Stone Sculptures

The Cholas created stone sculptures, primarily using granite, depicting divine images as well as scenes from religious texts and mythology in high relief. Descriptions of celestial beings from the works of ancient poets and sages formed the conceptual basis for sculptures created by Chola artists who followed strict rules of proportions known as Lakshanas that set out positions and proportions of face, body and limbs. As these interpretations and rules were uniformly followed by the thousands of sculptors who worked on the Brihadishwara temple, these is a pleasing cohesion in the sculptures that adorn the entire temple. While sculptors were bound by the rules of their art form these sculptures still show fluid grace and beauty.In 1956 ASI staff were cleaning the interior passages within the walls of the Vimana and came across a hardened section of dirt and bat excreta. When they removed this obstruction, they discovered a passage that opened up to reveal a number of granite sculptures of Shiva Thandava or Nataraja (Shiva in his dancing form) in Karanas (dance poses) from the classical Indian dance treatise, the Natyashastra. Only 81 of the 108 karanas had been sculpted, but blank panels remain for the other 27. These sculptures are prime examples of Chola sculptures as they epitomize grace and expressive movement in the face, hands and body positions of each dance pose.