sundar43 Reward Points : 100 Member Since : Sunday, June 07, 2009
I know about Natarajan statute but what is special about the Lord Nataraja statute of Sivapuram the stolen one and recovered ,
Posted On : 6/7/2009 4:42:10 AM
Abhi Tripathi [Guru] Reward Points : 74900 Member Since : Monday, January 07, 2008
he Lord Nataraja statute of Sivapuram is a classic example of the Chola Bronze art. Shiva s cosmic dance in magnificent bronze sculptures of dancing figures with four arms whose superbly balanced and yet dynamic gestures express the rhythm and unity of life, is how a world authority on dancing Natarajas describe the icon of this Lord Nataraja statute of Sivapuram
Sivapuram Nataraja, which was sold in the 1970s to American collector Norton Simon for one million dollars. The theft was not known for more than 20 years, till an American scholar went to the Sivapuram temple to study the eighth century bronze. To his surprise he found, that what was in place was a 20th century imitation, devoid of the ultimate grace of the Chola bronzes. But what is it that makes this Chola bronze Natarajas so special? Shiva s cosmic dance in magnificent bronze sculpture of dancing figure with four arms whose superbly balanced and yet dynamic gesture express the rhythm and unity of life, is how a world authority on dancing Nataraja describe the icons. Chola artists breathed life into their work by using the cire perdue, or lost wax process, with minute details worked into the clay moulds closely following the Silpa Shastra texts. The craftsmen approached their task with the right Dhyana Shlokas pertaining to the particular deity so that their minds would be imbued with the essential quality of the deity. Materials were chosen with great care at every stage fine beeswax, clay taken from termite mounds, and of course, the delicate proportions in the panchloha, or alloy, made out of five metals. Because the mould is broken once the casting is complete, no two idols can be alike and that essential uniqueness adds to the value of each piece for the worshipper and the modern-day collector alike. The Nataraja, or Lord of the Cosmic Dance, abundantly cast in bronze by the Cholas who ruled South India between the 9th and 12th centuries and who had a sea-borne empire extending to Sri Lanka, the Malay peninsula and Sumatra in modern Indonesia. Wrote Frtjof Capra in the Tao of Physics : Indian artists of the 10th and 12th centuries have represented Siva s cosmic dance in magnificent bronze sculptures of dancing figures with four arms whose superbly balanced yet dynamic gestures express rhythm and unity of life. Capra s endorsement only spurred the demand for Natarajas in the West. Some of the finest examples have surfaced in museums in Britain and the United States currently the US and the ASI are engaged in court battles for the return of several pieces. According to D K Sinha, a retired ASI director, the return in 1986 of a Nataraja by the Norton Simon Foundation, originally unearthed from the village of Sivapuram in southern Tamil Nadu, is particularly encouraging. The Los Angles-based foundation paid a million dollars for innocent purchase of the Sivapuram Nataraja but ultimately handed it back to the Tamil Nadu state government following protracted litigation in the United States and Britain. What helped the reclamation was the description of the idol in a book Early Chola Bronzes written by Douglas Barret, who spotted it in the living room of Lance Dane, an advertising executive in 1964. Precious items frequently turn up at auctions mounted by the famed Sotheby s and the firm even has representatives in India whom the ASI regards with suspicion. India can only claim treasures that can be proved to have left the country after independence in in 1947. Any number of items were taken away during nearly two centuries of colonial rule - including such items as the Koh-i-Noor diamond, which is now part of the British Crown jewels.
Nataraja Statute
