Tamil Nadu, Kaveri delta region
Eleventh century CE
Granite; 135 x 59 x 22.86 cm
(53-1/8 x 23-1/4 x 9 in.)
Ackland Fund, 82.6.1
Provenance: Acquired from Spinks & Son, Ltd., London. Formerly in the collection of Leonidas Goulandris in London.

This imposing and vigorous figure was probably created during the reigns of the great Chola ruler Rajaraja (985–1014), or his son, Rajendra I (1012–1044). Evolving out of a slender, elongated figure-type from the tenth century, sculptures of this period are characterized by their monumentality and fleshiness.1 The ornament appears softer than the crisp treatment of works from the later eleventh and twelfth centuries.2 The full, round face; broad, square shoulders; and relatively slender torso compare closely with niche figures from Rajaraja’s great temple, the Rajarajeshvaram, built in Tanjore in 1010 CE (Figs. 6, 7, 8, 54).3

While its smaller size suggests that the Ackland’s Vishnu/Shiva was not created for the Rajarajeshvara temple, it would have been carved for a fairly elaborate structure built at this time. The temple, unlike most earlier monuments, would have elevated the figure high off the ground. The leonine clasp at his waist, for example, must be viewed from below to be deciphered as the eyes, nose, and mouth of a stylized lion’s face (kirtimukha), which suggests that the figure was intended to be placed in a niche high on a temple wall, to be seen by visitors from below.4

Although this large and looming figure has been identified in the past as Vishnu,5 this identity cannot be taken for granted.6 The missing arms and hands complicate identification. The mace in his left hand—the only attribute remaining—is typically associated with Vishnu. The rigid posture, conical crown, and perfectly symmetrical shoulders also contribute to this identification. If it could be known that he originally held a conch in his upper left hand, a discus in his upper right, and raised his frontal right hand in a gesture of blessing, this designation would be indisputable.

However, during the Chola period, the crown and mace also adorn depictions of Shiva as divine ruler and warrior, respectively.7 Whether associated with Vishnu or Shiva, these two attributes, signifying kingship and power, remain appropriate on a temple built during the heyday of the Chola conquerors. MCKB

1 Compare with Vidya Dehejia, Art of the Imperial Cholas (New York: Columbia University Press, 1990), fig. 24.
2 See Encyclopaedia of Indian Temple Architecture: South India, Lower Dravidadesa 200 BC–1324 AD, ed. Michael W. Meister; coordinated by M.A. Dhaky (New Delhi and Philadelphia: American Institute of Indian Studies and University of Pennsylvania Press, 1983), plate 328. These works more closely resemble sculptures of the Hoyshala period in their crisp detail.
3 See Dehejia, figures 44–46, for niche figures on Rajaraja’s temple. The shoulders in this sculpture might appear disproportionately broad because they originally supported his extra limbs. In his description of the piece, Sherman Lee, “Asian Art in the Ackland Art Museum,” Orientations 24 (1993): 39, also dates the Ackland’s sculpture to 1010, using as evidence the articulation of the conical crown with hanging jewels, the way in which the sacred thread runs diagonally across his chest and fans out at the necklace, the band around the torso, and the belt with leonine clasp and hanging pearls.
4 Dehejia, Indian Art, fig.40, showing the exterior wall of the temple, makes clear how a work like this would have been viewed in its original context.
5 Lee, 39.
6 Oral communication from Padma Kaimal, 09/11/2001.
7 See, for instance, Dehejia, Art of the Imperial Cholas, figures 44 and 46.