The verdict in the Pathur Nataraja idol case by a London court in favour of India in February 1991 proved to be a turning point in Tamil Nadu’s art and cultural history. For, it loudly announced the value of the priceless creations of the Chola period.
The return of the 12th Century Nataraja idol, smuggled out of the Viswanathaswamy temple at Pathur, a village in Thanjavur district, in the 1970s, to Tamil Nadu also kindled the interest in Chola bronzes. It set in motion efforts to bring back similar idols displayed at galleries across the world. The owner of the Canada-based Bumper Development Corporation, who bought the Pathur Nataraja idol, was said to have paid 3,00,000 pounds, though the smugglers had sold it to local dealers for a few hundred rupees.
The effulgent bliss
When asked why he had paid such a huge amount, he had reportedly told late forensic expert P. Chandrasekharan, who played a crucial role in the case, that “there was no price too high for the effulgent bliss manifested by the idol”.
His response underscores the greatness of bronzes made during the Chola period in Tamil Nadu, even after a millennium, by the sculptors whose descendants live in Swamimalai, continue the tradition and make magnificent idols, generating crores of rupees in foreign exchange.
“Around 40 families are making idols in Swamimalai. Though most of them belong to the Viswakarma community, training centres opened the doors to artisans from other communities after Independence. As many as 600 sculptors are there in Swamimalai and a few villages around Kumbakonam,” said Srikandan Sthapathy, a well-known sculptor from the town and son of the late Devasenapathy Sthapathy.
According to late R. Nagaswamy, an epigraphist and an authority on Chola bronzes, two schools had existed: Sembiyan Mahadevi School, which made idols with sharp features, and Rajaraja School, which produced idols with strong and rounded features on an average measuring scale. Sembiyan Mahadevi was the mother of Uttama Chola, the predecessor of Rajaraja. She spent most of her life in renovating temples and making gifts. In his book, Masterpieces of Chola Art, Dr. Nagaswamy, who deposed before the London court in the Pathur Nataraja case and whose documents helped India win the case, says, “Whenever a temple was erected, a group of new idols were made for festive processions, and that is well illustrated in the bronzes mentioned in the Thanjavur temple.”
The sculptors, who made those idols, had chosen to settle in Swamimalai. There is a special reason for it: the availability of the alluvial soil necessary for making the mould. “Though the Cauvery flows between the Kodagu Hills and Poompuhar, the soil deposited in the one-furlong stretch in Kumbakonam makes the difference,” said Mr. Srikandan Sthapathy, who prepared photographic and video documents to win the patent for the soil.
What makes the bronze idols since the Chola period unique is that there are no two identical pieces. “Every time, we make the model in wax and we do not use box moulding, a method that results in making idols in similar shapes. The skills and imagination of an artisan play a pivotal role in conceiving, designing and giving shape to the idol,” he said.
The sculptors follow Thisaithalapramanam, a prescription for making idols. The size of the idols is divided into nine mugams (units) and they use the leaf (olai) of a coconut palm to make the measurement. “It is called odiolai. We fold them into nine parts. Every part of the body is made in proportion to the size called mugam. The chest of a female idol will measure one mugam. In the case of a male idol, the chest will measure two mugams. The hands up to the elbow will measure one-and-a-half mugam,” he explained.
Wax model
Once the wax model is made, it is kept in water to prevent it from changing its shape because of the atmospheric temperature. Subsequently, it is covered with the alluvial soil and allowed to dry. It is called Karu. “We bake the mould and drain out the wax through a hole at its bottom. Then we will bury the mould in the ground upside down and pour the metal — melted to the state of water in 1,200 degrees Fahrenheit — through the hole. We will break the mould after cooling it and give the final shape to the idol through chiselling and polishing,” he elaborated.
Though known as bronze or pancha loha idols, they have only three components: 82% copper, 15% brass and 3% lead. A small quantum of silver and gold is added only for idols made for the purpose of worship. Idols made for display at galleries and homes have only these three metals.
Nagaswamy was of the opinion that “the term, bronze, applied to Indian metal image, is a misnomer.” “In the later period, an amalgamation of five metals — copper, tin, lead, gold and silver — came into vogue, though copper continued to be the predominant metal, gold and silver being hardly 5%,” he says in his book. According to him, the technique of casting five metals, called pancha loha, is a later tradition, which came down from the 15th Century.
Idol making is thriving in Swamimalai, as there is demand in the country and abroad. “There is a surge in people’s faith in God. There are around 300 Hindu temples in the U.S., and in the City of London alone, there are 40 temples. There is also increasing demand from local temples. They keep us going,” said Mr. Srikandan Sthapathy.
