Home | Biodata | Biography | Photo Gallery | Publications | Tributes
Archaeology
|
Home | Biodata | Biography | Photo Gallery | Publications | Tributes Archaeology |
|
Multi-pillared halls called kalyana mandapas were built in many temples during the sixteenth century for celebrating the annual ceremonial marriage of the god and goddess.1 The kalyana mandapa at Vellore fort and one at the Varadaraja temple, Kanchi, are well-known examples. The existence of a kalyana mandapa at the Baktavatsala temple, Tirukazhukunram, at the foot of the hill, is not so well-known. It is generally difficult to say when a particular kalyana mandapa was built, but recent studies on individual temples have thrown some light on the date of construction. The structure at Kanchi2 is assigned to the latter half of the sixteenth century and it belongs to the Vijayanagar period. The Vijayanagar period is commonly reckoned to end in 1565 and the period immediately following it is called the Nayak period. Even though there is no inscriptional evidence on the date of Vellore mandapa, it is commonly assigned to the post-Vijayanagar period.
The kalyana mandapas now look bare but during the Vijayanagar period they would have appeared very colourful. It was a practice in those days to cover stone as well as wooden pillars with gilt and to hang rich cloth on the supports and the ceiling.3
Even though we cannot fully imagine how these buildings would have looked like during the sixteenth century we can still get a glimpse of that period and its people from the sculptures. We can study the dress and ornaments of the people of that period. We can see the horses and the chieftains who rode them. The jugglers, the snake-charmers, the clowns and the soldiers, the folk arts they practised, the hunting scenes and the weapons they used. All these and many more we can observe and enjoy.
Dress and Ornaments
During the Vijayanagar and the Nayak periods pearl-fishery had developed rapidly in the Tirunelveli area around Kayal Patinam. This increase in pearl-trade is reflected in the increased use of pearls in ornaments. A typical ear-ornament for men in this period consisted of four large pearls arranged in the form of a cube with a pearl at each corner (Figure 1). It is also shown on Manmatha as well as Krishna but not on female figures. One may easily mistake it for a gold ornament since it looks similar to the gold ornaments worn today by some women of the southern districts. However, the contemporary Vijayanagar and Nayak paintings show this ornament in white and not in gold colour. Further if it were made of gold, it would pull the ear lobes down due to the enormous weight of gold--whether it be solid or hollow. Pearls are not very heavy like gold and ear lobes do not get elongated. During the earlier Pallava and Chola periods both men and women had long ear lobes but this fashion declined during the Vijayanagar period as can be seen from the donor-figures (in the worshipping posture) represented on pillars. In the Moghul paintings of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, kings are often represented bearded and bare-eared. In the South Indian tradition men are seldom depicted with un-pierced ears. In the Moghul court-scenes one does come across male figures with ear-ornaments and these figures are usually identified as young princes.
Pearl necklaces are commonly found on Vijayanagar and Nayak sculptures. Necklaces made of large pearls should not be confused with the rudraksha malai. Pearls were used not only in ear-rings and necklaces but also in bangles and anklets.
In the Moghul paintings Muslim monarchs and noblemen and women are shown with footwear but the Vijayanagar kings normally went bare-footed. Domingos Paes, a Portuguese traveller who visited Vijayanagar at the beginning of the sixteenth century has recorded two kinds of
footwear 
shoes with pointed ends, and sandals with soles and straps. We find in the sculptures 'Roman sandals' worn by hunters, and pointed shoes by bearded horsemen. In the Moghul paintings men and women are depicted as wearing pointed shoes, and one can see how rapidly the style changed. The traditional wooden sandals worn by ascetics are also represented in the sculptures of
kalyana mandapas.
Two peculiar leg-ornaments of the Nayak period are worth noting. In the thousand-pillared mandapa, of Meenakshi temple, Madurai, built in 1569, we come across an anklet in the shape of a wavy line4 (Figure 2), which we shall refer to as the ' wiggly anklet'. This is not found in the kalyana mandapas of Vellore, Kanchipuram and Tirukazhukunram. However it is found in many places in Thondai Mandalam and it may belong to the late sixteenth century, seventeenth and the eighteenth centuries.
The second peculiar ornament is a large hollow anklet which we would call the silambu. It is found in some form or other from the Pallava period but during the Nayak period it is shown tied to the second toe so that it may not come off the foot while walking. This, again, is found at Madurai (Figure 2) and in a gopura at the Vellore fort. It is not found in the kalyana mandapa of Kanchi.
According to travellers' reports, the famous Vijayanagar monarch Krishna Deva Raya used to wear a tall cylindrical cap made of brocade or jarikai. Such a cap or kulla was also worn by the nobility. This can be seen in the Lepakshi paintings5 where such a cap is shown with tassels. There is a famous metal sculpture6 of the king where he is shown wearing a cylindrical cap with two tassels. Somehow scholars have so far failed to identify this crown with the brocade cap.
At the beginning of the seventeenth century Chinna Bommi Nayak ruled with Vellore as his capital and it is reported that the nobles of his court wore velvet caps made of material imported from Europe. At Kanchi we come across a straight cylindrical cap which would correspond to the Vijayanagar7 brocade cap, as well as a shorter curved cap very much like a fool's cap. The latter is the velvet cap. It is quite possible that this short cap which projects forward (Figure 1) could have also been made of other material since there are minor differences among the short caps some of which are ornamented. The velvet cap was tied to the head in the fashion of a helmet. In some sculptures chieftains are depicted as wearing the cap untied.
One may not be fully convinced of the usefulness of a detailed study of dress and ornaments but we find the study quite rewarding in more than one way. The first study on costumes and jewellery of the Pallavas8 proved very valuable and we were able to use it for settling some important controversies on the authorship of Mahabalipuram monuments.9 The study of Vijayanagar ornaments led us to the discovery of depictions of Balakrishna riding a horse or some mythological animal.10
While in Vellore for a few hours, I visited the Fort to see the kalyana mandapa. On each of the facade pillars of the mandapa is a rearing animal, a horse or some mythological creature. On one yali I noticed a rider with bells on the ankles, a string of bells around the waist and some other jewellery, but otherwise having no clothes. I realised that it was a representation of Balakrishna with his characteristic hair-style (Figure 3). Later we found the theme of riding Balakrishna repeated in Kanchi, Tirukazhukunram, Tiruchi and Srirangam, and this had not been noticed by scholars before.
Take the case of the wiggly anklet. When was it first used ? When was it last used ? Paintings at the Virupaksha temple at Hampi show this ornament on a number of figures, both male and female. The female figures also have large nose rings. The temple belongs to the fourteenth century and the scene depicted is also believed to represent a person who lived in the fourteenth century. The question is, to what period does the painting belong? Sivaramamurthy says that the paintings belong to a later period and assigns them to the fifteenth century. As a matter of fact it is quite difficult to assign precise dates to paintings. One has to rely, among other things, on the study of dress and ornaments. I venture to suggest that this painting of Virupaksha temple belongs to the post-Vijayanagar period (after 1565) since I believe that the appearance of the large nose-ring and the wiggly anklet dates from the post-Vijayanagar period. The wiggly anklet is conspicuous by its absence at Kanchi and Vellore. In Lepakshi paintings that belong to the sixteenth century, the large nose-ring and the wiggly anklet are both absent. The wiggly anklet was represented as late as the nineteenth century and this can be seen from the paintings of Navaneetha Krishna of the Tanjore Maharatta school.11
Secular Figures
We see in sculptured reliefs on the pillars of kalyana mandapas many secular figures apart from figures of deities. At Tirukazhukunram, a snake-charmer is shown blowing the makudi in front of two dancing cobras. At Vellore, Kanchi and Tirukazhukunram we see representations of a clown. At Tirukazhukunram he is shown as knock-kneed, with feet turned inwards. At Vellore, frogs are shown jumping out of his high fool's cap (Figure 4). At Kanchi a clown is shown short and fat with a wide grin. The three figures probably depict three different clowns who lived in this area.
At Kanchi we see a juggler wearing a knee-cap similar to the ones seen at the thousand-pillared mandapa of Madurai (Figure 2). The knee-cap is made of cowrie shells or choli. Dancing figures are represented at the base of the mandapa at Vellore. We see representation of women performing the kolattam with drum accompaniment. Today kolattam is performed with a stick in each hand of the dancer as in the days of the Vijayanagar kings. During their time it was performed by grown-up women but today it is performed by very young girls.
The Vijayanagar era was marked by horse-trading on a large scale and the Vijayanagar monarchs maintained a large cavalry. Their love of horses is reflected in the importance given to sculptures representing horses in
kalyana mandapas. The horses are represented as prancing i.e. standing on their hind legs with their front legs raised. We find from contemporary
sources12 that during the sixteenth century they had horses which had been trained to walk on hind legs. During the annual
Navaratri festival trained horses were shown walking on their hind legs. In some sculptures the front legs are supported by various devices. Paes has recorded that horses were decorated in the king's colours with their bridles all gilded. The sculptures of that period depict horses wearing ornaments on their legs. At Madurai in the
Pudumandapam of the seventeenth century we have many statues of horses some depicted as prancing and some galloping. We find that saddles were fitted with a scabbard for a sword and a quiver for arrows. In addition to prancing horses we see horses standing normally on four legs with armed guards with sword and shield.
Hunting scenes are also depicted in the kalyana mandapas. Leopard-hunting and bear-hunting are
sculpted. We also have statues representing a soldier thrusting a sharp
instrument in the animal's mouth. This special dagger was so designed that the
hand was covered up to the knuckles (Figure 1). A short dagger with transverse
handle so common in Moghul paintings of the sixteenth and the seventeenth
centuries is not found at Kanchi, Vellore and Tirukazhukunram. It is represented
at Madurai in the Pudumandapam which belongs to the seventeenth century.
Sculptural Themes
The late Vijayanagar and Nayak sculptures have certain religious themes that are not found in the Pallava period of the seventh century. Mohini is one such common theme. Vishnu in the form of a bewitching female is believed to have appeared before certain sages to distract them from continuing their austerities. Siva is depicted as Bikshatana attracting rishi patthinis. Krishna is depicted as a child hiding the clothes of bathing women. These themes were freely used to depict undraped male and female forms. During the Chola period even though rishi patthinis were represented there was no attempt to show them in an obviously unclothed form. In the seventeenth century it became more common to represent mithunas, and these are commonly alluded to as obscene figures. It is interesting to note that in Tamil Nadu this period also represents a period of decadence.
This was also the time when sati was practised. The king's idol was worshipped every Saturday.13 There were women wrestlers and female door-keepers to guard the king's harem. There were women who carried a lamp in a vessel and they are represented in sculpture as deepa Lakshmis -- women with lamp. Within the palace there were women who wrote all the accounts of expenses and the affairs of the kingdom.
The period was also one of sectarian rivalry between the Saivites and the Vaishnavites. Displaying of sectarian marks on the forehead was very common during the Vijayanagar period and this practice did not exist during the Pallava and the early Chola period. There are representations of bearded guards who display the Vaishnavite mark on their forehead. During the seventeenth century non-Vaishnavites were prohibited from entering the Vishnu temple at Srirangam.14
More detailed studies of Vijayanagar and Nayak sculptures will be worthwhile and rewarding.
REFERENCES
Kanchi, Abinav Publications, New Delhi, 1975.
Vijayanagar, National Book Trust, India, New Delhi, 1962, pp. 254-255.
Vijayanagar.
