Rare exhibits - Chennai Museum V

Source

Rare exhibits

PRADEEP CHAKRAVARTHY

A collection of unusual musical instruments vies for attention with the philately, numismatics, zoology and botany galleries.

(This is the fifth and last article on the five-part series on the Government Museum, Chennai.)

As part of the anthropology section, the Government Museum, Chennai, has several artefacts of South Indian tribes including the Todas, Chenchus, Lambadis and Gonds. The artefacts include garments, jewellery and weapons.

A collection of rare musical instruments includes those such as the jalatharangam and kombu that are still played today and others such as the mayil yazh, vil yazh and naga veena, stringed instruments that were popular during the Sangam Age. The yazh lost out to the veena which was invented by the Thanjavur Nayak King Raghunatha in the 17th century. The veena was able to capture notes as well as gamakas which the yazh could not. The Balasaraswathy is a particularly beautiful instrument in the collection.

The percussion instruments are represented by the nagara which is played with the drum on the nape of the elephant’s neck. Also in the collection is the panchamukha vadyam. This instrument is played only in two temples today, one being the Tyagaraja Swamy Temple in Tiruvarur. It is said that here during the last century, there were more than 14 instruments that were played during festivals. A percussion instrument of a purely ornamental nature is a glass dholak.

The museum also has a large collection of Stone Age tools and pottery shards. Among these are artefacts excavated from Adhichanallur dated circa 5th century B.C. Some of the articles are from today’s Andhra Pradesh. A particularly rare one is the sarcophagus, shaped like a ram with six legs. The body is hollowed out into a cavity which contained the human remains. Given their importance and fragile nature, many of these objects are not on display but are extensively documented in the museum’s website.

Photo Courtesy: Government Museum

The skeleton of a whale.

Rare coins

The numismatics gallery contains several rare coins many from the Roman period. The Roman coins were excavated in Arikamedu and other sites that played an important role in the Indo-Roman trade route. The museum also has a collection of medals. Among those of interest are those from Mysore. In this gallery is also a facsimile copy of the Magna Carta, a historic agreement signed in the U.K. in 1215 A.D. and is believed to be the only copy in India.

A first of its kind for Indian museums is the philatelic gallery that showcases stamps from various countries. Of particular interest are stamps from Germany and the first day cover collection. The origins of the museum are in its geological collection. This, along with the zoological and botany galleries, is of value to students of science. The displays focus both on environmental and economic perspectives. . An exhibit that never ceases to amaze young visitors is the colossal skeleton of a great Indian Baleen whale measuring over 60 feet and added to the museum in 1874. Fossils from ancient times are also a highlight.

The Museum has an excellent website: www.chennaimuseum.org/

(The writer likes to thank the Principal Secretary and Commissioner of the Museum for permitting him to do research and to the curators of the galleries for their help. He records his gratitude to S. Muthiah for his help on the history of the Museum.)

They tell tales of valour - Chennai Museum !V

Source

They tell tales of valour

PRADEEP CHAKRAVARTHY

The Thanjavur armour collection is a must-see for both historians and fine arts lovers.

---

Brass toys are also of special interest.

---

(This is the fourth part of a five part-series on the Government Museum, Chennai)

The other galleries of the Government Museum, Chennai, that house artefacts of interest for the historian and fine art lovers have a diverse collection of objects.

The Thanjavur armour collection is probably the largest and most intact collection of South Indian armour of a Hindu kingdom. The Nayaks of Thanjavur owed their status to the Vijayanagar dynasty and their rule gave way to the Marathas in the 19th century. The Marathas were displaced by the British who declared that the Marathas had no legitimate heir. The British then took over the entire collection of arms in the Thanjavur palace and passed them on to the museum.

Their decorative role

The collection in the museum from Thanjavur is an important one. Several of the arms were meant to be used in battle but many fulfilled a decorative role. In this context, the armour for an entire elephant and the many-elephant goads are of importance. The goads probably came along with the elephant that was gifted and were made usually of steel or bronze. One of them is made of ivory. The swords, daggers and maces hold a lot of significance. Frequent motifs on the arms are the peacock, the vehicle of Karthikeya, the god of war, the parrot that signifies love for one’s country and the lion or Makara which symbolises valour. Some of the pieces are finely inlaid with metals of contrasting colours.

The gallery of industrial art has some exquisite examples of wood carving, many of which are from the temple carves of South India.

Dating back to the Nayak period, they show immense attention to detail, though the human figures themselves are stiff and formal.

Of a similar style of workmanship are the ivory artefacts. Ivory being a more ductile material than wood, the workmanship is of a higher standard. Of particular beauty is the stand for books.

PHOTO: COURTESY government MUSEUM

IMPORTANT ARTEFACTS: The Thanjavur armoury. .

The gallery has a large collection of metal objects for domestic and religious use. The lamps are beautiful specimens and one of them has, instead of the usual hamsa bird, the figure of a Kinnara.

Also in the collection is a small but interesting collection of small copper bas reliefs. Brass toys are also of special interest here.

Art influenced by folk forms - Chennai Museum III

Source

Art influenced by folk forms

PRADEEP CHAKRAVARTHY

The painters of the Pallava, chola and the Pandya periods were adept at their art.

Photo courtesy: Government Museum, Chennai.

Blend of devotion and aesthetics: Thanjavur paintings.

(This is the third of a five-part series on the Government Museum, Chennai)

In India, religion has always been a powerful influence on society. Like other aspects, art was also powerfully influenced by religion.

The temples and other religious institutions patronised art and thereby caused the themes painted to have religious significance. Ancient texts such as the Chitrasutra reflect an in-depth understanding of the nuances of painting and the different types of painting that were prevalent in those times. Detailed directions were given to differentiate mediocre painters from the better ones. If both were to draw a man sleeping, the former will make it look like a corpse and the latter like a man resting is one of the more direct observations!

Texts like the Silapadigaram mention ancient temples and palaces with walls covered with paintings done in the most lifelike manner, none of these remain but we have at least one example of fine painting from the Pallava period (Panamalai), from the Chola period (the murals in the Brihadeswara temple) and the Pandya period (Sithanavasal).

These paintings show that our ancient painters were adept at their art. They used the wet fresco method which meant that they needed to work fast, before the base dried out and had to choose and mix colours keeping in mind that the eventual colour will be several shades different since the natural pigments fade with age. The painter also focused on the natural treatment of the subject and had an eye for understanding how light and shade affected the human form.

Various modes

The Vijayanagar and Nayak periods saw the painters becoming increasingly influenced by folk forms, figures become sharply two dimensional, colours become flat and the painting becomes more clearly serialised into little boxes that when seen right to left, tell a definite story.

Captions in Telugu or Tamil also help the onlooker. Most importantly, painters begin to use the dry fresco method that requires less expertise.

In the Nayak period we also have evidence of paintings on large panels of cloth that were meant for temples and palaces, these were done using the Kalamkari method.

The advent of the Muslim rule and then the British rule gave impetus to two styles which are famous in the south, Thanjavur style paintings and the canvas paintings of Ravi Varma.

Ancient styles of paintings were only on the walls but of the latter styles, the museum has several fine examples.

* * *

Beauty with colours: At the museum

Preserve of the wealthy

Some of the highlights of the collection are as follows:

Thanjavur paintings are today a ubiquitous part of most south Indian homes either in the drawing room or the puja room and if one hasn’t inherited them, they are easy to buy through the internet or the local gift shop. However at one point of time in the 18/19th century they were the preserve of the wealthy and the royal. Considered by many to be an ‘invention’ during the reign of Serfoji II (1798-1832), they incorporated a south Indian painting style of showing the figures in a two dimensional mould with flat colours where the size of the figure was indicative of importance with a Deccani/Mughal influence of infusing the painting with gold leaf.

Fine and delicate

Early Thanjavur paintings have thin sheets of gold embossed on a surface treated with a paste that had engraved details. The work is fine and delicate and is accompanied by painting that has a great attention to detail.

The subject was of Hindu deities especially Krishna. The paintings were done by a Telugu speaking community. The museum has fine examples of these paintings but the show stealers are 30 paintings that depict the Maratha rulers. Contemporary visitors to Serfoji II talk of his durbar hall decorated with Thanjavur Tanjore paintings and oil paintings of his ancestors and it is very likely that the museum has most of them. The royals are shown in stiff and conventional postures, either holding court, or standing beside a balcony or window or seated in leisure with their queen. In all of them, the treatment of the designs on the textiles and jewellery is superb. A more affordable cousin of the Tanjores’ was the more folksy glass paintings that were inspired by Chinese exports. The museum has a collection of these, the pictures of the dancing girl/princess; the two princes are fine examples of this style that disappeared when the cheaper oleographs hit the market in the early 20th century.Among the oil painters, Ravi Varma is the most famous. The Museum has some of his paintings, the best being the one depicting Yashodha and Krishna.

The eyes of Krishna appear as if they are looking at you regardless of the angle you see the painting from.

The rub of the green

(source)

The rub of the green

C.D. Gopinath talks about the joy of playing on the Chepauk ground and the spirit that used to rule the gentlemen’s game

Photo: The Hindu Photo Archives

CHEPAUK THEN A match between the Commonwealth XI and India at the Madras Cricket Club in 1951.

Ironically, India’s first official Test victory came at a lively Madras pitch. With a sprinkling of grass, the Chepauk pitch in 1952 helped fast bowlers. While the English pacemen welcomed the patches of green, the Indian team was unhappy with Munuswamy, the groundsman.

As the only surviving member of that winning Indian side, I can tell you that Munuswamy could never be bullied into preparing tracks that suited our spinners. As matches in Madras invariably produced results, his approach was vindicated. Matches at Chepauk almost always lasted the course and his pitches held together for a full five days. In those days, corporate sponsorships were non-existent and revenues came from the gates. The authorities were happy if a match went the whole way.

Munuswamy was probably one of the reasons why the Madras team produced good fast bowlers such as Rangachari, Kanayiram and Dickinson. With its good grassy wicket, the Marina Grounds, managed by the Presidency College, also encouraged youngsters to take up fast bowling.

The grounds at Marina and Chepauk helped make Madras batsmen adept at playing in windy conditions that assisted swing bowling. Until 1965, when the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium was built, the Chepauk ground was wide open and washed by a gentle sea breeze most of the day.

There were other advantages in playing at the Madras Cricket Club. Unlike other clubs, players were provided lunch and tea during matches. The MCC team enjoyed the privilege of playing all its matches on its home ground. A big advantage when you consider that matches of local and national importance were played on turf, available only at MCC.

PRINCE FREDERICK

When M.A. Chidambaram became the Mayor of Madras, the Corporation Stadium (now Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium) was built. Matches organised by the Madras Cricket Association (as the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association was known then) were played there. In the 1950s and 1960s, this stadium witnessed many close and engrossing contests.

In those days, Madras and Mysore had an Ashes-like rivalry going between them. In a 1956 match at this ground, Madras’ wickets fell like nine pins and we were doddering at 65 for 5 at one stage. Madras bounced back after M. Balakrishnan and I put on 217 runs for the sixth wicket. Any match against Mysore brought out the best from us.

The Corporation Stadium however was not the best place for cricket. As it was used for many other sporting events, the pitch was flat and the outfield slow. Going back to Chepauk seemed the only reasonable solution. As MCC’s secretary and the Madras team’s captain, I had a foot in both camps and was privy to talks between the two cricket bodies. The MCC had the lease for the entire ground. After negotiations, the private club agreed to give a part of the ground to MCA to build a stadium.

An astronomical amount of money went into constructing the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium. This development signalled a willingness to spend on cricket facilities. But it was a long time before cricketers benefitted financially from the sport’s growth. In the 1950s and 1960s, the MCA (affiliated to the Board of Control for Cricket in India) did not have funds to put up visiting or Indian players at a hotel. These players were ‘billeted’ at houses of cricket fans.

We were paid Rs. 250 for a Test match then — we called it ‘smoke money’. But we never complained about the inadequate facilities or the poor remuneration. After all, we were playing for the country — there couldn’t be a more priceless gift.

As told to PRINCE FREDERICK

Chennai Musuem II

Source

Stone lends itself to delicate work

PRADEEP CHAKRAVARTHY

The Government Museum has several stone sculptures which are of great importance, architecturally and historically.

(This is the second of a five-part series on the Government Museum, Chennai.)

The Indian tradition has always been known to reserve the best for the divine. References to ancient temples and palaces in works such as the Silappadikaram show that they were predominantly brick, wood and stucco structures elaborately painted and c arved. The Pallavas (600-850 A.D.) were not content with such transient buildings and chose a more permanent material for their construction – stone.

Found in abundance in most parts of Tamil Nadu except in the Thanjavur belt, granite and sandstone became the preferred mediums.

Cave temples were the first attempt and they morphed into free standing monolith temples such as those in Mahabalipuram. These in turn gave way to full scale stone structures. The trajectory of the bronzes applies here too. Chola (850-1350 A.D.) temples, except for Brihadeswara, Gangaikonda Cholapuram and Thribhuvanam, were modest but delicately crafted structures.

PHOTOS: S. Thanthoni

Poetry: Samples from the gallery — (from left) Vijayanagar crest, Bikshatanamurti-Mahishasuramardini and a section of the Amaravati stupa.

Nayak vintage

The Vijayanagar Nayaks (1350–1600 A.D.) made up in quantity what they lacked in quality. Nayak stone work is massive and gigantic.

Think of the tallest gopurams in Tamil Nadu that stand as gateways to large and complexly planned out temples, be they in Thiruvannamalai, Kanchipuram, Madurai or Srivilliputtur, they are all of Nayak vintage. Royal buildings continued to be built in perishable material and none have survived.

But the stone carving tradition continued though the figures lacked the realism of the Chola/Pallava/Pandya periods. Great attention was paid to the ornamentation but the features of the face were angular and stern in nature.

The gallery of stone artefacts at the Government Museum has many important pieces such as stone antiquities from the Amravati excavations of Guntur, Andhra Pradesh. The early Buddhist sculptures date back to about 200 B.C. to 250 A.D., and that of the Jain and Hindu ones from about 600 A.D. to recent times.

The Amaravati findings

Among the stone sculptures, those from Amaravati are of importance. Amaravati was an important Buddhist settlement on the banks of the Krishna.

The buildings, particularly a ruined stupa, were documented by the British in 1801. From then on, most of the important stone sculptures and panels were removed from there and brought to the Madras Museum or taken to London. The collection in the museum numbers to around 300 pieces and it depicts the development and progressive finesse of Buddhist sculpture from 200B.C. to 250 A.D.

There are over 600 specimens of stone sculptures belonging to the period from about 600 A.D. to recent times in the section. Of these, about 50 are Jain, about 25 memorial or hero stones, about a dozen Buddhist figures and about 10 snake stones. The rest are of Hindu deities. Several artefacts also have inscriptions on them that make them invaluable from the historical point of view.

The collection includes a group of door lintels that date from the 13th century. They have fine bas reliefs of auspicious signs that include the ashtamangalas. The hero stones are also worthy of mention for their finesse.

The Museum is open from 9.30 a.m.-5 p.m. It is closed on Fridays and national

holidays. For more information, visit www.chennaimuseum.org/

Chennai Musuem II

Source

Stone lends itself to delicate work

PRADEEP CHAKRAVARTHY

The Government Museum has several stone sculptures which are of great importance, architecturally and historically.

(This is the second of a five-part series on the Government Museum, Chennai.)

The Indian tradition has always been known to reserve the best for the divine. References to ancient temples and palaces in works such as the Silappadikaram show that they were predominantly brick, wood and stucco structures elaborately painted and c arved. The Pallavas (600-850 A.D.) were not content with such transient buildings and chose a more permanent material for their construction – stone.

Found in abundance in most parts of Tamil Nadu except in the Thanjavur belt, granite and sandstone became the preferred mediums.

Cave temples were the first attempt and they morphed into free standing monolith temples such as those in Mahabalipuram. These in turn gave way to full scale stone structures. The trajectory of the bronzes applies here too. Chola (850-1350 A.D.) temples, except for Brihadeswara, Gangaikonda Cholapuram and Thribhuvanam, were modest but delicately crafted structures.

PHOTOS: S. Thanthoni

Poetry: Samples from the gallery — (from left) Vijayanagar crest, Bikshatanamurti-Mahishasuramardini and a section of the Amaravati stupa.

Nayak vintage

The Vijayanagar Nayaks (1350–1600 A.D.) made up in quantity what they lacked in quality. Nayak stone work is massive and gigantic.

Think of the tallest gopurams in Tamil Nadu that stand as gateways to large and complexly planned out temples, be they in Thiruvannamalai, Kanchipuram, Madurai or Srivilliputtur, they are all of Nayak vintage. Royal buildings continued to be built in perishable material and none have survived.

But the stone carving tradition continued though the figures lacked the realism of the Chola/Pallava/Pandya periods. Great attention was paid to the ornamentation but the features of the face were angular and stern in nature.

The gallery of stone artefacts at the Government Museum has many important pieces such as stone antiquities from the Amravati excavations of Guntur, Andhra Pradesh. The early Buddhist sculptures date back to about 200 B.C. to 250 A.D., and that of the Jain and Hindu ones from about 600 A.D. to recent times.

The Amaravati findings

Among the stone sculptures, those from Amaravati are of importance. Amaravati was an important Buddhist settlement on the banks of the Krishna.

The buildings, particularly a ruined stupa, were documented by the British in 1801. From then on, most of the important stone sculptures and panels were removed from there and brought to the Madras Museum or taken to London. The collection in the museum numbers to around 300 pieces and it depicts the development and progressive finesse of Buddhist sculpture from 200B.C. to 250 A.D.

There are over 600 specimens of stone sculptures belonging to the period from about 600 A.D. to recent times in the section. Of these, about 50 are Jain, about 25 memorial or hero stones, about a dozen Buddhist figures and about 10 snake stones. The rest are of Hindu deities. Several artefacts also have inscriptions on them that make them invaluable from the historical point of view.

The collection includes a group of door lintels that date from the 13th century. They have fine bas reliefs of auspicious signs that include the ashtamangalas. The hero stones are also worthy of mention for their finesse.

The Museum is open from 9.30 a.m.-5 p.m. It is closed on Fridays and national

holidays. For more information, visit www.chennaimuseum.org/

History in Bronze

SOURCE

History in bronze

PRADEEP CHAKRAVARTHY

The gallery at the Government Museum boasts a fascinating array of artefacts from across the country.

---

The earliest bronze in Tamil Nadu dates back to 5th century B.C. and was found in a small village called Adhichanallur.

---

PHOTOS: S. THANTHONI & courtesy The Government Museum

TIMELESS beauty: The museum and some of the icons on display (below).

(This is the first of a five-part series on the Government Museum, Chennai.)

Going past Pantheon Road, Chennai, whether it is to the railway station or for a shopping trip, it is hard to not admire the stately museum buildings that can be seen even better now thanks to the flyover!

Set up in 1851, the Government Museum Government Museum or the Central Museum is one of the oldest in India. It has relics from as early as 2nd Century B.C. and is home to a fascinating and rich collection of artefacts not just from Tamil Nadu but from South India and India itself.

Started in Fort St George in 1851, it first had a collection of geological specimen. By 1853, it had several more specimen and in 1854, moved to its present premises in Pantheon Road (named after the Pantheon/public assembly rooms). The current buildings date to circa 1896.

The best buildings in the campus are the Museum Theatre, the Connemara Library and the National Art Gallery. The buildings, designed by Henry Irwin and built by Namberumal Chetty, are inspired by Italian architecture except the Art Gallery (not in use now) that is inspired by Akbar’s Buland Darwaza in Fatehpur Sikri. The art gallery was originally intended for use by the Victoria Technical Institute and came to the use of the Museum from 1951.

The museum has eight sections. The Bronze Gallery is one of the best known and probably the most modern after international standard design techniques were used. The bronzes number more than 1,200 though only a fraction is displayed. The bronzes in the museum were meant for worship in Hindu temples. Many bronzes are also Buddhist or Jain and some are in the ‘folk style’ meant for worship in humbler village temples.

The earliest bronze in Tamil Nadu dates back to 5th century B.C. and was found in a small village called Adhichanallur near Tirunelveli. The figurine of the mother goddess is a crude one but this was a precursor to the life-like images that are internationally renowned today.

Made by the lost wax process, the crafting of icons requires great skill and patience. Early South Indian bronzes tend to be simple and spare in ornamentation. The golden age of bronzes was the 11-13th centuries when the dynasties, especially the Cholas, embarked on massive temple building projects. Increasing power of the temples meant an increase in temple rituals and the stationary main deity was soon competing in religious devotion with the processional deity made of bronze.

Excessive ornamentation

Images from the Chola period became bigger, more lifelike and exquisitely formed. The boon soon became a bane, for later Chola pieces became more ‘template-ised’ since demand began to outstrip supply. The hiatus that intervened between the 14th and 16th centuries saw resurgence in the Vijayanagar and Nayak regimes when temple building and re-consecration became important once again. Images now however gained in the excessive ornamentation but lost the lissomness of the past.

Most of us normally associate bronzes only with Hinduism, while bronzes of the Hindu deities are the most prolific, at a time when Jainism and Buddhism were important religions in India, monasteries and devotees of these religions too commissioned bronzes of great beauty for worship. The museum has more than a dozen bronzes in this group. They date from 3rd century A.D. to 16th century A.D. with most of the bronzes dating from 12th century.

The images of Buddha are usually standing, with the great teacher holding his two hands in the abhaya (offering protection) and varadha (granting boons) mudras. One rare image has the Buddha in the kataka mudra indicating the holding of a flower. Given the size of these images and the rings in the pedestal that were meant to secure the image to a base, they must have been used in processions. It is also significant that many of the images were discovered in and around Nagapattinam.

The Jain images show the Thirthankara. Some of them are seated in front of a prabhavali that has chamara (flywhisk) bearers or the Makara (a beast that symbolises fearlessness). There are four Thirthankaras and they can be identified by a symbol usually on the right side of the pedestal. The Jain images date between the 11-13th centuries.

Among the hundred Hindu images, those of Nataraja and Somaskanda are more well-known. The gallery has several fine images of Parvati as well. A particularly beautiful one is from Thiruvengimalai dated from 11th century. It shows Parvati in the characteristic Thribhanga pose but her left hand is gracefully resting on the head of an attendant who carries a casket. The detailing of the ornaments and the folds of textile are superb as are the calm facial expressions of the figures. An unusual 14th century copper image of a sage seated on a tiger trampling on a demon with one foot has an inscription that identifies it as that of Vishnu’s incarnation as a dwarf Vamana.

The collection on display in this gallery is rotated on a periodic basis and there is an excellent illustrated guide available that was published in 2003.

Patnam Temples of Madras

(Source)

Temples for the Town

The origins of the name Chennai are shrouded in mystery. And yet, two of the oldest temples of the George Town area bear it as a prefix leading to one theory that these temples gave the city its name. They are referred to as ‘Patnam’ (Town) Temples by the locals thereby giving credence to the belief.

The Chenna Kesava and the Chenna Malleeswara Swami Temples of George Town originally stood where the High Court is today. Records speak of their existence even in the 1640s and associate two of the city’s founders Beri Thimmappa and Nagabathan with the construction. The old Black Town (native quarter as opposed to the White Town of Fort St George) being in that area, the complex was used for public meetings as well. However post the French occupation of and subsequent eviction from the city between 1746 and 49, the British felt that Black Town ought to be shifted inwards and it moved to the present location which later became George Town.

The Patnam Temple complex was therefore razed to the ground in 1757 and the debris was used to construct a protective wall for the city. Realising that religious sentiments were being ruffled, the British in 1762 allotted space of 25000 sq ft in the new Black Town, on Devaraja Mudali Street for the construction of the temples. Manali Muttukrishna Mudaliar, the Chief Merchant of the East India Company and dubash (agent) of Governor Pigot, opened a subscription list for the building of the temples and donated 5000 pagodas (the then currency). The East India Company gave 1173 pagodas. Donations amounted to 15000 pagodas and construction began in 1766 and continued till 1780. The temples have close connections with members of the Manali family, one of the oldest lineages of the city, even today. Till recently, until congestion prevented it, it was customary for Chenna Kesava Perumal to be taken in procession to Manali Hostel on Govindappa Naicken Street for the annual spring festival. Now this is celebrated within the temple precincts.

This twin complex is unique for it has the Vishnu and Siva temples together, sharing a common compound wall. The Chenna Malleeswara Swami temple had a number of Devadasis attached to it till the dancing girl tradition was abolished in 1947. The Chenna Kesava Perumal Temple was known for the patronage it gave nagaswaram artistes, a festival of music in the month of July, exclusively dedicated to nagaswaram performances continuing even now, a good 300 years after it was initiated.