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拍品专文
Shiva Vinadhara Dakshinamurti is one of four types of Dakshinamurtis, or supreme teachers of ultimate awareness, understanding, and knowledge. "Dakshinamurti" literally means "one who faces south," the direction associated with change, transformation, and renewal. In the aspect of Vinadhara, the player of the vina, Shiva expounds on the timeless principles of vocal and instrumental music, which is known to lead to liberation (moksha) without strain. In Indian philosophy music is comparable to yogic practice in that both involve the control of breath, mental absorption, and the ultimate release from all obsessions of the mind.
The representation of Vinadhara bears close resemblance to that of Tripuravijaya, the vanquisher of the triple-city of demons, based on the iconographic convergence between the two forms, especially as depicted during the Chola period. The legend of Tripuravijaya recounts that Shiva at one time granted three cities made of gold, silver, and iron, and situated in the heavens, the air, and on earth, to some powerful demons. Over a period of one thousand years these demon cities became so powerful and wreaked such havoc that the gods, concerned for the safety of the universe, appealed to Shiva for assistance. Shiva raised his bow, and using a snake as his bowstring, he reduced the three cities to ashes with a single flaming arrow. In both Shiva as Vinadhara and as Tripuravijaya, the principle hands are positioned in such a fashion that his left hand could be holding a bow or the neck of the vina, and his right could be holding an arrow or plucking the instrument's strings. His upper hands hold a battleaxe and antelope, as in the present example, or occasionally a trident, and he sometimes bears a skull in addition to the serpent and crown in his jatakamukuta.
The close visual parallel between Tripuravijaya and Vinadhara reveals the god's dual aspects of powerful warrior and beneficent yogi. The subtle divergence in appearance between these two manifestations of Shiva provides continued material for scholarly discussion. In the exhibition catalogue The Sensuous and the Sacred (2002), Vidya Dehejia and R. Nagaswamy re-identify two examples of this iconographic type, one from the Cleveland Museum of Art and the other from the collection of Robert H. Ellsworth (pp. 106-111, cat. nos. 5 and 6), as Shiva Tripuravijaya. Stylistically the present work has much in common with these two published works. The proportions of the body are similar, with broad shoulders, elongated legs, and firm, high buttocks, and the veshti is similarly tied, with a short pleat hanging between the thighs. The jewelry is also similarly designed and placed, including the coiling acanthus-leaf-styled armbands, the quadrupled holy thread, and the heavy anklets that rest atop the feet. Notable are the tassels of his necklaces; one hangs from the present figure's right shoulder towards the front and the other hangs in the middle of the back, terminating in a peepul leaf design. Very similar tassels are seen in the two works mentioned above, as well as in a figure of Bhogeshvari from Pallavesvara (see D. Barrett, Early Cola Bronzes, 1965, fig. 33). All three comparable works are dated between circa 950-1000, hence a similar date seems likely for the present figure.
The proliferation of images of (and resembling) Tripuravijaya may be connected to the expansion and consolidation of the Chola dynasty and the flourishing of its artistic legacy under Queen Sembiyan Mahadevi (active 941-1001) and her son, the great Emperor Rajaraja Chola I (r.985-1014), during the second half of the tenth century. Rajaraja I, for whom Shiva as Tripuravijaya seems to have held a special significance (for a well-researched discussion see G. J. Schwindler, "Speculations of the Theme of Siva as Tripurantaka as it Appears During the Reign of Rajaraja I in the Tanjore Area ca. A.D. 1000," in Ars Orientalis, vol. 17 (1987), pp. 163-178), is known to have attacked three important regions - Kerala, Sri Lanka, and the Pandya domain - in order to break up their control of the western trade and consolidate the region under Chola power. The emperor was a great warrior, but he was also an ardent devotee of Shiva, and he contributed greatly to the Chola's artistic legacy through his sponsorship of the Brihadisvara Temple in Thanjavur. Shiva as Tripuravijaya is prominently featured on the Great Temple's interior and exterior walls, and it is likely that portable representations of Trupiravijaya, Dakshinamurti and other deities similar to the present figure, were included among the processional bronzes that propelled the ruler's great devotion throughout the surrounding city streets. This is an exceptionally well-modeled bronze with extraordinary grace and pedigree.
The representation of Vinadhara bears close resemblance to that of Tripuravijaya, the vanquisher of the triple-city of demons, based on the iconographic convergence between the two forms, especially as depicted during the Chola period. The legend of Tripuravijaya recounts that Shiva at one time granted three cities made of gold, silver, and iron, and situated in the heavens, the air, and on earth, to some powerful demons. Over a period of one thousand years these demon cities became so powerful and wreaked such havoc that the gods, concerned for the safety of the universe, appealed to Shiva for assistance. Shiva raised his bow, and using a snake as his bowstring, he reduced the three cities to ashes with a single flaming arrow. In both Shiva as Vinadhara and as Tripuravijaya, the principle hands are positioned in such a fashion that his left hand could be holding a bow or the neck of the vina, and his right could be holding an arrow or plucking the instrument's strings. His upper hands hold a battleaxe and antelope, as in the present example, or occasionally a trident, and he sometimes bears a skull in addition to the serpent and crown in his jatakamukuta.
The close visual parallel between Tripuravijaya and Vinadhara reveals the god's dual aspects of powerful warrior and beneficent yogi. The subtle divergence in appearance between these two manifestations of Shiva provides continued material for scholarly discussion. In the exhibition catalogue The Sensuous and the Sacred (2002), Vidya Dehejia and R. Nagaswamy re-identify two examples of this iconographic type, one from the Cleveland Museum of Art and the other from the collection of Robert H. Ellsworth (pp. 106-111, cat. nos. 5 and 6), as Shiva Tripuravijaya. Stylistically the present work has much in common with these two published works. The proportions of the body are similar, with broad shoulders, elongated legs, and firm, high buttocks, and the veshti is similarly tied, with a short pleat hanging between the thighs. The jewelry is also similarly designed and placed, including the coiling acanthus-leaf-styled armbands, the quadrupled holy thread, and the heavy anklets that rest atop the feet. Notable are the tassels of his necklaces; one hangs from the present figure's right shoulder towards the front and the other hangs in the middle of the back, terminating in a peepul leaf design. Very similar tassels are seen in the two works mentioned above, as well as in a figure of Bhogeshvari from Pallavesvara (see D. Barrett, Early Cola Bronzes, 1965, fig. 33). All three comparable works are dated between circa 950-1000, hence a similar date seems likely for the present figure.
The proliferation of images of (and resembling) Tripuravijaya may be connected to the expansion and consolidation of the Chola dynasty and the flourishing of its artistic legacy under Queen Sembiyan Mahadevi (active 941-1001) and her son, the great Emperor Rajaraja Chola I (r.985-1014), during the second half of the tenth century. Rajaraja I, for whom Shiva as Tripuravijaya seems to have held a special significance (for a well-researched discussion see G. J. Schwindler, "Speculations of the Theme of Siva as Tripurantaka as it Appears During the Reign of Rajaraja I in the Tanjore Area ca. A.D. 1000," in Ars Orientalis, vol. 17 (1987), pp. 163-178), is known to have attacked three important regions - Kerala, Sri Lanka, and the Pandya domain - in order to break up their control of the western trade and consolidate the region under Chola power. The emperor was a great warrior, but he was also an ardent devotee of Shiva, and he contributed greatly to the Chola's artistic legacy through his sponsorship of the Brihadisvara Temple in Thanjavur. Shiva as Tripuravijaya is prominently featured on the Great Temple's interior and exterior walls, and it is likely that portable representations of Trupiravijaya, Dakshinamurti and other deities similar to the present figure, were included among the processional bronzes that propelled the ruler's great devotion throughout the surrounding city streets. This is an exceptionally well-modeled bronze with extraordinary grace and pedigree.