were carved on the entablature. The right aisle was given space for the Maha parinirvana and the left aisle for the Buddha images.
Moreover the Asmakans or the clever stapati they employed, planned a new strategy that to use architectural motifs to embellish the entablature. A comparison of cave 19 entablature and that of cave 26 would prove this strategy of the stapati of cave 26. When cave 19 entablature had makara torana with padmapatra molding to flank the Buddha images and aquatic bulls and elephants to stand next to; Cave 26 Buddha images on the entablature were well placed in mandapas flanked by Avalokitesvaras. Underneath the mandapa there are hoards of ganas, semi aquatic creatures, keechakas and flying gandharvas. On top of the mandapa on the gavaksa motifs tiger cubs play hide and seek, unaware of the divine paraphernalia which they are part of. No space is left unembellished and this laborious work does succeed in achieving the exuberance the patron was aiming to.
*********
The Master was pretty sure what to carve as his disciple understood from the gatha master sang in front of the untouched rock surface of the left aisle of cave 26. But the master seems to be contemplating how to go about it.
“Whatever we carve however we slog on it we could never represent thousandth portion of the anxiety and victorious feeling “Thatagatha” experienced under the Boddhitree”, Master sighed.
“Master”, asked the obedient disciple, “You have traveled a lot and seen almost all aramas (monasteries) in this vast country. You might have come across a lot of representations of the Maravijaya theme. Tell me some thing about them”.
“Listen, 0 my son” Master started” once I was traveling in Malava Desa. The great stupa there on an idyllic hill over there has beautiful torana gateways narrate in silky voice the jatakas and the story of our lord. The torana on the north direction has a masterly depiction of the subject Maravijaya. The whole panel is full of udaramukhas, terrible looking ganas encircled the divine seat, which represents the Great Lord”
“Is it the best one you have seen, 0 master”
“0 no, my son”
“Why it is not the best, 0 Master”.
“Listen, 0 my son, It depicts only the terrible aspect of Mara’s attack. It does not show the Srngara aspect of the attack which only Sakya Muni could vanquish”.
“Is there any sculpture which shows the Srngara aspect, 0 Master?”
“Oh yes, my son. Once I went to Gandhara Desa and I saw one of the sangharamas there had a sculpture which showed the Srngara aspect through Mara Kanyas”.
“Is that the best, O Master?”
“No my son, Though it showed the Mara Kanyas it give importance to the dana aspect of the great Lord which he had attained in his previous birth as Vessantara. Thus the sculpture at Gandhara Desa did not glorify tathagatha’s life as Goutama but his previous life as Vessantara.”
“Tell me which is the best hitherto, O Master”
“Listen O my son, In Andhra Desa there is a stupa dedicated to the Great Lord, constructed with due reverence by the Ikshvaku Kings. On the drum of the stupa, there is a depiction of Mara Vijaya. It shows the grandeur and royal attire of the Mara King as he approaches on his great elephant to attack the Bodhisattva. The mara kanyas dance in front of the divine seat of the great lord with their sensuous bodies, exposing the charm of the samasara. Even the maligned monsters of the Mara’s army froze if the stupendous voluptuousness of these divine virgins. No one in the world could resist his passion overflowing, to join the enchanting rhythm of the dance of the Marakanyas – except the Sakya Muni who remained in vow that unless and until he attain the enlightenment he would not shift from his divine seat under the Bodhi tree on the banks of river Niranjana”.
“Is that the Best, O Master”
“No” Master smiled, “The best is yet to come”.
**********
The state of cave 26 was quite in a chaotic situation when the Maravijaya panel seems to have started. This assumption is based on the fact that we never see the workman ship of the Master of Mara vijaya put into use a second time in cave 26 or in any other cave at Ajanta. By the time the Master arrived at the site, Ajanta apparently was anticipating the final doom of its fate. The Rsikan caves were already sealed, and the work in the Emperor’s cave and the adjacent cave 2 were undergoing the finishing touches.
In the Asmakan group cave 21 was scooped completely and was under the carvers and painters. In the chaitya cave of the Asmakans i.e., cave 26, the verandah and the upper façade area has been embellished and the Buddha images on the left aisle were being carved. In this state of hurry and confusion and above all the anxiety, a much thought out sculpture like the Mara Vijaya panel appears as a wonder – a gold fish in the deluge.
Immediately after the scooping the interior of the chaitya cave (26) the sculptors might have worked on the stupa. As Prof. Walter Spink pointed out, the Buddha towards the right rear of the stupa might have carved first as the light fall directly there on the summer months than any other spot in the cave. Immediately after that few Buddha images might have been commissioned. The Maha Pari Nirvana Panel was assigned soon. The seated Buddha image on the right aisle was to be carved next. The Buddha image next to the Maha Pari Nirvana panel seems as if carved prior to the Mara Vijaya panel, otherwise the Master of Mara Vijaya would have definitely selected that particular spot for his work.
Structural analysis and comparison of the composition of the two panels i.e., Maha Pari Nirvana and Mara Vijaya would prove the chronological sequence of these panels.
In Maha Pari Nirvana the sculptor used the parallel composition with the intervening levels. For instance the figures in the level –1 (see fig 1 ), i.e., the celestial beings have no link with the figures of the 3rd level i.e., mourners other than through the figure in the level 2 i.e., the Dying Buddha. Thematically the figures of level 1 and level 3 have contradictory functions in the narrative structure. When the celestial beings of the level 1 rejoices the immortality of the Great Lord, the mourners of the level 3 wail on the mortal end of the great Teacher. The only character who acts as a link between these contradictory aspects, apart from the Dying Buddha is Ananda, who well aware of the immortality of the tathagatha mourns the death of Buddha, as any other mortal would do. Curiously, in the Maha Parinirvana Panel no figure has been repeated twice and no narrative flow is achieved nor implied. It is a frieze of great inaction –, as it has to be.
Celestial Beings
Ananda
Dying Buddha
Mourners
[Fig.1]
On the other hand Mar Vijaya panel has a ‘star shaped’ composition, which we would elaborate upon subsequently.
**********
“Master…. Master….” called out the disciple.
The silence of the afternoon siesta was disturbed a little by the young boy’s shrill voice. Few pigeons chirped on the chaitya arch flew away flapping their silver wings.
No one seemed to know where the Master of Mara Vijaya has disappeared except the porter who carried the rock boulders down the river.
“I saw him walking towards ‘Sapta kunda’ (Water fall)”
Disciple rushed towards ‘Satpa kunda’
Master was sitting on the bank of the pool underneath the waterfall, like an ascetic under penance.
He was staring into the depth of the water, throwing pebbles into it. Each pebble made a quiet circle of waves, which intercepted the waves of the previous pebble. The Master continued with lazy but rhythmic interludes.
The boy sat next to him – without disturbing him.
“Just as blue, red and white lotuses originate, grows up, make the appearance in water and yet not defiled by water; in the same way the Perfect One grows up in the world, subdues the world and yet not defiled by the world” Exclaimed the Master. “What an image?”
“And this great detachment was proved by the Perfect One’s Victory over Mara. Is it not Master?”
“Yes My son, You are right…Though the Great One begun his tug of war to detach from the worldly ties, say samsara, ever since his Great Departure (Maha Pari Nishkramana) his real breaking point was revealed during his triumph over the Mara”
“O Master, please explain me the philosophical implications of the Mara Vijaya Theme”.
“Listen, O My Son,” said the Master” through the victory over Mara the great lord expounded the two great asset of a perfect soul, jnana and dana. Because of his jnana or knowledge about the samsara the great one could sustain the raga / dvesha, two maligned faces of the samasara cheshta (worldly emotions / actions) which is supported by his dana in his previous births. For his jnana the witness is his conscience and for the dana the witness can be none else than the earth as dana is done in earth alone. When one aspect i.e., dana is material, the other, jnana is immaterial. Only the Great One who fulfilled these material and immaterial or in other words, the physical and spiritual requirement to achieve the Supreme Enlightenment. For this the triumph on Mara become an incident to prove the greatness of the great one”.
“That is why you selected this theme for your sculpture?” asked the eager boy.
“No, not only that; Bhaya and sringara are the most appealing sentiments. It appeared to me that in the life of Buddha, Mara Vijaya has the maximum possibility to expound these emotions without harming the greatness of the Buddha. In this panel, the more you put sensuous figures the more you include grotesque monsters the more you highlight the greatness of Buddha.”
“Like Asvaghosha”, the Master continued” who goes on describing the war, maras army waged on Buddha, as;
“One danced, shaking a trident,
Another made a crash dragging a club,
Another bounded with joy like a Bull,
Another blazed out flames from every hair”
Or
“A wind of intense violence blew in all directions
the stars did not shine, the moon gave no light,
And a deeper darkness of night spread around,
And all the oceans were agitated”.
“But Asvaghosha did not talk about the sringara aspect of Mara Vijaya”
“It is thus, because to Asvanghosha, Buddha had already vanquished the samsara maya during his “Maha Prinishkramana, where Asvaghosha a narrates in length the beauty of the place damsels, evident from the concluding statement of Siddharatha.
“If a man would but consider the natural state of women
And this change produced by sleep,
Assuredly he would not cherish his jolly;
But he is smitten from a right will and so succumb to passion”.
“If so, Master, you should have selected the Maha Parishkramana scene if you wanted to show sringara”.
“No my son, Maha Parinishkramana or the Maha Parinirvana does not have the narrative flow that which Mara Vijaya offers. More over the concept of crisis and victory over it is manifested only in the Mara Vijaya. The anguish of the spectators is well explained in ancient texts. As Asvaghosha says
“The Mountain deities and the nagas who honored the law,
Indignant at the attack on the saint,
Rolling their eyes in anger against Mara,
Have deep sighs and opened their mouth wide”.
Thus there is an explicit tension created in the whole description – the paramount point of the great ones struggle”.
The Master and disciple walked past the river Waghora when the sun struggled to touch the feet of the Buddha of the emperor’s cave with his golden rays.
**********
If one analyze the inscription of cave 26 at Ajanta it would appear as if Mara Vijaya is the Master theme of the cave. The inscription emphasizes on the basic virtues as charity, welfare, revelation, compassion, immannucipation and the victory over passion. Only the Mara Vijaya could represent all these from the life of Buddha. Interestingly the Mara Vijaya become a popular theme in the twilight of the art activity at Ajanta.
The verse No. 1 of cave 26 inscription propagates the virtues as welfare of the people and charity. Verse No. 5 and verse Nos. 9 to 13, describe the charity and refer to the concept of the rebirth. Verse No. 15 concludes thus; “Whatever merit is here, may be that be fore the attainment of the fortune (in the shape) of the supreme knowledge as well as the multitude of all pure qualities by them and by (all the beings in all the three) worlds”.
In the life of Buddha, only the Mara Vijaya episode contains synoptically the principles of virtue, welfare, charity and the victory over passion and the supreme knowledge. The great ones virtue lead him to the Boddhi tree, the quest for the welfare of the fellow beings initiated his penance, his victory over passion made him victorious over the ordeals of the Mara and the charity lead him to Boddha, the supreme knowledge.
**********
Every one at the site came to see the cartoon of the Mara Vijaya panel drawn with red chalk on the wall of the aisle of cave 26 with steady hands exhibiting great mastery over the form and contour. Master finished the drawing in one morning itself.
“He never even stopped to think and never drew over the lines” wondered the disciple.
The Mara in the drawing was the Mara Raja revered with all the divine attributes. The Mara Bhrithyas are eager for the final assault. The Mara kanyas tied bells to their anklets for the dance.
The boy sat in front of the yet to be sculpted panel, staring at the drawing never able to take his eyes off it. The whole drama of the enlightenment scene unfolded in front of him.
The fortieth day, on the banks of river Niranjana the breeze grew chiller, in the air there grew an anxiety anticipating some unprecedented happening. Boddhisatva sat with his face towards east with a divine aura developing around him. Then there appeared Mara with a dizzy head because of the previous nights dreams. Along with came personification of world maligned feelings enjoying themselves in their grotesque state. Emulating flames, terrifying the terrible. Bodhiasattva sat there; firm on his Kusa grass seat, his divine aura changing into an all consuming fire, scaring the scary marabhrutyas. The next moment the whole atmosphere changed. There was intoxicating fragrance from millions of unknown flowers the wind brought soft whisperings and suppressed giggles and there heard lazy footsteps evident from the tickling sound of the anklets…. And behold…. There appeared the Mara Kanyas…..
“Please come this way, O Great Monk,” said some one.
The startled boy turned back to, see Buddhabhadra himself.
Buddhabhadra stood in front of the sculpture as his eager eyes graced each figure. He turned towards the Master only see to see him engrossed in appreciating in the drawing every figure of it every line of it. Buddha Bhadra smiled approvingly and gave an affectionate smile to Buddhabandhu.
“Pray, O Master, say something about it,” Buddhabhadra broke the silence.
“O, Great Monk, I started to build up the composition from the monastic concept that, there is the great lord and every things happens around him, but he is never part of it. Here the Buddha remains calm engrossed in his penance, and Mara’s attack encircles him, but fails to affect him. Thus symbolically there is lord; the omnipotent, the omnipresent remaining in the center of the samsara, though never touched by its malice”.
“So…. Did you use the spiral composition?” asked Buddha Bhadra.
“No. I used a typical composition, quite new to this part of the country called “Star Pattern”.
“Oh, how is that?”
“This way, please look here o great Monk” said the master looking more relaxed now as his movements become more free.
“He is into his world, where he is the soul ruler,” thought the disciple.
“Here the Mara approaches on his royal elephant and attacks the lord through the monsters the emphasis is on the Bhaya aspect” said the master pointing to the upper left of the panel, “and we have him here in the retreating position on the lower left, discussing with Mara Kanyas…
**********
[Panel.1]
Mara’s Arrival
&
Attack of Ferocious
Udaramukhas
Celebration of Celestial Beings
[Panel.5]
Question on Dana
&
Mara’s Final retreat
Buddha
[Panel.2]
Mara’s Retreat [1]
[Panel.3]
Attack of Mara
MaraKanya’s Dance
[Panel.4]
Mara’s Retreat [2]
[Fig.2]
If one analyze the compositional pattern of Mara Vijaya panel, it would appear that the master was right to call it the “star Pattern”. The upper left of the panel has the Mara’s attack (see Fig.2). Next to it the lower level has the retreating Mara. Then the attack of Mara through Mara Kanyas, again a retreat is shown. Thus there are alternative placement of attack and retreat. Say, panel 1, 3, 5 are attacks and 2, 4 are retreat.
**********
“Still you have not explained the empty space beneath the seat of the Great Lord” queried Buddha Bhadra.
“That symbolically represents the earth, who is the witness of the great lord’s enlightenment. More than a witness she supports him; to support to his Karmas, supports to his danas support to his jnana. The space around Buddha can be explained thus,
“ The fire engulfs him,
Earth supports him
And the sky venerates him.”
"Great," exclaimed Buddha Bhadra repeating unaware of the surrounding as he walked away “Fire engulfs, Earth supports and the sky venerates.”
**********
The Mara Vijaya panel presents an anxious interlude between the great penance and the enlightenment of Buddha. Like the climax scene of a theatrical performance, the approaching villain challenges the dignity and ideology of the hero and the hero vanquishes him through his virtues. The master of Mara Vijaya at Ajanta was well informed of the textual narratives eolising the Mara Vijaya theme. To furnish few examples, one of the texts says that the Mara Raja had bad dreams in the previous night and had dizzy head. In Ajanta, the Mara holds his head with Left hand. Another text refers thus “hearing the news of the great penance Mara rushed to the scene”. Here Mara is goading the elephant so that it would rush to the scene. On the other side of the panel the same gesture is used to show his feeling away. The use of single gesture to signify two aspects is an interesting aspect no doubt. The fully opened palms of the Marabhrityas mean attack on one side and reverence in the other.
The lower portion of the panel is reserved for Sringara attitude. The dancing Mara Kanya of this relief is one of the best-sculpted female figures in Ajanta. She sways little towards right and shoots her glances to left. The paraphernalia of a performance is created with the girl with flowers and female percussionists. The next scene shows the disillusioned Mara Kanyas shocked by the words of Buddha. The jumping female figure on the left of the Marakanya can be the figure of Bhumi who appears to proclaim that she is the witness to the dana which Buddha had done in his life as Vessantara. Her personification can be observed in few of the Maravijaya panels from Gandhara region. Or it can be a marakanya also who according to one of the texts takes of her cloths to entice Buddha, as the figure in discussion holds a folded cloth in her right hand while proclaiming something with her hand next to her mouth.
Most interesting thing in this panel is the play of light. Though the light source is on the left parallel to the sculpted phase. Master of Mara Vijaya used the curvilinear carving technique, which can be observed, in the caves as Rameshvara cave at Ellora and Elephanta caves.
Thus, the sculptor of this panel initiates monumental rock cut sculptures rooted greatly in the narrative tradition of the Buddhist art, which would bear fruit in the caves of Elephanta and culminate in magnificence of Ellora. An art historian may wonder – “Isn’t Mara Vijaya panel, the best sculpture of 5th century A.D., a break point from austere classicism to the exuberant Mannerism”.
**********
It was a gloomy day. The horse rider was exhausted from a long ride and his face showed the worry of his mind. He walked straight to Buddha Bandhu.
Soon the news spread.
The Emperor is dead.
A thunderstorm passed over Ajanta.
The guilds started packing their belongings.
The sound of the chisels now gave way for the cries of cartmen and the fading sound of the bells of the bulls.
Silence of death prevailed.
“Master are we leaving too”.
“Not ‘we’, I am leaving”.
“What about me?”
Master looked into the ages of the boy as he passed a chisel into his hand. The cold metal vibrated in the hands of the disciple giving shivers on his spine as he heard the echoing voice of his master.
“Find your own way, O Master”, said the Master of Mara Vijaya in choking voice.
At the door of the cave Master turned back and looked at his masterpiece for the last time.
He touched the shoulder of the boy – now in tears.
He walked away –along the river Waghora as the sun was setting behind the western horizon.
Leaving Ajanta in darkness.
- A prolonged one.
**********
Endnote: This article is based on the chronological hypothesis of Prof.Walter Spink whose personality has influenced the creation of the character of the Master of Mara Vijaya. The verses are from Ananda Coomaraswamy’s book “Life of Buddha”. It is not an art historical paper nor fiction but merely a Tribute to a sculptor of ancient India. Not just a sculptor, but a master indeed.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
