Anuradha Goyal Travels: Tamil Nadu Tales X: Chola Bronzes

Anuradha Goyal Travels: Tamil Nadu Tales X: Chola Bronzes: Posted on May 27, 2013

Natarajar (Source: Anuradha Goyal Travels)

Chola temple trail cannot be complete without the mention of Chola Bronzes, a defining art form of the region and the times of Cholas. I saw Chola Bronzes at two places during this trip, one was at Museum of Art in Maratha Palace, Thanjavur and second was at Egmore Museum in Chennai which has some of the biggest and the best pieces of Chola metal craft. At Chennai, there is a bit of documentation too that explains you the popular forms of deities carved in Bronze and the galleries are in fact organized by deities, so there is one each for Shiva, Parvati, Vishnu, Ganesh et al. A video at the entrance explains the process of making these idols using the lost wax method and the importance of Patina the layer of tarnish that gives the sheen to the metal over a period of time and the one that makes the antique pieces valuable. Method of lost wax in mentioned in the ancient texts and it is a living tradition that is still practiced in the same fashion. Smaller idols are made in solid cast while the larger ones are made in a hollow cast to keep them light. There are two primary metals used: Bronze which is an alloy of Copper and Tin and Panchola which comes from five metals: Copper, Tin, Gold, Silver and Lead.  

Somaskandhar (Source: Anuradha Goyal Travels)

 The origin of Bronze images lies in the urge to take out the Gods in palanquins from the temples. Since this was not possible with huge stone idols, smaller idols carved in metal were light and easy to be taken around and came to be known as Utsav murtis or festival idols. Rules of iconography her followed for metal images just like stone ones. Then it became a fashion for the rich and famous to donate the bronze idols to the temples. Continued

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