Siva - Nataraja

 

Shiva as Lord of Dance (Nataraja)

Period: Chola period (880–1279)

Date: ca. 11th century

Culture: Indian (Tamil Nadu)

Medium: Copper alloy

Dimensions: H. 26 7/8 in. (68.3 cm); Diam. 22 1/4 in. (56.5 cm)

Classification: Sculpture

Credit Line: Gift of R. H. Ellsworth Ltd., in honor of Susan Dillon, 1987

Accession Number: 1987.80.1

Description

As a symbol, Shiva Nataraja is a brilliant invention. It combines in a single image Shiva's roles as creator, preserver, and destroyer of the universe and conveys the Indian conception of the never-ending cycle of time. Although it appeared in sculpture as early as the fifth century, its present, world-famous form evolved under the rule of the Cholas. Shiva's dance is set within a flaming halo. The god holds in his upper right hand the damaru (hand drum that made the first sounds of creation). His upper left hand holds agni (the fire that will destroy the universe). With his lower right hand, he makes abhayamudra (the gesture that allays fear). The dwarflike figure being trampled by his right foot represents apasmara purusha (illusion, which leads mankind astray). Shiva's front left hand, pointing to his raised left foot, signifies refuge for the troubled soul. The energy of his dance makes his hair fly to the sides. The symbols imply that, through belief in Shiva, his devotees can achieve salvation.

https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/1987.80.1/

The centuries do not forget...

While serving as Surgeon GH Ratnapura in 1982, a well dressed gentleman, came to see me with a long standing ulcer on one of his legs. It looked like an allergic origin. On questioning he told me that his father also had a similar ulcer. I prescribed the necessary treatment. After he had gone the old attendant standing by me said 'Oka saneepa wenni nay Sir. Oka paramparawey saapayak'.- 'You cannot cure that Sir. It is a curse of a generation'. I was intrigued and asked why he said that. The attendant said that a male ancestor of the patient took part in the capture of the last King of Kandy. The ancestor a high court official, had done the unpardonable sin at that time in1815, of kicking the King's body with his foot. This was a curse laid on generations to come. I was reminded of a passage from a Russian author. 'The centuries do not forget the shame of a nation'.

While serving in Kandy as Surgeon in the 1980s, an elderly gentleman related to me a legend, that when the news of the betrayal of the Kandyan Kingdom to the British reached Kandy, the angered public reacted by cutting many 'Ehela' trees in and around Kandy.

Capture of Kandy, Sri Lanka.

While serving in the Health Department in Kandy, I collected a few legends about Kandy.
The Portuguese, the Dutch and the British suffered quite a few defeats at the hands of the soldiers of the Kandyan Kingdom.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kandyan_Wars
After surrender of Kandy by a few nobles, the British took to using psychological warfare to cow the native population.
Legends had it that Kandy could never be controlled till three things were accomplished.

1. The Mahaweli Ganga had to have a bridge built across.
Up to that time the crossing was done at ‘Gannoruwa’ – (Ganing’ –bring, ‘Oruwa’ – boat, became ‘Gannoruwa’) by boat.
A satin-wood bridge was built by the British across the Mahaweli Ganga at Peradeniya.

2. A tunnel had to be dug through a mountain.
This was done by blasting through granite at Anniewaththe. The tunnel is still in use.

3. Possesion of the Sacred Tooth of Lord Buddha.
The British knowing the political importance of the Relic captured it and the effect of the capture was recorded by a British physician John Davy who was here at the time' He says : "When the relic was taken the effect of its capture was astonishing ... for they who possess the relic have a right to govern four kingdoms ; this, for 2,000 years, is the first time the relic was ever taken from us".26 In Kandy in the year 1828 there were the great rains immediately after the sacred Tooth Relic was ..
https://books.google.lk/books…

Date Original 1894
Photographer/Artist: Jackson, William Henry, 1843-1942

The capture of King Sri Wickrema Rajasinghe of Kandy

 The King

 Queen Rangammal

 The golden armor of the King - Looted by the British and sold by auction in 1820 in Britain

 Ivory statuette of King Sri Wickrema Rajasinghe

  The Throne

The arrest of the King

 Place of  arrest, Medhamahanuwara, Bomure.

 

 Kandyan cheifs with Doyly

 The signatories to the Kandyan treaty

  Place in Colombo where the King was held before deportation to Vellore, Kerala, India.

 The King's  last residence in Vellore

After the fall of city of Kandy in February 1815 to the British rule, Eheylapola Maha Adhikaram ( who was one of the main conspirators who helped the British to take over Kandy ) sent a group of his people to help the British to capture the king who had escaped from the palace. After several days this team found that the king was in hiding in the area of “Bomure”
What happened after the Eheylapola’s gang headed by Ekneligoda Nilame surrounded the house in which the king Sri Wickrama Rajasinghe was hiding on the 18th of February 1815, was published by C.T.A Dias (who was a translator who participated in the group who captured Kandy) in the 1861 April issue of Sinhala publication.
Sri Wickrama Rajasinghe – Last king of the Nation

After a brief resistance, The king appeared delivered himself. The gang of Ekneligoda Nilame pulled the king out of the house and stole every valuable worn by the king and the queen. One of the goons called “Kiriporuwe Mohottala” tore the queen Venkathi Rangammal‘s earlobes to steal the earrings worn by her. The queen with the bleeding earlobes, fearing for her life ran in to the house.
The Tholkamudali called Dias who was with this crowd, called the queen with due respect and the queen now in her white undergarments (all the cloths being stolen) came out and asked for protection from him. The Tholkamudali got some herbal plants treated her bleeding earlobes.
Meanwhile the Ekneligoda Nilame asked his goons for bring some creeper to tie the king. The Tholkamudali distressed at the way the king was being treated told the Ekneligoda Nilame, “Sir, we have been under british rule for a long time and we do not consider him as our king but he has been your king untill now and you (the Kandyans) have been calling him with great respect up to now.” and offered his Satakaya (an Indian Toga) to tie him. But the Ekneligoda Nilame refused it and tied the king with creepers and delivered to the British.

The 'Robinson Casket', Ivory 15th Century AD, Sri Lanka.

The 'Robinson Casket' is one of a group of at least nine solid ivory caskets made in Kotte, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), and sent by the kingdom's rulers to Portugal as diplomatic gifts, in some cases to mark specific historical or religious events. It is believed to have been made about 1557 to commemorate the King of Kotte's conversion to Christianity and the birth of a grandson and heir to the King of Portugal, hence the choice of Christian motifs and symbols of birth and rebirth that are intricately carved throughout the casket. The piece is among the earliest examples of Ceylonese art made for western consumption, and it illustrates beautifully how local craftsmen interpreted European forms and motifs and married them to their own decorative traditions. The casket is named after Sir John Charles Robinson, Superintendent of Art Collections for the South Kensington Museum (renamed the V&A in 1899), who acquired it in Lisbon before 1888.
Please click on web-link below :-
http://collections.vam.ac.uk/…/the-robinson-casket-casket-…/

Ivory combs, Sri Lanka, 15th Century AD.

Combs, made of wood,coconut shell, metal, tortoise shell and ivory were in standard use long before the advent of plastics. Ivory combs made in Sri Lanka, were exported from Sri Lanka by the Portuguese and ended up in the houses of royalty in Europe. Here is an example of one of them.
Ivory Comb, Kotte period, 1412–1597, Sri Lanka
Please click on the web-link below:-

http://www.michaelbackmanltd.com/2784.html