Swamimalai bronze

The bronze icons of south India are cast by the lost wax process in an unbroken line from the Chola period, and Swamimalai near Kumbakonam is where the sthapatis who do it live and work. A wax model is made, covered in clay, the wax melted out and metal poured into the space, and the mould broken to release a single object that cannot be cast twice. The Chola bronzes of the tenth and eleventh centuries, the Nataraja above all, are among the great achievements of world sculpture, and the method and the measurements used today are the same.

The wax is a mix of beeswax, resin and a little oil, modelled by hand to the proportions laid down in the Shilpa Shastras, where every dimension is a multiple of the figure’s own face length or finger width, so an image is internally proportioned rather than copied. The clay is applied in three layers, fine to coarse, and dried slowly. The alloy is panchaloha, five metals, nominally copper, silver, gold, brass and lead, with copper dominant. The casting is done in one pour. The mould is broken, the surface chiselled and finished, and the eyes are opened last.

Hereditary in the Vishwakarma sthapati families, begun at about ten with wax modelling of small parts, hands and ornaments, for years before a whole figure. The measurement system is learnt as a discipline in itself. A sthapati is not considered independent before fifteen or twenty years. The Government College of Architecture and Sculpture at Mamallapuram now teaches it as a diploma, which brought in students from outside the families and which the families regard with mixed feelings.

The Swamimalai sthapatis trace descent from craftsmen brought by the Cholas and hold a Geographical Indication. The authority for the proportions is the Shilpa Shastra and the Manasara, and a sthapati will cite the text for a measurement in a way that a European sculptor would find strange. Disputes arise over whether an image made for a collector rather than a temple is the same object: a bronze consecrated for worship has had its eyes opened in a rite and is not a sculpture, and the families are careful about which they are making.

Tamil Nadu

Swamimalai and Kumbakonam are the making centres, with the Chola inheritance, the sthapati families and a Geographical Indication.

Kerala

Kerala bronze and the bell metal work of Mannar use related methods with different alloys and a distinct iconography.

Odisha

The Dhokra casting of the eastern belt uses the same lost wax principle with a wire wound wax model and a quite different result.

Deities

• Nataraja
• Siva
• Parvati
• Murugan
• Vishnu

Festivals

• Aani Thirumanjanam · Aani Uthiram
• Thiruvathirai · Arudra Darshanam

Temples

• Swamimalai Swaminatha Swamy Temple
• Thillai Nataraja Temple
• Brihadeeswarar Temple (Peruvudaiyar Koil)

Related arts

• Bharatanatyam