R. K. K. Rajarajan is Associate Professor in Visual Studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University.
關鍵詞
Early Pandya; Eastern Calukya; Kalaiamarcelvi/Mrgavahini; Kañcipuram; Navalūr; Pallava; Raṣṭrakūṭa; Sapta Matrkas; Simhavahini; Śrivilliputtūr; Udayagiri; Vēppaṅkuḷam; Western Calukya
摘要
The Early Pāṇḍyas and the Pallavas were contemporaries, dated c. 550–850 ce. South Indian art of this period falls under the dynastic lineages of Western Cālukyas, Eastern Cālukyas, Pallavas, Early Pāṇḍyas and Rāṣṭrakūṭas. The iconographical idioms familiar in their arts are Siṃhavāhinī and Sapta Mātṛkās. Siṃhavāhinī to an extent was popularized by the Western Cālukyas, as shown in the rock-cut temples of Ellora. The Pallava structural temples of Kāñcīpuram include a number of images. An analogous iconographic theme is Kalaiamarcelvi/Mṛgavāhinī. Sapta Mātṛkās was a theme popularized by the Guptas. As far as our present knowledge goes, the geographical range of Siṃhavāhinī extends southwards as far as Kāñcīpuram, and the Mātṛkās go further southward, as far as Paraṅkuṉṟam. However, as a breakthrough we discovered images of Siṃhavāhinī and the Mātṛkās in a small hamlet at Vēppaṅkuḷam in the Śrīvilliputtūr circle, Tamilnāḍu. Kalaiamarcelvi had so far come to light only in northern Tamilnāḍu. The discovery of Siṃhavāhinī and the Mātṛkās in the far south is crucial because it expands the map of these divinities from Udayagiri in the north to Śrīvilliputtūr in the far south. Another important discovery is that the Siṃhavāhinī of the present study combines features typical of the Deccan (e.g. the lion vehicle) and the far south (e.g. standing on the head of a buffalo). Such images are found rarely in the north, and seem to be rooted in Tamil cultural traditions.
