|
|
SOUTHERN RECESS
Just before the short flight of steps leading up to the Surya image, on
the right, is a superb recess. This recess typifies the site, since it
maintains a balance between mass and detail that is everywhere here and
contains stone that varies tremendously in color, texture, and
workmanship. Here monolithic figures overlook pillars carved in the
tiniest detail.
On the west side rears up a man mounted on a lion, which is on top of an
elephant crushing an enemy soldier. There is a tremendous dynamism in this
proud tableau, which must be 6-feet (2m) high and is still in pretty good
condition. War is balanced by love; on the opposite wall stand a glorious
Maithuna couple, again very large, which catches the honeyed evening light
from the west.
Due to damage, many of these sculptures are now visibly part of the
mammoth rock. They seem to be reverting to the undifferentiated stuff from
which they were once fashioned. Sucked back into a wall of solid
quicksand, they are frozen in time. The carvings that adorn every inch of
the pillars here urge the same metamorphosis on us. Their tracery swirls
and twists to produce curling introverted patterns-stone seaweed caught
and turned by the pull of the tide.
Like the Celtic motifs they so resemble, like all art shaped by the
restless sea, the Konark scrolls ebb and flow in a cadence of ceaseless
flux. Such patterns act as gentle mazes, ensnaring the heart with the
promise of hidden secrets.
THE SOUTHERN SURYA
Surya is one of the three chief deities of the 'Vedas'. As the source of
light, of warmth, of life, and of knowledge, he is the source of all.
One of the wonders of Konark are the three forms of Surya, which are set
in the southern, western and northern walls. Made of chlorite, these
accessory deities ('Parshva-Devatas') were originally framed, but the
frames have long since disappeared. The walls and roof around them are
thus all modern.
The Majestic Sculptures
Surya towers majestically over the south side of the compound. His gaze
is unflinching yet compassionate, and the full, almost flat quality of the
face with its almond-shaped eyes and flattish nose look more Southeast
Asian, perhaps Burmese or Thai, than Indian. Konark had extensive maritime
connections with Southeast Asian, so it is quite possible that the model
for these features came from there.
Yet, the face is not heavy; the gently smiling lips shadow the smooth
polished stone, as the cheeks swell out from the nose and catch the light.
It has an assured, self-absorbed tranquility that reminds us of the height
of Gupta art, nearly eight hundred years earlier.
Surya's body radiates an adamantine strength. Broad-shouldered,
narrow-waisted and long-limbed, it is hung with the signs of royalty:
earrings, sacred thread, necklaces, an exquisitely worked 'dhoti' closed
with a magnificent belt and clasp, with a long pendule hanging down at the
front.
Surya is the only Indian god who wears boots-a legacy from Iranian
iconography, as is the work on the dhoti. Again, the body has the same
fullness of contained energy that vitalizes the sculpted figures of the
Gupta period.
A Fine Carving
At first sight the sun god may appear rather too stylized by comparison
with the other, more naturalistic carving that adorns the walls of Konark.
It is true that hieratic deities are always carved according to canonical
convention. But there are several little details that prevent it becoming
too formal a figure. The taut body is etched with fineness at the armpits,
waist, and ankles; there is no heaviness at all.
The subsidiary figures add a touch of relief to the main one. By Surya's
right foot kneels the king, his sword laid down in submission; by his
left, the priest. Church and state, the two worlds of man, bow down before
the omnipotent source of life. Their faces have the sweetness of mature
'Pala-Sena' art.
The Lovely Figurines
Behind
these two stand a charming couple of figures: the bearded 'Dandi' and the
bearded and potbellied 'Pingala', the two attendants of Surya. Beyond
them, in a Mundi niche, are two warriors; while at the very ends are
'Usha' and 'Pratyusha', the twin divinities of light who in Vedic
mythology dispel the darkness with their rosy-tipped arrows. Below is the
charioteer 'Aruna', who drives the god's one-wheeled golden chariot,
controls the seven horses, and shields the world from the sun's fury. The
chariot bears dancers and musicians.
The four standing figures flanking the image are Surya's wives, two on
each side. Above these are deities: on the left is Vishnu with his mace
and lotus; on the right Brahma, bearded and potbellied, with three of his
four heads visible and with matted hair. This portly god is carrying his
water pot, stave, sacrificial ladle, and rosary. He is in his role of
priest-ascetic. Surya's halo is fringed with tongues of flame and
surrounded by various attendants, who frame the ineffable beauty of the
main face.
This wealth of subsidiary detail, carved with feeling and vitality,
presents a variety that rescues the enormous central figure from appearing
too massive or conventional. Altogether, it is a triumph of the Ganga
sculptor's art.
THE WESTERN SURYA
The best time to see this image is in the afternoon, when the sun
enlivens the otherwise dull chlorite. Wearing the traditional crown of
kings and gods, this Surya is very similar to the one you just saw. The
stone is so finely carved it looks as if the statue had been cast in
metal.
Again, some of the attendant figures here are superb. The Sun God's halo
is composed of smiling musicians whose faces glow with happiness like the
blissful couple on the southern wall.
On the top left of Surya stands Brahma, the creator; on the right,
Vishnu, the preserver, for the sun both quickens and sustains all life.
Here the flanking deities are flexed, as to give the whole figure a
serpentine motion and a touch of lightness. And again the lower part of
the piece is blackened with the 'Patina' from the touch of hundreds of
thousands of pious hands.
THE GARBHA-GRIHA
This was the holy of holies, originally approached from the east. Now it
is empty except for a carved chlorite platform, on which the image of the
deity was originally set. The platform is divided into three horizontal
divisions. In the recessed middle division is the mustached King
Narasingha Deva, kneeling with folded hands in the company of priests. His
sword, the emblem of kingship, is held in his armpit.
One of the priests is garlanding the monarch, while another carries a
royal charter pertaining to the founding of the temple. To the left of the
king kneels his queen, surrounded by six of her female attendants. The
dress of all these figures shows considerable variety, and all their
little faces are lit with that sunny contentment that is a hallmark of
Konark sculpture.
THE NORTHERN SURYA
Here the sun god is shown sitting on a spirited charger, while the king
and priest stand as attending servants. Surya himself is wearing a high
crown, and the 'Tilak' mark on his forehead. Although the body is badly
damaged, the god's face is again a masterful achievement.
Surya is shown riding a horse to indicate that he is facing north, that
part of the sky where the sun is principally absent. The presence of the
horse also alludes to a 'Mahabharata' myth in which Surya's brightness was
so great that Knowledge left, unable to bear it, leaving Shadow alone by
his side. She retired into the forest to devote herself to a life of
contemplation. To hide, she took the form of a horse, approached her. She
bore him two sons, the 'Ashwins', who are the twin gods of agriculture.
The desire to transcend time lies at the very heart of Indian culture. It
is the basis of her religions, her art, and her social system. So to the
Indian psyche, the sun symbolizes not only time but also that which lies
beyond time, the Eternal. These faces of the sun are not incompatible
opposites. On the contrary, they are the two complementary aspects of the
One life.
The didactic purpose of the best of Indian art is to bring the timeless
into the transitory. It seeks to make us realize that deep within the
ever-changing world lies the unchanging spirit, the self of all creation.
Places like Konark
attempt to bring us to the threshold of this unifying vision, so we
discover our true nature.