Home | Biodata | Biography | Photo Gallery | Publications | Tributes
[Back to Archaeology List]

Archaeology


South Indian art and craft guilds
Manuscript, August 19, 1977
Gift Siromoney and Michael Lockwood

Guilds of artisans and merchants existed in ancient India, and continued to thrive till the end of the 18th century. The word for 'guild' was 'sren@i$'. Members of a guild followed a common craft or trade. And in practice most of them belonged to one community. Each guild had rules of its own, and they were formally recognized by the state. Guilds of workmen divided their earnings equally, or as agreed upon among themselves. A member of a trade guild was known as a sresthin a word from which the present day appellation cetti is derived.

In South India there was a famous guild of international traders called the Guild of Five Hundred -- or the Guild of Fifteen Hundred, depending upon how one interprets the phrase 'naanaadesa tisaiaayirathu ainoorruvar' . The members of this guild traded in gems, horses, elephants, and spices and perfumes, and dealt in wholesale and retail trade. They travelled to Burmah where they built a temple. We also know of their presence in Sumatra.

The word nagaratthar referred to trading communities. And there were many villages that were occupied predominantly by the trading communities.

During the Vijayanagar period there are several records of disputes between two groups of people the left-handed (or artisans) and the right-handed (valangai or agricultural workers).

CRAFTSMEN

The Pingala Nikandu a Tamil dictionary or word-list refers to many kinds of craftsmen. They are kuyavar (potters), kaamaalar (artists), kollar (blacksmiths), thacchar (carpenters), thattaar (goldsmiths), kannar (metal workers), silpaachaariyar (stone sculptors), chitrakaarar (painters), muththanko$ppaar (pearl workers), sangu aruppo$r (shell-bangle cutters).

In the Pingala Nikandu, the word kammaalar has many synonyms, such as the yavanar, (foreigners), oviyar and thapatiyar. The word thacchar also has the synonym thapati (sculptor). The Nigandu refers to most of the craftsmen in the plural, and not in the singular.

Every village or group of villages had their share of village craftsmen who met the needs of the villages. It was in the towns and cities that the craftsmen were organized into trade guilds. Craftsmen were also attached to royal courts and temples.

The temple records of the Srirangam temple have come down to us in the form of a book called Koil Olugu. This work refers to the duties of craftsmen attached to the temple. The sculptor (silpaacchaan) belonging to the group of artisans called the kammaalas was expected to paint pictures on the flag and flagstaff, to paint the figures on the walls of the tirumandapa, renovate damaged gopuras, carve idols and make images in stucco and brickwork. The Srirangam temple also employed handicraftsmen, such as needleworkers (tailors), silk-weavers, carpenters and potters.

The 'Big Temple' at Tanjore has inscriptions of king Ra$jara$ja, builder of the temple. These inscriptions record grants of land made to craftsmen, dancers and musicians. It is quite possible that the sculptors and architects referred to by name in the inscriptions were the chief architects of the Big Temple. The inscriptions also mention the names of thaiyaan (tailors or drapers), perunthaiyaan (superior draper), ratna thaiyaan (worker with precious stones), karmaan (one who held the title of perunkarmaan) and thachchu (carpenter and sculptor). The word thachchaachaariyar is used to refer to a group of sculptors who belonged to the thachchaachaariyam. Names of three artisans with the title perunthachchan are given. They are:

Veera Cholan Kunjara Mallan aana Rajaraja Perunthachchan Gunavan Madhuraanthakan aana Nithavinotha Perunthachchan llatthi Chadayan aana Kandaraathitha Perunthachchan.

Of the three persons mentioned, the first was given twice as much land as the next two.

These architects and sculptors had taken the names and titles of the Chola kings for their own names and titles. It should be noted that perunthachchan must be understood here as master sculptor and architect, and not merely as chief carpenter.

The Silapathikaaram refers to different kinds of craftsmen who lived in the city, Puhar, and the great traders who lived close to the king's palace. The hero of the epic, Kovalan, belonged to a wealthy trading group in this Chola capital. And the villain of the story is a goldsmith of the Pandya king. Kovalan is falsely accused of having stolen the queen's anklets when he tried to sell his wife's anklets. The story depicts the goldsmith living in a humble abode near the king's palace. After Kovalan is unjustly executed, the city of Madurai is destroyed by fire caused by the wrath of Kannagi, Kovalan's widow. And the king and queen are literally mortified when the unjustness of the king's order is realized by them. Kannagi is deified and a temple is built for her. In the beginning of the story, there is a short section in prose. This section refers to the killing of one thousand goldsmiths in a sacrifice, and how the Pandya country was then restored to normalcy. This section, probably a later addition, refers to porkollar aayiravar, a term which can be interpreted to mean a Guild of One Thousand Goldsmiths.

A few personal names of the artists of Tamil Nadu have come down to us from the Pallava period. In the work of Dandin called Dasakumara Charitram, there is an introductory reference to a silpi called Lalithaalaya who cleverly repairs the broken arm of the reclining Vishnu image in the Shore Temple complex. The name may be real or fictitious, but the story belongs to the period when the Vishnu shrine alone existed for Dandin describes how the waves washed the feet of the Vishnu image. The Siva  shrines built on either side of the Vishnu shrine belong to the later period around 700 A.D. when king Rajasimha was the ruling Pallava monarch.

At a village called Poonje$ri, on the outskirts of Mahabalipuram, there is an inscription of the Rajasimha period giving a list of the names of artisans, including a perunthachchan a master sculptor and architect. 

SILPASHASTRAS

Over the past few years, many works of the Silpashastras have been translated into Tamil, and one can now study in that language the various systems followed by the sculptors and architects in building temples in ancient times.

According to the Mayamatam, the Stapatis were classified into four types on the basis of their functions. These four types are: the stapati, the sutragraahi, the vardhahi, and the dhakshakan. The stapati was the chief architect and sculptor. He is referred to by this work as belonging to a 'mixed caste'. To us this indicates only that anyone who was talented in this art could qualify as a stapati. A particular status by birth was not an inherent disqualification for such a profession. Such genius could not be brought within the system of the four varnas, and therefore the use of the term 'mixed caste' or 'sangi$rna ja$ti'.as a royal title. It may be of interest to note that the great Pallava king, Mahendravarman, himself assumed the title 'Sangi$$rna Ja$ti' as a royal title. It was this king who had excavated several of the earliest rock cut temples in the Tamil country.

Next to the stapati in status was his son or sishya called the sutragraahi (holder of the sutra or thread). The sutragraahi measured the dimensions of the construction, and carried out the instructions of the stapati. The other two, the Vardhahi and the Dhakshkaan, were the craftsmen who actually did the carving of the images in stone or wood. One can assume, then, that the smallest group would consist of at least four members for building a temple or temple chariot.

According to the Silpashastras, one of the most common units of measurement was the angula, a term derived from the word anguli, or finger. In modern Tamil, the unit angulam corresponds to an inch. But in the Silpashastras an angula may mean at least three different things in measuring. First, it may mean a fixed length the length of eight grains width of rice. Alternatively an angula may stand for the length of the middle segment of the middle finger of the donor. (There are also a few variations of this second definition.) The third interpretation is based on the taalamaana system of Indian art where the angula really stands for a given proportion. Consider, for example, two sculptures in a temple representing Siva, one being twice the height of the other. Usually the proportions of Siva's body would be the same in the two sculptures even though they were of two different sizes. Then,  an angula of the larger sculpture would measure twice the length of an angula of the smaller sculpture, According to the third interpretation (Silpashastras) both would have the same length in terms of angula. On this interpretation, an angula can be defined, for example, as 120th part of the length of a sculpture.

CANONS

Among other things, the Silpashastras give the different emblems and weapons of the various deities. There were also Buddhist or Jain texts of Silpashastra. Face-length was reckoned to be the important unit in making an image. The nine-face length or navataala proportioned figure was the basic system followed in many Silpashastras. The face-length was1/9 of the total height. And the face-length was made up of 12 angulas. To make an image appear taller, the sculptors would make it in ten-face-lengths, or in 10x12 angulas; whereas a nine-face-length image would be divided into 9 x 12 angulas. To make a figure appear very short-like a dwarf, for instance-they would make it in four-face-lengths, or 4 x 12 angulas. The head would then be 1/4th of the total height and the figure would appear to represent a short person irrespective of its actual size whether it were a few centimetres or a couple of metres in height.

Let us then list a few characteristics which are common to most of the canons that have come down to us.
1) Deities are to be made in the nine- or the ten-face-lengths the nava taala or the dasa taala.
2) The face length is divided into three equal parts, viz. the forehead, the nose, and from the end of the nose to the chin.
3) The total height of the image from head (excluding hair and crown) to feet is divided into half at the lower hip.

ARTISTS  OR  ARTISANS?

 The word 'artist', in current English, often refers to modern artists like Piccaso or Rodin who created  new artistic forms. But the greatest South Indian artists worked within religious traditions.. There is no  doubt that the South Indian sculptors produced great works of art even when they worked within the mainstream of tradition. The skill was passed from artist to his son or pupil, and thus traditions were maintained for centuries.

We would pose a few questions before we show some slides. Did the artists who created the monuments of Mahabalipuram follow a canon? Do the figures generally follow any canon of bodily proportions that has come down to us?

If the artists had followed some rule, we hope to find it by careful measurements of many pieces and then by using computer techniques to settle the issue.

One negative fact is obvious. The Pallava sculptors at Mahabalipuram did not follow the practice of dividing the total length of the body from head to foot (excluding headdress) into two equal halves at the lower hip.

Most of the figures of the time of king Narasimha-I have long limbs -- such long legs are not recommended in any of the known canons following the taalamaana system.

Consider, again, the Kailasanatha temple of Kanchi which was built around 7OO A.D. by king Rajasimha. It has been claimed by some scholars like Dr. R. Nagaswamy that it is the first temple in Tamil Nadu built according to the agamas. My colleagues here, Mr. M. Bagavandas and Mr. S. Govindaraju, have measured the Somaskanda images using anthropometric instruments. What did they find? Even though the Somaskanda motif is repeated more than twenty times, the measurements were not identical between the different groups. All the faces of the images had very long noses compared to the nose-to-chin length. The ratio of nose length to nose-to-chin length varied from 1.7 to 2.6, instead of the canonical prescriptions of 1.

Or again, take the Chola bronzes of the Madras Museum. Here the ratio of nose length to nose-to-chin length varies from 0.94 to 1.53, with an average value of 1.17. In the sculpture such as the Tiruvaalangaadu Nataraja the length of leg for the two feet  is different.

My colleagues have also measured some figures in the Kalyana Mandapa of the Varadaraja temple at Kanchi. Unlike Jain figures which are generally unclothed, it is difficult to make exact measurements of Hindu figures which are generally clothed. It is also often difficult to measure the length of the forehead if the figure has a crown or high headdress. But the measurements which have been made would indicate that a Vishnu image which, according to the canons, ought to be in dasa tala, is actually done in eight-face-lengths. In the same mandapa there are female human figures (perhaps dancers) which are represented as tall figures and have proportionately small heads (and thus are of the higher taala which is prescribed for deities).

To make a figure appear taller, in addition to making the face smaller, the canons also prescribe another method. For instance, in the nava taala we have both the madyama nava taalam as well as the uthama nava taalam. In the latter, the figure is made to appear taller by increasing the length of the neck, the kneecap, and feet, and by adding another angula above the top of the head. But none of the canons we have, prescribes increasing the length of the legs,  keeping the length of the torso unchanged as a method for making a figure appear taller. In actual practice, though, we do find examples of such figures with extra-long legs during the Vijayanagar times as well as the later Naik period.

CONCLUSION

Over the long history of South Indian art from the Pallava period (around 600  A.D.) to the end of the Vijayanagar and Naik periods (to the 17th century), we observe that South Indian artists had used various different rules of proportions in making images. It is a surprising fact that these different rules of proportions do not closely agree with the known canons which have survived

In this situation computer techniques can establish the actual rules used, if any, by the artists of the different periods, and can do this independently of any literary source. Such work is now going on at the Madras Christian College.

Go to the top of the page

Home | Biodata | Biography | Photo Gallery | Publications | Tributes