The dance of the bronzes

Its walls whisper stories from across centuries, while its famed sculptures capture moments in cosmic time. The Government Museum has many secrets waiting to be discovered

May 16, 2017 04:30 pm | Updated May 18, 2017 12:00 pm IST

Illuminated Chennai Museum  which has been renovated recently. The Museum celebrates 151 years this year. Near Egmore Railway Stattion, on Pantheon Road is the Museum. This Museum is the second oldest in India after India Museum at Calcutta. It was founded in 1851 and contains a rich collection of archaeological objects and bronzes. 
Photo: N. Sridharan.

Illuminated Chennai Museum which has been renovated recently. The Museum celebrates 151 years this year. Near Egmore Railway Stattion, on Pantheon Road is the Museum. This Museum is the second oldest in India after India Museum at Calcutta. It was founded in 1851 and contains a rich collection of archaeological objects and bronzes. Photo: N. Sridharan.

It was during the time of Emperor Augustus that sea-faring Romans first made landfall in the arid port cities of the Indian peninsula. As with the Greeks who came earlier for trade, and the European colonial powers that came later trundling their cannons eastwards, the peninsula’s status as the crossroads for both commerce and conquest resulted in a rich catalogue of culture, all of which left material evidence that holds a mirror to the times.

Within the red-brick colonnaded halls of Government Museum, Chennai, is showcased the largest collection of Roman antiquities outside of Europe. A work in progress, with archaeologists still adding to it when they stumble upon treasures from the era during excavations, the museum also has an enviable collection of over a thousand South Indian bronzes.

The beginning

Since 1851, the museum has stood in this tree-shaded campus, a charming mix of buildings of various purposes known as the Pantheon Complex, that went on to lend its name to the road outside.

Founded by Scottish surgeon Edward Balfour, an ardent Orientalist, who pioneered forest conservation and public health in India, the complex saw buildings being constantly raised till the early 19th Century. As the first Officer-in-Charge of the museum, Balfour, a polyglot, ensured that the unusual objets d’art drew in more than two lakh people a year in the decade it was founded, and encouraged women to visit on certain days. When he realised that a live tiger cub drew in more crowds, he opened a zoo with nearly 300 animals; it later moved to People’s Park.

CHENNAI, TAMIL NADU, 26/11/2016: The Amaravati gallery at the Egmore Museum in Chennai. 
Photo: R. Ravindran

CHENNAI, TAMIL NADU, 26/11/2016: The Amaravati gallery at the Egmore Museum in Chennai. Photo: R. Ravindran

 

When we walk into the 16-acre campus on a sultry, summer day, much has changed since Balfour’s time. But the grounds are still speckled with remains of the day. The captivating National Art Gallery, built in 1906 in the Indo-Saracenic style, is shrouded in scaffolding for renovation, but it holds treasures such as Mughal miniatures and Raja Ravi Varma’s paintings. The Connemara Library is chock-a-block with readers waiting for books stocked behind its ornate woodwork and elaborate stuccos.

At the museum office, hangs a roster of men and women who led it — including Edgar Thurston, known for his seminal work Castes and Tribes of Southern India .

It is this museum, with halls dedicated to natural history, children, and more, that excavation stars come home to, after they’ve been cleaned, checked for authenticity and the period they belong to. The backstories of how they found their place are interesting too. There have been rare, serendipitous finds, such as a handful of gold coins in a field being tilled.

Rare icons

The Bronze Gallery, which stocks artefacts from the 11th to 17th centuries, is a veritable treasure trove. Currently under renovation, only the Saivite section is open to visitors. The Vaishnavite and Buddhist/Jain sections hold an enviable collection too. Many sculptures from here find their way to gallery spaces abroad, for exhibitions.

Once at the Bronze Gallery, take the time to study the sculptures in detail. The similarities and differences will reveal themselves to you soon enough. If the Chola bronzes feature faces that are circular with sharp, long noses, the Pallava bronzes are renowned for long faces and attention to detail in the garments. The Chera bronzes are heavy on ornamentation, says the curator.

The star here is the Ardhanareeshwara, found in Tiruvengadu near Nagapattinam, dating to the 11th Century. The divine male and feminine halves come together beautifully in this piece. But, there are other works that are as rare and precious. Like the one of Shiva, as he drinks the poison that emerges from the churning of the ocean.

Titled Vishapaharana, it belongs to the 9th Century AD, and was found in Kilappudanur in Nannilam taluk. Then, there’s Ayyanar on Elephant (16th Century AD), found in Thagur, undivided Thanjavur district, and the evocative one of Parvati with an attendant found in Sirugamani near Tiruchi in the 15th Century.

Ayyanar on Elephant from Thagur, 16th Century AD at Egmore Museum  PHOTO: SUBHA J RAO

Ayyanar on Elephant from Thagur, 16th Century AD at Egmore Museum PHOTO: SUBHA J RAO

 

Most of these have come from towns that possibly have a hoary past. Heard of Jambavanodai in undivided Thanjavur? That’s the place from where they found Valli and Subramanya idols from the 13th Century.

Much has been written about the Amaravati Gallery — which features Buddhist art that begins in 3 BC and spans a millennium and a half — but even during your tenth visit, it leaves you awestruck. The exhibits are imposing, and almost lord over you.

There’s an ancestral form of Lord Ganesha from 100 BC, an intricate casing slab from 200-250 AD and Purnaghata, a vessel used to make ceremonial offerings to the deity, from 100 AD.

It’s absolutely quiet inside. Is it the austere surroundings or the magnificence of the limestone displays?

Step out at 5 pm, when the museum closes, and the din and bustle of Pantheon Road envelops you. But, inside the huge iron gates, life continues to hum to a tune set centuries ago.

 

Museum on the move

The Government Museum, Chennai, also has a mobile unit that travels across the State, showcasing some original treasures and some replicas, and a note about their importance on the cultural scene.

K Sekar, Assistant Director, says that they ideally head to schools, following requests, and park in a spacious ground so that children can travel back in time.

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