The document provides information about Nataraj images from the Chola period between 850-1250 CE. It discusses that Nataraj images were created in various mediums like stone, metal and murals. It describes the iconography and symbolism of the Nataraj image showing Shiva in a cosmic dance. It also explains the lost wax technique used by Chola artists to create bronze sculptures and provides details of the multi-step process.

1. Sachin Kr. Tiwary
Nataraj image of Chola Period ( c.850-1250 CE)
Images of Nataraj on Various Medium

2. Map of Chola Empire & their
important place

3. Map showing the extent of the Chola empire during Rajendra Chola I (c. 1030 CE)
Map
Showing
Extension of
Chola
Empire
out of
todays India
boundary,

4. Historical Background
• One of the longest-ruling dynasties in the world's history,
• Earliest datable references to the Chola are in inscriptions from the
3rd century BCE left by Ashoka, of the Mauryan Empire (Ashoka Major
Edict No.13),
• Heartland of the Cholas was the fertile valley of the Kaveri river,
• Under Rajednra Chola-I & his successors Rajendra Chola-I, Rajadhiraja
Chola, Virarajednra Chola &Kulothunga Chola-I, the dynasty became a
military, economic & cultural power in South-Asia & South-East Asia,
• Tamil Cholas migrated north during the time of the Pallavas to
establish a kingdom of their own, away from the dominating
influences of the P&yas & Pallavas,
• Huen-tsang, who spent several months in Kanchi during 639–640 CE
writes about the "kingdom of Culi-ya", in an apparent reference to
these Telugu Cholas,
• Vijayalaya was the founder of the Imperial Chola dynasty who was the
feudatory of the Pallava dynasty, took an opportunity arising out of a
conflict between the Pandya dynasty & Pallava dynasty in c. 850,
captured Tanjavur from Muttarayar & established the dynasty,
• Thanjavur became the capital of the Imperial Chola Dynasty.
Rajaraja Chola at the Brihadiswara Temple, Thanjavur

5. Books
Early Chōl̤a Art: Origin and Emergence of Style by Rama Sivaram
Chōl̲a Murals: Documentation and Study of the Chōl̲a Murals of Bṛihadīśvara Temple, Thanjavur by P. S. Srirama
Chola Murals

6. Books
Temple art under the Chola queens
by Balasubrahmanyam Venkataraman
Early Chōl̤a art: origin and emergence of style
by Rama Sivaram
Chōl̲a Murals: Documentation and Study of the
Chōl̲a Murals of Bṛihadīśvara Temple, Thanjavur
by P. S. Srirama
C Sivaramamurty

7. Books
Temple art under the Chola queens
by Balasubrahmanyam Venkataraman
Early Chōl̤a art: origin and emergence of
style
by Rama Sivaram
Chōl̲a Murals: Documentation and Study
of the Chōl̲a Murals of Bṛihadīśvara
Temple, Thanjavur
by P. S. Srirama

8. • Stone (Granite), Metal (Bronze), Mural
over the flat wall and Over the
sculpture.
oReligious
Lost Wax Technique
Religious Place- Temples,
Medium
Theme
Technique
Context

9. Nataraj image of Chola Period (c.850 CE - 1250 CE)
I. Brihadeswara Temple, Tanjaur,
II. Gangaikonda Cholapuram Temple, at Darasuram and many
more,
1. Over the relief sculptures (Mural) &
2. Over the Plain Wall (Mural)
3. Bronze Image
4. Stone Sculpture
04
Types
Places

10. Types of
Chola Art
Freestanding
Sculptures
small in size
Freestanding
Sculptures
Lifesize for
outside yatra
God-Goddess King-Queen
Saint Others
In group on the
single platform
Copper Plate
Stamp
Coins
Sambandar

11. Why metal images were important ?
Comparative of Material
1. Artist can highlight as per the demand
and requirement due to the material,
2. Most Attractive due to Carving,
3. Minute Carving of Each ornaments and
posture can be done,
4. Easy Carriable- For Village Processions,
5. Less Risk of Damage,
6. Recycling is Possible,
7. Long Durability,
8. Easy to Maintain,
9. Due to High Cost,
10. Light in weight….

12. Purpose
Religious
Reach the
idol door to
door
Ceremonies
Social
Activities-
cultural
activities
Metal mold
was more
Easy
Chola bronze sculptures
were intended for
temple ritual

13. Nataraja
• The sculpture is symbolic of Shiva as the lord of dance and dramatic arts,
• It typically shows Shiva dancing in one of the Natya Shastra poses,
Iconography
• Holding fire in his left back hand,
• The front hand in gajahasta (elephant hand) or dandahasta (stick hand) mudra,
• The front right hand with a wrapped snake that is in abhaya (fear not) mudra while pointing
to a Sutra text, and
• The back hand holding a musical instrument, usually a damaru.
• He is surrounded by a ring of flames, standing on a lotus pedestal, lifting his left leg (or in rare
cases, the right leg) and balancing / trampling upon a demon shown as a dwarf (Apasmara or
Muyalaka) who symbolizes ignorance.
• The dynamism of the energetic dance is depicted with the whirling hair which spread out in
thin strands as a fan behind his head.
Symbolism
• His body, fingers, ankles, neck, face, head, ear lobes and dress are shown decorated with
symbolic items, which vary with historic period and region.

14. 600-700 CE.
Badami Cave no. 1,
Karnataka
600 CE.
Elephanta Cave,
Maharashtra
600 CE.
Ellora Cave no.21,
Maharashtra
Nataraja

15. Nataraja
Stone, Metal
& Mural

16. Nataraja Harihara

17. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nataraja

18. Chola king with
their saints before
the Nataraja idol.

19. Nataraj

20. Shiva as Nataraja, Los Angeles County Museum of Art
Shiva Nataraja:
• One of the most important and famous of all Hindu
icons is intimately associated with Cholas bronzes- the
Great image of Shiva Natraja, Lord of Dance/Dancers.
• Large number of this icon were created during the
Chola period in South India.
• Their manufacturing continued into the 12th century.
• Shiva is depicted in cosmic dance of creating &
destroying the universe.
• The height of the bronzes statue is 82 cm. & period
between 11-12 century A.D.

21. Iconographical details (of Shiva) and its symbolism:
• Shiva’s hair flies out widely as he dances, transfixed by the rhythm of the small
hour- glass- shaped drum held in his upper right hand. The rhythm is the heart
beat sound of the cosmos & it comes into being through the beneficent action
of the creative dance..
• The cosmos itself is represented as the ring encircling the
deity, which springs from the fertile mouths of makaras on
the sculpture’s base.
• The single flame reduces all to naught: it significantly balances the creative drum
in the deity’s right-hand.
• The lower right hand offers solace to his devotee by performing the reassuring
Abhaya Mudra of benediction.
The blessing is further affirmed by the lower left hand’s pose of gaja hasta. The flag
position of the hand is formed by dropping the figures into an imitation of an
elephant trunk, which here points to the left foot as it springs from the back of the
dwarf.
• This symbolic pose promises the devotee release form the suffering of Maya,
while the right foot crushes, with the full force of the dance, the back of the dwarf.
• A poisonous cobra is held by the dwarf, but the same deadly serpent is worn as an
ornament over Shiva’s blessing right hand
• Contemplating this moment of creation is the simultaneous destruction of
the cosmos, symbolized by the flames edging the encircle and the single
flame held in the God’s left hand.

22. • The Chola images were made of Bronze with an unusually high percentage of copper.
• The statues were cast by the `cire perdue’ (lost wax) process, of which two methods are practiced in India from earliest
times.
• Beeswax and kungilium/ Sal dhuna/Dammer are mixed with a little oil and kneaded well. The figure is sculpted from this
mixture fashioning all the minute details. This is the wax model original.
• The entire figure is then coated with clay made from termite hills until the mould is of a necessary thickness.
• This particular bronze alloy is known as Pancha Loham.
• The similarity between so many Hindu Bronze is explained by the fact that the craftsmen were religiously required to
follow strict canons of measurement and iconography, set out in the Shilpa Shastras, the manual of sculpture,
architecture, and other crafts.
• Basic to the rules were measurement defined by the width of the craftsman’s finger and length of his palm.
Technique of making
Nataraj metal image
‘Cire perdue’ (Lost Wax)/ Madhu Uchchishtta Vidhana in Sanskrit

23. 1. (Solid) First method of
making bronze art:
I. They prepare a wax model
II. Over this they made a clay
mould.
III. When this mould became
hard, they melted the wax
out and poured liquid
metal into the clay mould.
IV. When the metal had
cooled, they broke the
mould and gave the image
the final chasing and
burnishing.
V. It gives a solid figure.
Technique
2. (Holo) Second method of making bronze art:
I. They first made a clay model and coated it with a layer of
wax to reproduce exactly all the details of the form.
II. Then they covered the wax with a thin layer of fine clay.
III. When this dried, they added more layers until a thick out
shell had formed.
IV. This is called the negative.
V. They heated the statue until the wax melted and ran
through openings, leaving a space between the clay
mould and the negative.
VI. They poured liquid metal to replace the wax and
reproduce all the details of the figure.
VII. When the metal had cooled and hardened, they broke
away the outer shell.
VIII. Then the figure was chased with a chisel and polished
IX. It gives a shell.
https://www.quora.com/What-is-Chola-bronze-art
The first method gave a solid figure, the second a shell

24. 1 Sculptors mold images from hard beeswax mixed with a small amount
of dammar (resin) from the shal tree. The wax is carefully molded into
the separate parts that comprise the sculpture and then lowered into a
basin of cold water where it hardens instantly
Technique The following process, which was used by Chola-period artists:
.
2 In order to join the individual pieces into a whole, they are returned to a malleable state through brief
reheating. Simple tubular struts connect the hands of the images to the body providing both stability to
the wax model and acting as channels through which molten bronze can be poured. While the wax is still
soft, details, down to the individual beads of a sculpted necklace, are added with a sharp wooden chisel.

25. 3 The fully assembled wax model is then
encased within several layers of clay. The
entire piece is held together with metal
wire to ensure a strong container that will
withstand the heat of fire and molten
metal.
4 The heavily clay-encased mold is then
baked in a fire pit, melting the wax, which
runs out through the channels leaving a
perfectly detailed hollow clay mold.
Specialized metal-workers now take over,
heating copper with a small proportion of
lead and tin (and in earlier times small
amounts of gold and silver). This alloy is
carefully poured into the clay mold, which
has been heated to the temperature of
the molten metal.
Technique The following process, which was used by Chola-period artists:

26. Technique
5 After cooling for several days, the clay mold is
broken open to reveal a rough version of the
sculpture.
The following process, which was used by Chola-period artists:

27. 6 The sculptors carefully
chip away the clay and then
smooth and polish the
bronze, a process that can
take anywhere from a few
days to several weeks.
During the Chola dynasty,
only the barest minimum of
finishing work, such as
removing the channels of
bronze connecting hand to
torso, remained to be
executed. Today, however,
artists resort to an extensive
amount of cold chiseling
that gives a distinct, sharp
finish to the details.
Technique The following process, which was used by Chola-period artists:

28. X-Ray image of Nataraj

29. The purpose of making
these big and small
sizes are for village
processions as
opposed to the stone
deity installed in the
temple
Installing at different
religious places,

30. Life-size Idol of Chola Bronze- Living Idol
Dressing bronze images in silks and adorning them lavishly with jewels and flowers prior to
their participation in festival processions is a vital part of worship in south India today—
just as it was over a thousand years ago. Since at least the sixth century, priests have
ritually bathed bronze deities in milk, curds, butter, honey, and sugar, followed by water
from the Kaveri river; anointed them with fragrant sandalwood paste; draped them in
colorful cloth; and shaded them from the sun with canopies during festival processions.

31. PM Abbott of Australia returns Shiva Nataraja
idol & Ardhanariswara idol to the PM Narendra
Modi
https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/tamil-nadu/return-of-the-nataraja/article6384683.ece
Illicit Trafficking-
Since European conquest, the
Chola bronzes were a
showcase of creativity and
engineering skills and the idols
find a place of pride in major
museums around the world
even now.

32. https://navrangindia.blogspot.com/2019/05/900-year-old-sripuranthan-lord.html

33. Sources-
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chola_art_and_architecture
• https://www.sahapedia.org/the-chola-temples
• https://sreenivasaraos.com/author/sreenivasaraos/page/31/
• https://indiashastra.com/later-mural-traditions/
• http://chennaitian.blogspot.com/2011/08/chola-murals-brihadisvara-temple.html
• https://blogvirasatehind.com/2018/11/02/kanchipuram-murals-an-artistic-sojourn/
• https://www.ias.ac.in/article/fulltext/seca/010/02/0077-0084
• http://ncert.nic.in/textbook/pdf/kefa105.pdf
• http://www.william-voirol.ch/In/28/10/0/G.html?lng=0
• https://gops.org/?p=890
• http://www.harekrsna.com/sun/features/02-18/features3955.htm
• The credit for photographs of Brihadeshwara mural goes to Archeological Survey of India.
Thank
you