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History's Hinge - 'Ain Jalut

[Jesus of Lubeck]

Hello Administration, Bart, and Bahama,

Here are a few thoughts on the B7 Shiva.

B7: When I first viewed the post containing this image I could scarcely believe it. Bahama appears to have recovered a Nandiswara Shiva effigy from a Caribbean shipwreck site.  I agree with Bart that the sculpture is cast using the cire perdue (lost-wax) technique and Bart is quite right to focus attention of the accoutrements and fashion adorning the bronze  (copper alloy) figure.

So far away from its original context and perhaps mixed within a collection of other artifacts from the Indian subcontinent, any final identification will have to await the study of a specialist.

It appears that the following observations can be put forward however.  First the artifact likely represents an aspect of the Hindu deity Shiva in his aspect of Nandiswara (Shiva rider of the bull Nandi).  In Hindu iconography, this aspect of Shiva is rendered with matted unadorned (without headdress) hair, almost bare but for a dhoti and hip belt.  This is quite a contrast with the iconography governing the portrayal of other aspects of Shiva, one of the most well-known in the West being the Nataraja Shiva form (Lord of the Dance).  B7, representing a Nandiswara Shiva, served to present Shiva as the perfect householder. Usually these Nandiswara Shiva bronzes appeared in groups, on Shiva�s right, his hand would rest on the bull Nandi.  To Shiva�s left would stand the figure of his consort Parvati, the embodiment of ideal feminine beauty.  Thus, if B7 were part of a Nandiswara Shiva group, there is a possibility that another bronze or two may lie within the wreck site.  The first image uploaded represents a Hindu ratha devoted to Nandiswara Shiva and illustrates the positioning of Shiva flanked by Nandi to the left and consort couples (Parvati?) to the right.  This ratha dates from the Chola period and is located at present day Mamallapuram on India�s southeast coast (this city appears on 17th century charts as Masulapatan).

Thus, on the basis of this and other examples, the artistic and iconographic influence from which B7 draws its inspiration may be traced to south India�s Chola Kingdom (897-1250 CE). The Chola state was deeply devoted to Shiva worship and numerous temples devoted to that deity are found in the Kavaeri River basin and extending throughout the areas dominated by the Chola.  The second image uploaded is a very famous Chola bronze attributed to the 11th century CE.  It was recovered at Thanjavur (Tanjore) and presently resides at the Rajaraja Museum.  Thanjavur, located on the Kaveri River, served as the capitol of the Chola state during the height of its power.  In this image, a masterpiece of Chola bronze work, the Nandiswara Shiva aspect is represented.  The pose of Shiva, the positioning of the hands and feet, the adornment and hairstyle, as well as the dhoti clothing Shiva, are echoed in the much later B7 piece.  Image two is a detail of the Thanjavur Shiva torso.

In the execution and style of work, however, B7 departs dramatically from the aquiline lines and proportions of the Chola bronze.  This is particularly true with respect to B7�s representation of the hands, which appear larger in proportion to the rest of the body.  In this respect, the style of B7 may be more closely related to regional elements that asserted themselves in the post-Chola period.  With the collapse of the Chola state in the 13th century CE, several post-Chola Hindu kingdoms emerged, notably the In Vijaynagar (14th to 16th century), there was an eclectic fusion of stylistic inputs derived from previous Southern dynasties. A particularly interesting development was the Srisailam temple (central Andhra 14th-15th C) all of whose carvings, in comparison with Chola forms, display a more regional or folkish style of rendering forms (one characteristic to note is that the proportion of the hands to the body become slightly larger in Vijaynagar works). A combined force of Islamic Sultanates annihilated the Vijaynagar army in 1565, and thereafter, southeast Indian history enters into a very confusing period that HH might discuss at a later date.  However, there continued to be small Hindu successor states to the Vijaynagar Kingdom.  Most notably the Tanjore and Madori Nayaks and then the Marathas, also Hindu, conquered Thanjavur (Tanjore) in 1674.  It was the Marathas who controlled this area of India at the time that Bahama�s vessel is presumed to have sailed.

Works consulted for these comments:

The Sculpture of Greater India
Aschwin Lippe
The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, New Series, Vol. 18, No. 6. (Feb., 1960), pp. 177-192.

Shiva Nataraja: Shifting Meanings of an Icon
Padma Kaimal
The Art Bulletin, Vol. 81, No. 3. (Sep., 1999), pp. 390-419.

Rajaraja Museum, Thanjavur

Best Regards,

Lubby

[Administration]

Hello all,
Here is a little something on the Portuguese and India.


European settlements in India 1501-1739

Portuguese India

Early history

The first Portuguese encounter with India was on May 20, 1498 when Vasco da Gama landed in Calicut (present-day Kozhikode). Over the objections of Arab merchants, da Gama secured an ambiguous letter of concession for trading rights from the Zamorin, Calicut's local ruler, but had to sail off without warning after the Zamorin insisted on his leaving behind all his goods as collateral. Gama kept his goods, but left behind a few Portuguese with orders to start a trading post.

In 1510, Portuguese admiral Afonso de Albuquerque defeated the Bijapur sultans on behalf of a local sovereign, Timayya, leading to the establishment of a permanent settlement in Velha Goa (or Old Goa). The Southern Province, also known simply as Goa, was the headquarters of Portuguese India, and seat of the Portuguese viceroy who governed the Portuguese possessions in Asia.

The Portuguese acquired several territories from the Sultans of Gujarat: Daman (occupied 1531, formally ceded 1539); Salsette, Bombay, and Ba�aim (occupied 1534); and Diu (ceded 1535). These possessions became the Northern Province of Portuguese India, which extended almost 100 km along the coast from Daman to Chaul, and in places 30�50 km inland. The province was ruled from the fortress-town of Ba�aim. Bombay (present day Mumbai) was given to Britain in 1661 as part of the Portuguese Princess Catherine of Braganza's dowry to Charles II of England. Most of the Northern Province was lost to the Marathas in 1739, and Portugal acquired Dadra and Nagar Haveli in 1779.

The Goa Inquisition

The Portuguese set up a long program to convert the native population (mainly Hindus) by torture. It was much larger and endured for a longer period than the Spanish Inquisition. Thousands of citizens suffered horrors and execution and led to large portions of Goa being depopulated (See Goa Inquisition[1][2]). Eventually, the Inquisition in Goa was banished in 1812 by royal decree, as a consequence of Napoleon's Iberian Peninsular campaign.

References
   1. The Portuguese Inquisition in Goa (1560-1812)
   2. Kanchan Gupta, "Recall the Goa Inquisition to stop the Church from crying foul"

Thanjavur Nayaks



Wars with Portugal

Portugal controlled the Nagapattinam territory as well as the Colombo province in Ceylon and the entire West Coast of India. The King of Jaffna went into a war against Portugal against the methods adopted by the missionary conversions in Jaffna. Later King of Jaffna sought help from the Tanjore Nayaks in repelling Portuguese advances through many battles.


A Mighty Cannon of forge-welded Iron. This cannon was built during the reign of Raghunatha Nayak (1600 - 1645 CE), and it was located at the defense barricade at the Eastern entrance to the city.

Maratha conquest

Chokkanatha placed his brother Alagiri on the throne of Thanjavur, but within a year the latter threw off his allegiance, and Chokkanatha was forced to recognise the independence of Thanjavur. A son of Vijaya Raghava induced the Bijapur Sultan to help his get back the Thanjavur throne. In 1675, the Sultan of Bijapur sent a force commanded by the Maratha general Venkaji (alias Ekoji) to drive away the Madurai usurper. Venkaji defeated Alagiri with ease, and occupied Thanjavur. He did not, however, place his protege on the throne as instructed by the Bijapur Sultan, but seized the kingdom and made himself king. Thus ended the reign of Nayaks and the start of Maratha power in Thanjavur.

[Jesus of Lubeck]

Hello Administration,

Thank you for this wonderfully clear and accurate summary of a deliciously intricate piece of south Indian political history. Very nice to set Bahama's artifacts against this context.

Best Regards,

Lubby

[Tayopa]

HOLA  Fascinating reading, loved it.  A side thingie, just how long was that canon?

Jesus, I enjoyed you post greatly.

Don Jose de La Mancha

[bahamawrecker]

Thanks to all, for the great follow-up.
 I have not much time these days, but here is one more picture from the same site.  This is a very different context.  I think I have mentioned above, that two ships sank at the same time. They were coming from different places but sank in the same happening.
Bahamawrecker

[Jesus of Lubeck]

Hello Tayopa,

Very pleased to make your acquaintance and thank you for your comments.  I am still new to the forum and hope to get around to your neck of the woods soon.

Hello Bahama,

Are you able to report what material the bottle is constructed from?  I would like to know if it is ceramic or glass?  If it is ceramic, may we politely impose on your crew for a closeup of the ceramic form that clearly shows the color and texture of the ceramic paste?

Best Regards,

Lubby

[bahamawrecker]

Hi Lubby,

The bottle is made out of glass.  I have found similar bottles on other shipwrecks from the same time period. The glas is always very corroded and flakey, I suspect that it is due to the quality of the glass itself.
Bahamawrecker