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POLONINARUWA BRONZES
AND
SIVA WORSHIP
AND
SYMB O LISM
P. ARUNA CHALAM
ASEAN EDUCATIONAL SERVICES NEW DELHI I CHIENNA der 2004

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POLONNARUWA BRONZES AND SIYA WORSHIP AND SYMBOLISM,
An Account of the Natardija and other Saiva Bronzes found at Polonnaruиха апd nouv in the Coloтbо Мизеит, иvith an Earplanation of their Symbolism and their relation to the Saiva Siddhanta system of philosophy.
By : SIR P. ARUNÁCHALAM, KT., M. A. CANTAB.,
Bresident, R. A. S. (Ceylon).
.
THE Bronzes that I propose to speak about were discovered with others in the years 1907 and 1908 by the late Archaeological Commissioner, Mr. H. C. P. Bell, while pursuing his excavations in the “buried city' of Polonnaruwa, and are now in the Colombo Museum. It is, perhaps, the most important find yet made by the Commissioner. Some of the principal images were unearthed near a Siva temple, popularly but erroneously called the Daladai Maligdiwa, or the Shrine of the Tooth Relic, and distinguished in Mr. Bell's Report (Sessional Paper No. V. of 1911) as “Siva Dewale No. 1.' The other bronzes were found near a building which he has designated “Siva Dewale No. 5' (Sess. Paper VI. of 1913)."
In February, 1909, I wrote for the late Director of the Museum, Dr. Willey, a short paper identifying the bronzes. It was published, with illustrations, in the Spolia Zeylanica of September, 1909. Another description by Dr. A. K.
* For a full description and illustrations of the temples, reference
is requested to those Reports and the plates therein (pages 17-24
and plates XVI.-XIX. of Sess. Paper V. of 191, and pages 4-7
and plates X, -XIV. of Sess. Paper VI. of 1913). A list of the
bronzes with illustrations is given in pages 36-7 and plate XXI. of the
နို်င်္ဂီနီ Report and in page 17 and plates XVII.-XIX. of the latter
өрогt.

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2 POLONINARUWA BRONZS.
Coomara Swamy (with illustrations) appeared in the Memoirs of the Colombo Museum, Series A, No. 1, published in 1914. Other illustrations have been prepared for this Paper. None of the illustrations quite do justice to the originals. I am indebted to the present Director, Dr. Pearson, for permission to show some of the original bronzes to-day.
The Siva Dewale No. 1 is the choicest example of a Hindu temple found at Polonnaruwa, if not throughout the Island, and lies just south of the elevated quadrangle within which lie the ruins of Buddhist and Hindu shrines, combining the architectural features of Ceylon, South India, and Cambodia in strange and not inharmonious grouping. The Dewale is all of carved stone, delioately fitted and wrought. “In almost every detail," says Mr. Farrer in his Old Ceylon, “the thing is perfect, and perhaps it is more than fancy that finds Hellenio memories in the purity of its line and the perfection of its proportions....Tradition calls this lovely jewel of stone-work the Daladá Máligáwa of Polonnaruwa, asserting that this was the shrine of the Tooth Relic. Tradition here lies, for this temple is not Sinhalese but Tamil of the finest, it is not Buddhist but Hindu, it is not a shrine of the Tooth Relic but a temple of Siva, the Destroyer. The Tooth Relic, we know, was treasured in the Wata-di-ge, and in all probability this Saivite shrine, so beautiful and ornate, is some family chapel of Parákrama Báhu the Great, who, for all his cult of Buddhism and its ancient monuments, never swerved from the faith of his ancestors.' The traditional name may be due, as Mr. Bell conjectires, to the building having been at some time or other used as a temporary resting-place of the Tooth Relic, pending its permanent lodgment in a Buddhist shrine worthy of its sanctity. Tradition also assigns the construction of the temple to King Kirti Nissanka, who seated himself on Parákrama's throne in 1198 A.D.
* The Court religion in Ceylon was usually Brahminical, the kings and nobles being closely connected by marriage and other ties with S. India. Parákrama Báhu himself was (as Mr. Still shows by an analysis of his ancestry) not more than 22/64 Sinhalese.

POLONINARUWA BRONZES. 3.
"fhe temple is similar in plan and structure to, but more elaborated than, the Siva, Dewale No. 5, or the better preserved shrine indicated in Mr. Bell's Report as '' Siva Dewale No. 2,' but hitherto called Vishnu Dewale in spite of its obtrusive indications of Siva worship, the bull and the lingam still found there. That Siva Dewale No. 1 was also devoted to the same worship is conclusively established by the finding here of the bronze images described below as well as of the pedestal of a Siva lingam.
II.
Before proceeding to a description of them, I will deal with their probable date. Mr. Rea (Superintendent of the Archaeological Survey, Southern Circle, Madras Presidency) declares the temples to be similar in outline to Chóla and Pándya temples of the llth and 12th centuries in India. The Siva Dewale No. 1 is, he says, generally more advanced in plan and ornate architectural detail than the Siva, Dewale No. 2; the former, with its pilaster-lined walls and niches for images, somewhat resembles the detached Subrahmanya shrine in the great temple of Siva (Brihad-isvara) at Tanjore. This temple is a Chola structure of the llth century, and the Subrahmanya shrine-a gem of South Indian Architectureis ascribed by Ferguson to the 12th century, an opinion in which Mr. Rea concurs. He assigns the same date approximately to Siva Dewale No. 1 A short pillar-slab, inscribed with Grantha Tamil characters, unearthed in the hall (mandapam) records* that it was set up by Lanká Vijaya Senevirat, a Sinhalese general, by order of King Gaja Báhu II. (1242-1264 A.D.). Mr. Bell thinks this pillar was not originally connected with the temple but brought later from elsewhere.
In Siva Dewale No. 2 there are three inscriptions out on the walls in Grantha Tamil characters which give a safer
* Arch. Commissioner's Report for 1907 (Sess. Paper W. of 1911, page 37.)

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4. POLONINARUWA BRONZES.
clue to the date. The longest of these inscriptions' records a grant of a lamp and lamp-stand to the temple, and that the temple authorities and servants hold themselves responsible for the keeping of the lamp alight for ever. The date of the grant is mentioned as the reign (No of the year missing) of Parakésarivarman alias Udaiyár Sri Adhirájendra Deva, a Tamil King of the Chola dynasty who ruled in South India. circa 1070-1073 A.D. His valour and greatness are described in the first nine lines of the inscription in ornate Tamil prose. One of the predecessors of Rajendra Chola I. (1029 to 1042 A.D.) is referred to in another of the inscriptions.
This was about the period when, according to the Mahdivasa, the rule of the Chóla kings in Ceylon was at its zenith. The Sinhalese king Sena. W., who ascended the throne at Polonnaruwa about 991 A.D., having quarrelled with his commander-in-chief, had to take refuge in the Rohana country, leaving his capital in the hands of the Tamils. His successor, Mahinda W. (1001 A.D.), lived with great difficulty for 12 years at Anurádhapura and then was driven to Rohana. The Tamils had hitherto come mainly from the Pandyan kingdom of Madura, and whether as invaders, allies, rulers or colonists, had exercised a predominant influence in the Island. The rival Chola dynasty, whose seat was at Kánchipura, near Madras, was now in the ascendant. The king of Chola, hearing of the distracted state of the Island, sent an army which overran the whole country, captured and deported Mahinda to India (where he died 12 years later) and “stationed themselves in the city
* Aroh. Commissioner's Report for 1906 (Sess. Paper XX. of 1910, pages 22, 263-7.)
f Tho presiding deity, Siva, is here called “Vánavan Mádévi isvarain Udaiyár, Lord (Udaiyar) of Jana natha mangalum," the last name being that by which the city of Polonnaruwa was known to the Tamil rulers and neaning “ the auspicious (city) of (Siva) the Lord of
creation.' It is called in other inscriptions ''Pulainor or Jonanárhapuram in the Chola land of peerless fertility" (iss fes GFirp aloristl 6 ly306 furtar gara rash plb), and again ''Pulainari or
Vijayarajapuram." (Arch. Report for 1909, Sess, Paper VI. of 194, p. 27.) Pulainari is tho "Tamil form of HPolonnaruwa, itself a contraction of Pulastiya nagara, “ city of Pulastnya.”

EPOLONNAIRU WA EBRONZIRGS.
of Pulatti (Polonnaruwa) and held possession of the King's country even unto the Rakkhapásána-kantha' place' (Mahdivasa, L.W. 21-23). Thenceforward the northern half of the Island was securely held for half a century as fief of the Chola kings until Vijaya Báhu I. (son of Mahinda) threw off the yoke (1065 A.D.). It is to this period of Cholian conquest, contemporaneous with the period in English history from Cnut to William the Conqueror, that the Hindu temples of Polonnaruwa and the bronzes in question belong. One of the other inscriptions in Siva Dewale No. 2 refers to a date about 8 years later than the victory of Vijaya Báhu. We may take it, then, that the bronzes are about eight and a half centuries old.
III.
The images which I shall deal with are those of Siva, the principal member of the Hindu Trinity, of his consort Sivakámi or Pârvati, of some of his principal saints, his favourite charger (the bull Nandi) and the Sun-god (Stiriya). The bronzes are charaoterised by the precision that comes of long tradition and practice. But there is inequality in style and finish. Some of the bronzes are heavy, commonplace and conventional, showing the artist struggling with imperfect realization of his ideals, defective knowledge and training and insufficient mastery of the technical difficulties; others are distinguished by consummate power and are 'a music to the eye,' as, for example, Sundaramúrti in plate VIII., which is unsurpassed in the expression of religious rapture, and Chandeswara in plate IXa.
The most important are the bronzes of the dancing Siva known as Notta-rd.já or (in pure Tamil) Ada-vallar. In design and detail the bronzes do not differ from the bronzes in the temples of to-day, showing that there has been little or no change in the ritual and conventions of worship. The images of Nata-rájá are scarcely equal in execution to the
* Rakwána ?

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(5 PO) 10N NARb)'WA BRONZK:S.
Nata-rájá in the Brihad-isvara temple in Tanjore or that in the Madras Museum.
The principal Nata-rájá found in Polonnaruwa is shown in plate I. and on a smaller scale, in plate iI a and b, the front and back view. Plates III. and IV. show two smaller figures of Nata-rájá (front and back view), but incomplete, as the halo is wanting, and in IV. also the braided locks. The dance represents the cosmic activity, of which Siva is the director and therefore is called King (or Lord) of the dance (Nata-rd.jdi. or Nafesa). ''Think of our Lord,” says a devotee, '' as the peerless dancer and dancing master, who abideth in all bodies as heat in fuel and maketh all creatures dance.'
This form is a favourite symbol of Siva worship in the Tamil land of South India and Ceylon, but is not, as far as I know, found in Northern India except in temples of Siva established there under Tamil auspices. It is in Tamil land that the traditions of the danoe had their origin and still have their yearly celebrations.
No Hindu image is deemed suitable for worship until it has been consecrated by elaborate ceremonies designed '' to draw to ' it (di-dih-anam, Lat. ad-veh-o) the Divine Presence and make it what in Christian language might be called “a vehicle of Divine Grace.' When an image has been deprived of its daily services or defiled by contact of unworthy hands, it must be consecrated anew before worship. The images are daily robed, jewelled and garlanded, and worshippers see scarcely more than face or hands. The almost nude bronzes before you you must imagine to be so robed and adorned in order to see them as they are seen in the temples. Dr. Pope, a great missionary and scholar, who spent over half a century in Southern
* See plates III. & IV. in Gangoly's South Indian Bronzes. t காட்டவனல் போலுடல் கலந்துயிரை யெல்லா
மாட்டுமொரு நட்வெனெம் மண்ணலென வெண்ணுய்
(Tiruvatawar-adikal Puranam, Hisaog at gay alalaro சருக்கம், 15.)

POLONNA RUWA BRONZES, 7
India and has edited, with an excellent translation and commentary, Tiru-vdichakam, the ancient and popular Psalms of Tamil-land daily recited in the temples, says (p. xxxv ):-
'' It is sometimes thought and said that the idols in these temples are mere signs, representing as symbols the Divine Being and some of His works and attributes. This is not altogether an adequate statement of the case. Each image by a peculiar service, which is called dividihanam, becomes the abode of an in-dwelling deity and is itself divine. Devout and enthusiastic worshippers amid the glare of the lamps and the smoke of the incense seem to be carried away so as to entirely identify the invisible object of their thoughts with that which is presented before their eyes. It was certainly so with our poet. If it be remembered that some of these images have been actually worshipped, tended, garlanded and treated as living beings for a thousand years, that each generation has done them service and lavished gifts upon them; that they are connected by association with long lines of saints and sages; and that it is earnestly believed that Siva's method of manifestation is by, through, and in these, ---as what we should call sacraments of his perpetual presence, -we shall understand with what profound awe and enthusiastic affection even images, to us unsightly, can be beheld by multitudes of good and excellent people.'
IV.
"The orthodox Hindu teaching held it to be irreverent and illogical to found artistic ideals of the Divine upon any strictly human or natural prototype, and recognizing the impossibility of human art realizing the form of God, sanctioned only an allegorical representation. 'The artist,' says an ancient Sanskrit writer, Sukrácháriya, in his Sukra Níti Sára or Sukra's Elements of Polity, a work translated into the Tibetan language in the 7th century A. D., " should attain to the image of the gods by means of spiritual contemplation only. The spiritual vision is the best and truest

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standard for him. He should depend on it and not at all upon the visible objects perceived by external senses. It is always commendable for the artist to draw the images of the gods. To make human figures is bad and even irreligious. It is far better to present the figure of a god, though it is not beautiful, than to reproduce a remarkably handsome human figure.' This of course is the antithesis of Greek Art, which glorified physical beauty and strength and made the beautiful man or woman the type of God.
“Spiritual contemplation,' says Havell, " is the key note of Hindu Art, as it was of the art of Fra Angelico and other great Christian masters: the whole philosophy of Indian Art is in these two words, spiritual contemplation, and they explain a great deal that often seems incomprehensible and even offensive to Europeans." Regarding all we see in Nature as transitory and illusive phenomena and the Divine Essence as the only reality, Indian Art cared little for the scientific study of facts, for anatomical detail, for the cult of the lay figure or the nude model. A faithful representation or imitation of Nature, though attained by him when he liked, was not to the Indian artist the end or a serious concern of Art. He strove, however imperfectly, to pierce the illusive appearance of things and realize something of the Universal, the Eternal and the Infinite. 'Whatsoever a thing may be, to see in it the One Reality is true Wisdom,” says Tiruvaluvar (Kural, 355.)*
Eko devah sarva, bhuteshu gúdahl sarvavyápí sarvabhután
tarátmá
Karmádhyakshah Barvabhutádhivásah sákshí ohetá kevalo
nirguņasoha.
' The One, luminous, hidden in all beings, pervading all, the innermost self of all, overseer of all acts, dweller in all beings, witness, perceiver, alone, free from all qualities.” (Svetágvatara Upanishad, 6, 11.)
* எப்பொரு ளெத்தன்மைத் தாயினு
மப்பொருண் மெய்ப்பொருள் காண்பதறிவு.

POLONNARUWA BRONZRS. 9
Any attempt to represent in art this Being, transcending thought and speech, must necessarily be futile. How inadequate, for instance, are the representations by Michael Angelo in the paintings which adorn the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel at Rome and which are generally regarded as the grandest creation of Modern Art 2
Mr. Laurence Binyon, poet and art-critic, writes thus of the Indian ideal and its influence in shaping the ideals and imagery of Chinese and Japanese Art now highly appreciated in Europe. “ The Indian ideal claims everywhere its votaries, and the chosen and recurrent theme is the beauty of contemplation, not of action. Not the glory of the naked human form, to Western Art the noblest and most expressive of symbols; not the proud and conscious assertion of human personality; but instead of these, all thoughts that lead us out from ourselves into the universal life, hints of the infinite, whispers from secret sources-mountains, water, mists, flowering trees, whatever tells of powers and presences mightier than ourselves: these are the themes dwelt on, cherished and preferred.' (Painting in the Far East.)
V.
A correct judgment of a nation's art is not possible unless the critic divests himself of prepossessions and endeavours to understand the thought of that people and to place himself in their point of view. As a great French savant, Taine, has said:** Quand on veut comprendre un art, il faut regarder l'âme du public auquel il s'addressait." As you can only speak to a person in a language which you both know, so you can only appeal to his artistic side by means of some common tradition, feeling, symbolism. Art is, it is true, in one sense a universal language, but every nation's art is the outward and visible expression of, and intimately associated with, the national oulture and sentiment, uses the symbols best understood by the people to whom it is addressed, and requires for its appreciation a familiarity with the national

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life and thought. This is especially the case with Indian Art, which is essentially idealistic, mystic, symbolic and transcendental, and cannot be judged by the canons of Greek Art, the Renaissance or the Art of modern Europe, which are all in greater or less degree naturalistic and realistic.
The symbolism by which Indian Art conveyed its ideas is, to the Westerner, almost an insuperable obstacle to aesthetic appreciation. He oannot see a figure possessing more than the usual complement of limbs without uttering a groan of pain at this anatomical monstrosity. The question, however, is not one of Anatomy but of Art. The London Times some time ago observed, in a review of Mr. W. A. Smith's History of Fine Art in India and Ceylon: “ The four-armed Siva is not a whit more anatomically impossible than the winged angels or the centaurs which have been represented by the greatest artists of the West not to mention those cherubs of Italian art whose anatomical deficiencies, from the school master's point of view, gave an ever memorable opportunity to the humour of Charles Lamb. The fact is, that no artist of genius, East or West, has ever cared a straw about anatomy when he had anything to gain by disregarding it. Extra limbs can be badly composed, just as the ordinary number can, but each case must be judged on its own merits; nor is it possible, in dealing with a definitely symbolic work of art, to separate the symbolism from the art so drastically as Mr. Wincent Smith is inclined to do. Nor, again, can the symbolism of one section of Hindu mythology be justly separated from the rest and condemned as the product of a diseased imagination because it represents certain terrible aspects of Nature, which undoubtedly form a part of the whole and have to be taken into account in any deep and sincere conception of the universe.'
Sukrácháriya says in the work from which I have already quoted: “In order that the form of an image may be brought out fully and clearly upon the mind, the image-maker must meditate and his success will be in proportion to his

POLONINARUWA BRONZES,
meditation. No other way, not even seeing the object itself, will answer this purpose.'
Something of this impatient refusal to be limited by the outward semblance of things and by the conscious imitation of them, something of this striving after the inner and informing Spirit by unlocking the treasures of sub-consciousness, marks the effort of all the new schools of European Arti and especially of the Worticists. Their painting and sculpture, crude as they seem to us, have raised fundamental aesthetio questions, and caused heart-searchings as to the soulpture commonly regarded as the greatest, that of Greece. That remarkable Worticist sculptor, Gaudier Brzeska," who died last year, at the early age of 23, fighting for France, uttered regarding Greek sculpture what the Times calls “a profound piece of criticism.' He said: 'The fair Greek saw himself only. He petrified his own semblance.' Commenting on this, the Times says: 'It is the weak point in Greek sculpture, as compared with Egyptian, that it is entirely conscious and sharply limited by the effort to make the statue as like some reality as possible. The Egyptian was freed from his own egotism by his deeper religious feeling. His desire to make his gods more like gods than men delivered him from the thraldom of mere imitation, and made him more the master of the riches of his own sub-consciousness.' The Times adds that it is as absurd to condemn the works of the Worticists because they are not like any natural thing, as it would be to condemn the fugues of Bach because they are not like any natural sounds: it may be that we are puzzled by it only because we have the habit of looking for likeness in sculpture and painting, and if we could free our minds and eyes of that habit, the musical meaning of it would be clear to us.
VI. According, then, to the traditional Hindu view which
Sukráchárya has expressed, the sculptor of an image of Siva
Pronounced aersh-ka. The organ of the Vortioists was the laat

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2 POLONNARUWA BRONZES.
should engage in meditation. To help the artist-devotee in his meditations there exists a body of contemplative verses (dhyana), which set forth the distinguishing features of the particular manifestation of God desired and sometimes the spiritual meaning of the conception. The success of the artist would correspond to the extent to which he entered into the spirit of these conceptions and realized them in his own consciousness. The limitations of these conventions need not, except to the mediocre, be a barrie, to artistic expression, any more than the high formalism and convention of Greek tragedy hampered the genius of Sophokles or Euripides.*
In the Dhydina Ratnavali the devotee thus meditates on Siva as Nata-rājā.
sáyápasmáratorddhva sthitapadavilasad vámamuddhritya Jvinay nautanaphaņisamam vyághrapádádi
sevyam Bhaoddhúilitanangavidrumanibhain hastágrapádágra
8,
Vahnim dolákarábhayam damarukam dhyátvá natesam
bhaje.
“Luminous foot on dormant Apasmára (a Titan) planted. left foot raised, in the midst of a garland of flame, with dancing serpents, by Vyāghrapada and of hers worshipped, with ashes daubed, body of coral hue, tip of hand to tip of foot (pointing), fire, pendent hand, hand of refuge, drum :- (on these) meditating, I worship Natesa (Lord of the Dance).'
In another stanza, Siva is meditated on together with his consort thus, and is called Sabhesa, the Lord of the (dancing) Hall,
* There were also laid down for the apprentice-student certain canons of proportion in the ancient technical books on Art, known as the Silpa Sástra, of which the chief are Agastiya Sakaládhikára, Kásyapiya, Sukranitisára, Sárasvatiya, &c. Some account of them will be found in the recently published work of Mr. O. C. Gangoly on “South Indian Bronzes,' a valuable work (in spite of defects due to ignorance of Tamil and limited knowledge of Sanskrit) and one which it is not creditable to the English-educated Tamiis of India and Ceylon to have left to a Bengali gentleman to write.
Since this paper was printed, I have seen the valuable work on Hindu Iconography, by Mr. Gopinatha Rao of Travancore.

POLONNARUWA BRONZES. 3.
Dhyáyet kotiraviprabham trinayanam sitänsugangadharan Dakshánghristhita vámakunchitapadam sárdúla charmám
baram Vahnim dolákarábhayam damarukam vámesivám syámalám Klháram japasraksukám katikarám devím sabhesam bhaje.
'' Meditate on Him, resplendent as a million suns, threeeyed, wearer of the moon and the Ganges (on his head), right foot planted, left foot bent, in tiger-skin clad, --fire, pendent hand, hand of refuge, drum,-on the left the Lady Sivá, dark of hue, water lily, rosary, parrot, hand on hipthe Lady and the Lord of the Hall (Sabhesa) I worship.'
Suddhasphatikasamkásam jatámakutamanditan Makutaumtrigurņam nálgam prabhámandala manditam Dakshiņam susthitam pádam vámapádan tu kunchitam Pras ritamvámahasti n cha dakshahastábhayapradarm Vámahaste sthitam vahnim dakshine damuram tathá
Sarvábharaņasamyuktam a pasmáiroparisthitam Váme gaurísamáyuktam trimbh“......... . . . . . . . . mohitam.
bhaje tryambakam uochritam)
' Like pure crystal, adorned with crown of matted haircrown of the three gunas, serpent, circle of flame, right foot planted, left foot bent, left hand stretched, right hand offering protection, fire in left hand, drum in the right, adorned with all ornaments, standing on Apasmára (the Titan), on the left to Gauri joined, . . . . . . . . . . . . . [II worship the standing Siva ”
" The concluding words of the last line are imperfect in the original MS. and my friend, Dr. Satish Chandra Vidyābhusana, Principal of the Sanskrit College, Calcutta, has suggested the words in brackets instead.
f The Gunas, the three ingredients or constituents of nature, corresponding pretty closely to the three principles of the soul accordIng to Plato (Republic, IV. 44 l E, 442 A.) :-
(1) Satfwa (7.éyo; or tb Doyt 3 rex,y)-Turity or goodness, producing illunhination and mildness, wisdoin, grace, truth, &c.
(2) Halas (θύμος or rð fjugost)#3)-Passion or energy, producung activity and var tability, mental i exerton, courage, learning, &c.. and also worldly covetousness, pride, falsehood, sensuai desure.
(3) Tamas (3rts) usia)-Darkness or ignorance, producing sluggshness, arrogance, Iust anu otilor depraved atlach"
10i is

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WII.
Such meditations as these are materialized in the bronzes of Natarája and Sivakámi, and for their correct understanding require some knowledge of Hindu philosophy, religion and traditions, especially of the Saiva Siddhánta. School, the basis of the Siva worship introduced into Polonnaruwa by the armies of the Chola Kings. The Saiva Siddhánta system is the chief contribution of the Tamils to philosophy and religion, and in the opinion of the earned Dr. Pope is the most influential and undoubtedly the most intrinsically valuable of the religions of India.' This attempt to solve the problems of God, the soul, humanity, nature, evil, suffering and the unseen world is little known to Western scholars. Dr. Pope," who devoted many years to the study and exposition of this system, Mr. T. M. Nallasami Pillai and others who have laboured in the same field, have touched little more than the fringe. Only a brief outline, limited to the needs of this lecture, is possible here.
The Saiva Siddhánta postulates three entities, viz. God (pati, lug or Saop, literally, Lord or King), the Soul or rather aggregate of souls (pasu, uár, lit. cattle), and Bondage (pdisam, urg lis), the sum total of all those elements which fetter the soul and keep it from finding release in union with God. Paisam is, in one of its aspects (malam), the innate taint clinging to the soul from of old as verdigris to brass and corresponding in a way to the “ original sin' of Christianity; in another aspect (mdiya) it is the material cause of the universe. The scheme of the universe has for its aim the removal of the soul's impurity and its union with the Lord. This is effected by His energy (Sakti, raig or sy (sor, arul, Grace), which abides in Him inseparable from Himself and is the gracious instrument of His operations.
* For over half a century a missionary in South India and, later, teacher of Tamil and Telugu at Oxford and chaplain of Balliol College. See especially his translations of the Saiva Psalms (Tiruwóchakam) with the valuable notes thereon; Nallasámi Pillai's translations of Siva-gnána-Bodham, Siva-gnána-Siddhyár, etc.

POLONNARUWA BRONZES. 5
Though God and the soul are eternal entities, the Saiva Siddhánta takes great pains to make out that they are not two entities nor yet one, and calls itself Pure Non-dualism (Suddhadvaita), being equally removed from the Dualism of such religions as Christianity, Mohammadanism and Vaishnavism and from the Monism of the Vedānta. God is often compared by the Saiva Siddhánta philosophers to the first letter A of the Tamil and Sanskrit alphabets, which represents the English sound u in but, the first sound that issues from the mouth when it opens. The sound underlies and energizes every other sound and is also a distinct and the first sound. So God pervades and energizes all souls and nevertheless stands apart, Himself, of all things the source and the chief.
The Siva-gndina-bodham, the chief Tamil authority of this school, thus explains what the Vedas mean, when they say * Ekam Sat, “ All that is, is one.'
One, say the Vedas. Behold, it is said of the One. The One is the Lord. Thou, who sayest One, art the Soul. Lo, in bondage art thou. If the One were not, If vowel A were not, letters there would be none. In this wise say the Vedas One.'
“Like song and its tune, like fruit and its flavour, the Lord's energy everywhere pervadeth, non-dual. Therefore say the great Vedas not “c ne " but “ not-two. ”t
God thus permeates and vitalizes all things, has neither name nor form, is beyond speech and thought, time and space. This conception of the Absolute is well brought out in the ordinary Tamil word for God as layar (Kadavul), meaning that which transcends (Kada) all things and is
* Ekam sad viprá bahudhá valdanti (Rig Veda, 1, 64-46.) All that is, is one. Poets call it by many names.'
ஒன்றென்ற தொன்றேகா னென்றே பதிபசு வா மொன்றென்ற ரீபாசத் தோடுளை கா-ளுென்றின்மு லக்கரங்க ளின்ரு மகரவுயிரின்ரே விக்கிரமத் தென்னு மிருக்கு. I. 2. பண்ணேயு மோசையும் போலப் பழமதுவு மெண்ணுஞ் சுவையும்போ லெங்குமா-மண்ணணருள் அத்து வித மாத லருமறைக ளொன்றென்ஞ தத்துவித மென்றறையு மாங்கு. * II. 3.

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6 POLONINARUWA BRONZES.
the heart (ul) of all things. When the Absolute becomes manifest, it is as Force (Sakti, größ9 or yB6r), of which the universe is the product, being from cycle to cycle evolved by Force from cosmic substance (Máva) and again involved. Hindu philosophers do not admit creation and destruction, in the sense of production out of nothing and reduction to nothing. Their conception of creation which they call projection (srishti, Gas Lly, Gés Tibpub, tórrum), and of destruction which they call contraction, involution or withdrawal (samhára, Fišs ir gu - 5GB di asui, oɖukkam), is more akin to Huxley's: ''All the choir of heaven and the furniture of the earth are the transitory forms of parcels of cosmio substance, wending along the road of evolution from nebulous potentiality, through endless growths of sun and satellite, through all varieties of matter, through infinite diversities of life and thought, possibly through modes of being of which we neither have any conception nor are competent to form any, back to the indefinite latency from which they arose.'"
VIII. Not brute and blind, however, but full of intelligence and grace is the Power which thus makes and unmakes, and which by the sages of India is accordingly regarded as the Universal Mother and, being inseparably inherent in God, is also called the Consort of God.
அகிலாண்ட கோடி யீன்ற வன்னையே பின்னையுங் கன்னியென மறைபேசு மானந்த ரூப மயிலே.
'' Mother of millions of world-clustrrs, Yet Virgin by the Vedas called.'t
This Power is addressed by Chidambara Swami in the Panchditikdira vilakkam, “Exposition of the Five Operations,
in these words:
* My head I crown with lily feet of Sivakáma Sundari,
Who with the Absolute inseparably is blended
* Huxley, ' Evolution and Ethics." t Táyumánavar, upbelarii as Tase.

POLONNARUWA BRONZBS. 17
As flower and scent, sun and ray, life and body,
As gem and lustre, form and shadow, word and meaning,
Who to the manifested Lord as Consort shines,
Who ever cures the life-hunger* of her children, all living
things,
With ceaseless bliss ambrosial feeding and in Freedom's
mansion establishing.'
The various manifestations of this Power are grouped by the Saiva, Siddhánta school under five heads, which are deemed the principal aspects of the great Mother and are called the Five Acts (pancha kritya, geisolatra), ain-tolil), of God: (1) Projection or Evolution (sirishti, Goslip, Garfisplb or Laolil); (2) Maintenance or Preservation (sthiti, ss, 83), as still); (3) Withdrawal or Involution (samhira, Fiat it sli, 323 disch); (4) Veiling or Obscuration (tiro-bháva, Loapspijl); (5) Grace (anugraha, or arul gasoir). The evolving energy (Brahma, the Creator) evolves for each soul according to its deserts out of primordial substance a body (tanu), organs of knowledge and action (karana), pains and pleasures (bhoga) and spheres (bhuvana) to experience them in. The maintaining or preserving energy (Vishnu, the Preserver) maintains them for a time for the soul's experience. The involving or destroying energy (Rudra, the destroyer) withdraws them and makes them disappear to be projected again. The obscuring energy (Mahesa) entangles the soul in them so that, unable to distinguish the real from the unreal, it identifies itself with its transitory envelopments, calling the body and the organs ‘ I and the experiences and spheres mine.' When the soul has passed through the discipline of these experiences in many births, the gracious energy (Sadásiva) enlightens the ripened soul, delivers it from its delusion and bondage, establishing it in union with God, which is Freedom (Moksha, aSG, vidu), the final goal and fulfilment of every soul.
In this union the soul, set free by the Holy Spirit (£osaicsar), the gracious energy of the Lord, from the
* Spallius, the liability of the soul to reincarnation and further development until it becomes ripe for union with God.

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18 POLONNARUWA BRONZES.
influence of its innate taint and from the fettering con sciousness of the senses, lives eternally in the conscious. full enjoyment of His presence, “thrall to the Lord.” (Siva-gтайта-bodhат, ІХ., 6.)
தனக்கு நிழலின்மு மொளிகவருந் தம்ப
மெனக் கவர நில்லா திருள்.
“Like crystal pillar that absorbeth light (of sun at zenith) and hath no shadow, so no darkness remains to lay hold of him.' (Tiruvarutpayan, 67.)
The earliest manifestations of the Divine Energy are Vibration (Naida) and the Word (Vdch)* which is the Logos of St. John. Among the later manifestations the most venerated in India is Umá or Sivakámi, beloved of Siva. According to an ancient tradition, she appeared in response to the prayers of a Himálayan king as an infant floating in a golden lily lake and was thence taken and reared by the king until claimed by Siva. From this tradition she is also called Párvati, the Lady of the Mountain.
She is thus addressed by Tayumánavar in her esoteric and exoteric aspects:
Mansion and wealth, children and friends around, Splendour ever and throne, the certainty That Death's dark messengers draw not nigh, Wisdom's light, purity, wondrous powers, - All these are mine, so with thy feet my thought be one, it O Mother that hast Thy seat beside the dark-throated
Lord Light and bliss of knowledge supreme, that swallowest
religions as oceans rivers O Stillness, the Vedas' goal, Thy form seen where Vibration ends,
* Etymologically the Latin voac.
it “Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you.' St. Matthew, VII., 33.
Siva, whose throat is said to have been stained dark-blue with a dread poison, which would have destroyed the world if he had not swallowed it on its production at he churning clf the ocean by the celestials for the nectar of immortality.

POLONINARUWA BRONZES. 9
OWisdom, consumer of me and thought 1"
Lady Umá, beauteous as the moon, Madhu Sadana'st
sister,
Who lovest mountain haunts and wast born dear to
the Mountain King as the apple of his eye
From the elements to Vibration Thou showedst To me as false; myself to me unveiledst. In the core of my intelligence standing, "Stand still, free, in spirit-space all filling, Without beginning, without end, Thou saidst, And skilfully establish'dst me, O Mother Who vouchsafest pure knowledge and bliss, Yielding all the heart desireth. Forgetting Thee can I, poor wretch, live Darling of the three-eyed Lord, S of all ills The panacea, beyond the reach of them That lack the inner eye which illumineth The Vedas and excellent Agamas, Beyond the deaf who hear not the praise of thy might, Beyond the stricken with the plague of controversy Lady Umá who lovest mountain haunts and wast born Dear to the Mountain-king as the apple of his eye 'll
Though Umá or Sivakámi is the female manifestation of Siva, she, being his inherent energy, is inseparable part of him and is spoken of exoterically as the left part. Siva is thus both male and female, and one of his names is Ardha-Nárisa, “ the half-female Lord.' This recalls the old Orphic hymn:
6
Ζευς άρσην γένετο, Ζευς άμβροτος έπλετο νύμφη "Zeus was a male, Zeus was a deathless virgin."
In token of the dual sex, Siva is represented as wearing in his right ear a man's ear-ring (makara kundala, (5airlal or (5any), and on the left a woman's (tditanka or tddu, Gar(6.) In a popular psalm of Mánikkaváchakar, he sings:
“The Lady is in Thee, and Thou art in the Lady;
Ye both are in me your servant.'
The sense of I, and thought with its correlative sleep or oblivion, have to be consumed by the Holy Spirit (Sakti), for the union of the soul with God.
t Vishnu.
: Táyumánavar, Loakalarif as tases, l.
s Siva. See p. 23.
| TAyum&navar, மலைவளர் காதலி, 3.

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20 POLONINEARUWA BRONZES
IX.
The mystic dance of Siva symbolized in the Natarája bronzes is said to have been danced in a remote age in the forest of Dárukávana after the overthrow of a body of heretics who, puffed up with the pride of learning and of skill in ritual and magic, regarded themselves as independent of Siva's authority and self-sufficing. The dance was, it is said, repeated for the benefit of two devotees, Patanjali and Vyāghrapáda, at Chidambaram ol Tillai (in the South Arcot District of the Madras Presidency), which is therefore held in the highest reverence by the worshippers of Siva and is called Kóyil, “ The Temple par eaccellence.
The Skanda Purdina relates the legends of the dance in Dárukávana (Daksha Kanda, Chapters XIII. and XIV. ; and in Tamil, Kachchiappa Swāmi's Kandapurdinam, Daksha Kánda, 30—127.) The Kóyil Puránam of Umápati Sivácháriyar (written in the latter part of the 13th century) relates the legends of the dance at Chidambaram and the inauguration by King Hiranyavarma of a commemoration festival, which continues to be celebrated there every year, on the sixth lunar asterism (drudra) of the months of Márkali (December-January), and draws immense crowds of pilgrims. It is an important festival in every Siva temple in S. India and Ceylon.
The shrine at Chidambaram is unique in combining the exoteric and esoteric aspects of Siva worship. The Natarája dancing the cosmic dance is separated from the Holy of Holies by a veil, which is seldom raised and only as a special boon to favoured individuals. There is then revealed mere space, the ether filling it being the symbol of God. But even this subtle, all-pervading alement is deemed an inadequate symbol, for the ether is to the Hindu sages unintelligent matter (iadikdisa, “ material-space'), while God is chid-dikdisa, “ Spirit-space,'-pure being (sat), pure intelligence (chit), pure bliss (dinanda). Hence the mystic name of the shrine, Chid-ambaram, “Spirit-space,' ambaram being another word for dikaisa.

POLONINARUWA BRONZRS. 2.
Mánikkaváchakar, a great Saiva saint and apostle, whose figure in bronze was found at Polonnaruwa (Plate Xd.) and whose spiritual history was largely linked with the shrine, sings thus in one of his psalms (Kirtti-tiruvakaval):-
“The holy feet, that danced in the ancient city
Of Tillai, dance in all living things, In beauty of infinite diversity shining, Making, unmaking, earth and heaven And worlds celestial and hosts of sciences, Driving away my darkness and taking up Loving abode in the hearts of His servants.'
(After an enumeration of His gracious manifestations to them) :-
“The mighty Lord of Kailás' echoing peak
Who graciously maketh thrall of each and all By contrivance meet, bade me, a dog, Enter blissful Tillai's hall of glory, Crushing the I in me to make me His.'
The redemption of souls is thus regarded as the culmination of God's operations in the universe; and the dance, while symbolizing these operations, is believed to have its counterpart in the subjective experience of saints.
“The silent mystics, rid of the three-fold taint,
And drinking deep the bliss that wells Where self hath ceased, they behold the dance Of our gracious Lord in the sacred hall.'
The hall is the devotee's heart, and the dance beyond
speech and thought.
கருதரிய சிற்சபையிலானந்த கிர்த்தமிடு கருஞ கரக்க டவுளே
cries Tâyumánavar. “O God, Ocean of Mercy, that dancest the dance of bliss in the Hall of pure Consciousness beyond the plane of thought l'
Often, in the yearly commemorative festival referred to above, you see male devotees dancing in ecstasy in the attitude of the Natarája. Probably in olden times female devotees,
* மோனந்த மாமுனிவர் மும்மலத்தை மோசித்துத்
தானந்த மானிடத்தே தங்கியிடு - மானந்த மொண்டருந்தி நின்முடல் காணுமருண் மூர்த்தியாய்க் கொண்டதிரு வம்பலத்தான் கூத்து.
(உண்மை விளக்கம், 38. )

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22 POLONNARUWA BRONZES.
too, so danced. Here e.g. is a hymn put in the mouth of flower-girls in the Tiru-vichakam (íos gavóvas, 5).
* Lord Siva, who weareth on his locks the cassia o'er
which the bees dance, He came in the flesh, seeking me, and within me entered, That I might dance and dance and shout before all the
world; For Him, the eternal Dancer, King of the heavenly hosts,
gather we lilies.
Χ.
A hymn sung by Saint Mánikkaváchakar at Chidambaram and often recited in the temples (Gérusiasat uses b) well brings out the view of the Saiva Siddhánta, that temples and churches, usually regarded as Houses of God, are but passages to the true House of God which is in man's heart made beauteous by the flood of His Grace.' When He has taken his abode there, all distinctions of race, religion, caste, sex, &c., disappear- who here is my kin who is not ?'-and there is naught save the splendour of the Lord.
This experience, not beyond the grave but here in this life, is the goal of the devotee. The methods employed to gain it are called Yoga, a word etymologically the same as the English Yoke and meaning the yoking of oneself to God. Bhakti Yoga, the method favoured by the Saiva Siddhánta, seeks realization of God by the way of Love. This Yoga the worship in the temples, with their service of song and prayer and music, sacraments and fasts and works of mercy, is designed to foster, gradually purifying the heart and making it fit to be the House of God,' His “ great holy shrine' (Tirupperunturai"), " the City of Siva' or, in the language of Jesus, “ the Kingdom of God,' of which he too said “ Behold, the Kingdom of God is within you.'
“O Supreme Splendour that rises within me welling forth
as ambrosia,
* Also the name of the celebrated temple associated with the Saint's spiritual history.

POLONINARUWA BRONZS. 23
Having blocked the ways of the five traitor senses that
ever delude me, Graciously show Thyself to me as Thou art, Clearest of the clear, Lord Siva, Dweller in the great
holy shrine, O Bliss transcending all states without end, O my Lovel
With love Thy servant's body and soul melting in bliss, Sweet grace, by me not deserved, Thou didst grant. For this I have naught to give in return.
岑 率 O King, Father to me that am the servant of those that
love Thee, Light of Truth that, ontering body and soul, has melted
all faults and driven away the unreal darkness, Full, waveless, clear Ocean of Ambrosia, Siva, Dweller in
the great holy shrine, O Knowledge" known there where speech and knowledget
are dead, Make known unto me, how shall I speak of Thee?
Perfect Fulness, flawless Ambrosia, Mountain of endless,
flaming Light, O King that camest unto me as the Vedas and the mean
ing of the Vedas and didst fill my mind, Siva that, like torrent brooking not banks, rushest into the mouth of my heart, Dweller in the great holy shrine, Sovereign Lord, Thou hast made thy abode in my body. What more can I ask Thee
O Splendour that rises in my heart as asking, asking I
melt
Thou whose lotus-feet grace the crowns of celestials,
Siva, Dweller in the great holy shrine,
Who art all-pervading space and water and earth and
fire and air,
Who art other than they, Whose form in them is
hidden, -
I rejoice, having seen Thee this day.
This day in Thy mercy unto me Thou didst drive away the darkness and stand in my heart as the rising Sun.
Of this Thy way of rising-there being naught else
but Thou,--I thought without thought.
Nearer and nearer to Thee I drew, wearing away atom by atom, till I was One with Thee, O Siva, Dweller in the great holy shrine.
* Pure Intelligence, the Absolute, where there is no conscious differentiation of subject and object,
Impure Intelligence or differentiating consciousness.

Page 16
Plate I. and Plates II. a & b
24 POLONNA RUWA BRONZES.
Thou art not aught in the universe. Naught is there
save Thou. Who can know thee Thou that, sprouting as the earth and all the spheres,
spreadest as matchless expanse of light, Fire water-laden, Pure One beyond the reach of thought, Sweetness that wells forth in the heart made beauteous
by the flood of Thy grace, Siva, Dweller in the great holy shrine, Who here is my kin who is not O Splendour that
makes me bliss'
(Tiru-Wdchakam, கோயிற்றிருப்பதிகம்.)
THE BRONZES. XI. SIVA as NATA RAJA oro Lord of the Dance ''. Colombo
Museum Register No. 15, 13, 88, 283; No. 1 on pedestal. Height of the bronze 90'4 cm. or 36' 16 in. Plate I. is the front view, and Plate Ia and b the front and back view on a smaller scale. The dance represents the operations of the universe (see supra, pp. 6, 12, 13, 16, 20, 21). The bronze is a fine specimen of this manifestation of Siva.
Siva stands in a halo or circle of flame (jivaili mdilai, prabhai mandala, Tamil tiru-vási), a complete circle (vrittálkára prabhá) united with the figure both at head and foot. A complete circle so united is rare in such bronzes. The circle issues from the mouths of a pair of dolphins (makaras). The halo symbolises the Pranava, the mystic word Aum, which is the generalized symbol of all possible sounds and therefore the fittest symbol of the Logos. (Plates III. and IV. show two smaller figures of the Nata-rájá, both incomplete; in both the halo is missing and in IV. also the braided locks.)
The hair of the head is braided, the upper part tied together to form a crown (baddha veni), terminating in a crest of peacock feathers, and at the back a circular knot (sikhdi chakra) (Plate IIb and Plate IV.b), the lower braids falling loose (lamba veni) and whirling in the dance. At the base of the crown (Plate I.) is a human skull, symbol of Siva's destroying energy. On the lower braids is a mermaid on the right, representing the river Ganges, symbol of fertility and of God's Grace. According to tradition, the Ganges, a celestial

POLONNARUWA BRONZES. 25
river, was permitted by Siva to descend on earth in answer to the prayers of King Bhagiratha, and the force of the fall was broken by Siva receiving it in his matted locks for a time to save the earth from being crushed by the weight of the falling stream; a poetio explanation, probably, of the first issue of the river from the Himálayan snows. On the loose braids on the left are the crescent moon, symbol of Siva's grace and glory, symbol also of time (for the moon is the measurer" of time); and a cobra, which by reason of its deadly venom, may be taken as a symbol of destruction and obscuration, but is here rather a symbol of the cosmic force Kundalini (see p. 26 infra).
Siva is represented with three eyes, symbols of sun, moon and fire and of time past, present and future. The third eye is located between the eyebrows and is known as the eye of wisdom. It is sometimes seen on images of Buddha. It is supposed to exist in all men but closed, except in the Jnáni or Seer. Its site is indicated by the spot of sandal or other aromatic paste which Hindus usually wear on their foreheads to remind them of the latent power of vision which it should be their endeavour to waken and master. This third eye is probably connected with the pineal gland, which physiologists regard as the vestige of an aborted eye and in which Descartes placed the seat of the Soul.
Siva wears in his right ear a man's ear-ring (makara kundala) and on his left a woman's (tótanka or tddu), to indicate that he is both male and female (see page 19).
He wears a necklace of skulls of Brahmas and Vishnus, symbolising that he has seen the universe created and destroyed times without number. After destroying the universe, he wears its ashes on his body. Hence the use of ashes by his devotees as a sacrament, the symbol of purification by the fire of his Grace, for each soul must lose the world to find God.
* From root má to measure, A month (Sansk. más, Lat. men-e-is) is the period of time maasured by one revolution of the moon, 'the mother of the months, ' as Shelley calls her,

Page 17
26 POLON NARU WA BRONZES.
He also wears a necklace of rudrcikshas, berries of the elaeocarpus gamitrus, symbols of his pity, being regarded as solidified tears wept by him for the woes of his devotees. Rosaries of these beads are worn by Siva's devotees. He also wears the upavita, the sacred thread, over the left shoulder and under the right arm. The upavita generally consists of 96 strands, representing the 96 tatvas, categories or constituents of the universe. No ritual can be celebrated without wearing the upavita. Siva here wears it to indicate that He is Lord of all acts (sarva karmairhaka).
Cobras (ndigas) are coiled round his body and in his hair, symbols of the great cosmic force which the Rája Yogis call Kundalini and represent as a cobra, relics also perhaps of the serpent worship of the aborigines of India and Ceylon. According to the Raja Yogi there runs through the spinal cord a canal called the Sushumna, at the base of which is a plexus called Muladhdira (basic) and at the crown in the brain the plexus called the Sahasrdira (thousand petalled lotus). In the basic plexus is stored the cosmic energy, an infinitesimal fraction of which is distributed throughout the body by the sensory and motor nerves, and mainly by two columns of nerves called Ida and Pingala on either side of the Sushumna canal. This canal, though existing in all animals, is closed except in the Yogi. He dispenses with sensory and motor nerves, opens the canal, sends through it all mental currents, makes the body a gigantic battery of will and rouses the vast coiled up power from the basic plexus to the thousand petalled lotus' in the brain. As the power travels up the canal, higher and more wonderful powers of vision and knowledge are gained till the goal is reached of union with God. This power is pictured as a serpent coiled up (hence the name Kundalini) at the basic plexus and gradually rising with hood erect to the plexus in the brain, somewhat as in this illustration (Plate XI.). The serpents of the Nata-rája bronze thus represent the cosmic force coiled in Siva, the Supreme Yogi.

POLONINARUWA BRONZES. 27
He is represented with four arms:-
(l) The right upper hand holding a drum (damaruka), the symbol of creation or, more correctly, projection or evolution (sirishti), the source of vibration (ndida), the first stage of evolution. The drum taps are the alternations of phase extending over vast regions of space and time. (2) The right lower hand (abhaya kara) raised in token of dispelling fear and of assurance of protection, symbol of preservation (sthiti). (3) The left upper hand, holding fire, the destroying and purifying element, symbol of destruction or (more correctly) involution (samhóra) and of salvation and deliverance. (4) The left lower hand hanging down (dola kara) pointing to the raised foot as the sole refuge of the soul; symbol of his grace (an ugraha). One leg (sthita pada) rests on a prone asura or Titan (called variously Muyalaka, Apasmára, Roga-purusha) holding a snake in his hand; the other leg is raised and bent (Kunchita pada). The former foot is deemed the symbol of Siva's obscuring energy, the latter of his energy of grace and salvation. The prostrate Titan on whom Siva dances was, according to the legend, sent against him by the heretio magicians of Darukávana and represents the soul's delusion (Maydi) crushed under Siva's foot.
He wears short drawers of tiger-skin, and bells below the knee (kamtdimani) worn by heroes in battle, symbols of ndida (vibration), first stage in evolution, and of Siva's might. According to the legend the tiger, the drum, and the cobras were sent against Siva by the magicians, but Siva killed the tiger and cobras and wrapped the tiger's hide round himself as a garment and wound the cobras around his body and took the drum into his hand. The whole figure stands on a lotus which probably represents the thousand petalled lotus referred to in connexion with KA undalini sakti (page 26).

Page 18
28 POLONINARUWA BRONZES.
Thus the dance represents all the “five-fold acts' of God. This symbolism is set forth in the Books, of which the following may be taken as samples, and more fully in the oral teaching of the Masters.
Lokanahaya sarvan damarukanimadair ghora samsara
magnán Datvā vittim dayālu praņa tabhayaharam kunchita
páda padmam A. Udhrityedam vimukterayanam iti karád darşayam
pratyayártham Bibh radivahnim sabháyám, kalayati natanam ya sa
páyán nateşah.
'Who calleth with the sounds of the drum all men sunk in the terrors of worldly life, the Gracious One that giveth knowledge and destroyeth the fears of his worshippers and, raising his bent lotus-foot, pointeth with the hand for assurance, “This is the way to Freedom,' and bearing fire danceth in the Hall, may that Lord of the Dance (Natesa) protect us !”
தோற்றந் துடியதனிற் முேயுந் திதியமைப்பிற் சாற்றியிடு மங்கியிலே சங்கார மூற்றமா யூன்று மலர்ப்பதத்தி லுற்ற திரோதமுத்தி கான்ற மலர்ப்பதத்தே நாடு
(உண்மை விளக்கம், 36.)
மாயை தனையுதறி வல்வினையைச் சுட்டுமலஞ் சாய வமுக்கிவரு டானெடுத்து-கேயத்தா லாநந்த வாரிதியி லான்மாவைத் தானழுத்தல் தானெங்தை யார்பாதந் தான்
(உண்மை விளக்கம், 37.) “In the drum behold evolution, in the assuring hand preservation, in fire evolution, in the planted foot obscuration and in the foot held aloft emanoipation.
Driving away mdiya, burning karma, crushing dinava," by the Holy Spirit (Arul) raising the soul and sinking it in the ocean of bliss--these are the works of the feet of our
Father.'
* These are three aspects of the Pasam which fetter the soul (page 4 supra).

POLONNARUWA BRONZES. 29
SuvA as NATA-RAJA (front and back view). (Museum Register No. 15: 13, 89, 283.) Height of the bronze, 645 cm. = 258 in., or about a foot shorter than the bronze in Plates I. and II. Flame-circle or halo (Jvaila mála) missing. The crown is of different shape from I., being what is called Karanda Makuta. The crescent moon is on the left side of the crown, the usual position; in Plates I. and II. it is on the braided locks.
SI v A as NATA-RÁJÁ. (Museum Register No. 15: 13, 91, 284.) Height 615 cm. = 24'6 in. Type of face different from the two previous Nata-rájás; crown (Karanda Makuta) as in Plate III., and bearing crescent moon in the same position Halo and braided locks missing.
SIvA KAMI or PARvATI (front and back view). (Museum Register No. 15: 13, l l 1A, 288.) The divine energy represented as a female and the Consort of Siva (pages 16-19 supra) :-
“ Mother of millions of world-clusters,
Yet Virgin by the Vedas called.'
Height 626 cm. The crown is a Karanda Makuta but pointed. Round the throat is a cord with the marriage symbol, Mangala Satra (Tamil, Taili). Below it richly chased ornaments on chest, shoulders and arms. When placed on the altar for worship, the upper part of the body would be covered with robes and jewels, leaving only the head and arms visible. Over the left shoulder and under the right arm is. the sacred thread (Upavita) as in the figure of Siva (page 26). The right hand is in the pose called Kataka hasta or Sinha Karna (lion's ear), the tips of the fingers in contact with the thumb and forming a circle, in which a fresh flower might he inserted daily. The left hand hangs down loosely by the side (lol-hasta or lamba-hasta). The lower part of the figure is robed in a sári drawn up between the legs from behind. Over this robe and round the waist, jewelled zones or
Plate II, ዉ & b
Plate IV. α ά ό
Plate Y. α ά ό

Page 19
Plate Y.
0.
Plate VII. b
Plate VII.
30 POLONINARUWA BRONIZES .
girdles called Mekhali, Kanchi, etc. The figure stands on a lotus, resting mainly on the left foot bending at the hip. The posture or sway is that called tri-bhanga, having three bends, namely at the hip, the shoulder and the neck.
The following is a sample Dhydindi verse for the meditation of the sculptor, similar to those in pages 12 and l3 on Siva.
Syámám dvinetrám dvibhujám tribhangím Savyápasavya, sthita kunchitánghrím Savyotpalám satkanakastanádhyám Hastiányalambám paramesvarím tám.
“ Dark of hue", two-eyed, two-armed, three curved, left foot planted and right slightly raised, blue lily in left hand, possessed of golden breasts, the other hand pendent, the supreme goddess (Paramesvari).'
SıvA in half-dancing pose, called Sandhyâ-nritta-mürtti, " Lord of the evening twilight dance.' (Museum Register No. 15: 13, 94, 284.) Height 67 cm. = 268 in. The extra arms branch out from the elbow and not from the shoulder as in Nata-rájá in previous plates.
BULL NAND1, 1 ft. 5 in. x 1 ft. 2 in. This is Siva's charger and represents the soul (pasu, lit. cattle') of which he is lord, Pasu-pati (see page 14). Nandi is reputed to be a favourite servant and disciple of . Siva, and was initiated by him in the principles of the Saiva Siddhanta philosophy, which Nandi communicated to the world through a long line of sages to which belonged Meykandatevar, the author of the Tamil Siva-gndina-bodham (See invocation ad in it.).
SIVA-KAMI, Consort of Siva. (Museum Register No. 15: 13, 108, 287.) Height 1 ft. 4 in.
A, b and c are in this plate arranged as they usually would be in this group called Sandyd-nritta-mirtli. The bull is stroked by the left hand of Siva, and Sivakámi is looking on at Siva's dance.
* Syama, which may be dark brown, dark blue, or dark green, and is a term applied to “a female from 8 to 16 years of age, resenbling in complexion the blossom of the Priyangu or in shape its slender stalk.'

POLONINARUWA BRONZES. 3.
The bull and cow are held in great reverence by Hindus, and their slaughter is a deadly sin. Probably the original reason was sentimental and economic. Bulls were indispensable for ploughing and the cow for milk; and religion came to their rescue, forbidding their slaughter. Economic and sentimental reasons similarly protect the horse from slaughter in many European countries and forbid the use of horse flesh as food.
SIVA and his Consort PARVATI alias Sivakami, alias Plate YII. Uma, seated at ease (Sukhdisana), front and back view. (Museum Register No. 15: 3,90,284.) The two figures and the pedestal are in one block. Height of Siva 2 ft. and of the female figure 1 ft. 8 in This group usually includes a little figure of their son Skanda or Kártikeya, God of War and Wisdom, whose chief shrine in Ceylon is at Kattragama (Tam., Katirkámam), a famous place of pilgrimage in the S. E. corner of the Island. The group is called SoMASKAN DA MŪRTTI = Saha (with) + Umá + Skanda + Múrti, the manifestation of Siva with Umá and Skanda.
Siva is four-armed: one hand on the right holding a battle-axe, and one on the left a deer, the battle-axe and deer having been sent against him by the magicians of Dárukávana and subdued by him (p. 27 supra). The right lower hand is in the abhaya (; fear not ') pose, dispelling fear and assuring protection; and the left lower. hand is in the Kataka pose.
Sivakámi holds in her right hand a lotus-bud, and her left hand is in the varada or boon-giving pose.
For other features see description of Nata-rájá, pp. 24 et seq.
SuNDARA-MüRTTI, front and side view. (Museum Regis-Plate VIII ter No. 15: 13, 98, 285.) Height 626 cm. One of the a & o chief saints and singers of Siva in Tamil land (οίτσα και 800 of the Christian era); a native of Tiru-árár near Nagapatam in the Madras Presidency. The story is that on his wedding-day, just as the marriage rites were beginning,

Page 20
Plate IX.
0.
Plaಣ್ಣ IX.
32 POLONINARUWA BRONZES.
Siva came in the guise of an old Brahmin and claimed him as his thrall by virtue of a bond from an ancestor. The ceremony was stopped; there were violent disputes and recriminations, and the bridegroom was led to an adjoining village and into a temple where Siva suddenly manifested himself in his divine form. The artist has happily caught the young bridegroom at the moment of the vision in his suddenly arrested movement of breathless wonder and awe. The attire is that of a bridegroom, -jewelled ornaments on head, chest, arms, and waist, and anklets. Being a Brahman, he wears the sacred thread (Upavita) across the chest.
CHANDEsvaRA, an apotheosized devotee of Siva. (Museum Register 9: 13, 100, 286) Height 73 cm. He has a shrine in every temple of Siva in Tamil land; no worship of Siva is complete until the final honours are paid to this saint. Here, too, the artist has successfully depicted the moment of rapture when (according to the story) Siva. manifested himself, presenting him with a garland of cassia. from his crown (which the devotee holds in profound reverence between his folded palms) and appointing him chief of his hosts (Ganapati). At the base of the statuette is an inscription in grantha and Sinhalese characters, which is in parts illegible and which may be read as ' Ganapati Usaba vamse.” Usaba is a Sinhalese word found in inscriptions, meaning excellent. Vamse (Sinh. Vahanse) is an honorific title.
SURYA, the SUN-Go D. (Museum Register No. 15 : 3, 97, 285.) Height 54 cm. Figure stands on a lotus in erect posture (called sama-bhanga); halo round head from top of crown to neck; lotus in either hand.
A sample dhydina verse is as follows:-
Dvibhujanca dvinetranca kiríta, makutánvitam Makutantam kanthamulat prabhamandala manditan Kanthántáțanka samyuktam raktavariņam tathaivaca Sanalabja karopetam hamsésakta samanvitam Samapádasthitam padme raktavastrair alankritam.

POLONNARUWA BRONZES. 33
“Two-shouldered, two eyed. wearing a krita crown, halo from neck to the end of crown, ear-rings (taitanka) reaching to neck, ruddy of hue, swan-associated lotus held in the hand by its stalk, standing on lotus with equal foot, adorned with red robes.'
The four figures in this group (which are reduced to the same scale) represent the four chief saints in the Saiva Calendar, whose images are to be found in every temple of Siva.
APPAR SwaMI or TIRU-NAvuk-ARASU. (Museum Register No. 15: 13, 104, 286.) Height 55 cm. He lived about the 7th century. In early life he embraced Jainism and rose to be the head of the great Jain monastery in Pátaliputra in the Tamil country. He subsequently reverted to his ancestral faith and was greatly persecuted by the Jain king, but persevered in his devotion to Siva. He went about the country a mendicalnt singing in the temples hymns of rare beauty, and weeding the court-yards. He is usually represented, as here, with hands folded in worship, shaven head, rosaries of rudraksha beads sacred to Siva (see p. 26) on head, neck, chest, &c., clad in a breech clout, and carrying the weeding implement. The title Naivuk-arasu, “ TongueKing,' is said to have been bestowed on him by Siva.
SUNDARA -MÚRTI-swAMI (samme as Plate VIII. a ; for description, see p. 31).
TRU-JNANA-sAMBHANDA-swAMI. (Museum Register No. 15: 13, t02, 286.) Height 486 cm. A younger contemporary of Appar Swani (X. a), and perhaps the greatest of Saiva saints and mystics.
He is said to have received his call while an infant and to have died at the age of sixteen. He is usually (as here) represented as a nude child, with a pair of golden cymbals (said to be a gift from Siva) with which he went about singing his praise. He wears rudraksha beads on his neck, chest and arms, and a golden waist string with pendants.
Plate X.

Page 21
34 POLONNARUWA BRONZES.
The collection of hymns of Tiru-jnána-sambandha-swami, Appar Swami and Sundara-murti-swami (X. b) is known as the Divine Garland (Tevaram) and, together with the Psalms of Mánikka-váchaka-swami (X. d), has been the mainstay of the religion of Siva in South India and Ceylon.
MANIKKA-VACHAKA-swAMI. (Museum Register No. 15: 3, 10l., 286.) Height 542 cm. A great Psalmist of Tamil land who lived about the 5th century of the Christian era. He was prime minister of the Pandiyan King of Madura, but after his call became a mendicant singer and preacher, in which guise he is here represented. The collection of his hymns is called Tiru-vdchakam, “The holy word,' and his own name, which means “ The golden-speeched,' is said to have been given him by Siva.
He holds in his left hand a palm-leaf manuscript in which is inscribed the word “ Namachchiváya”, ““ Adoration to Siva,' the initial word of the Tiruvachakam, which he is expounding, the right hand being in the pose vitarka of a preacher or expositor. The hair of his head is matted, and he wears rosaries of rudraksha beads, and across the chest the sacred thread of the Brahmin.
Dr. Pope, who has written an appreciative life of the saint and published an excellent translation of his Psalms, speaks of him as a mixture of St. Paul and St. Francis of Assisi. He spent his last days at Chidambaram, where most of his hymns were composed. I have given specimens of this at pp. 21-24.

Page 22

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