Manifestations of Shiva

and
Discourses on Shiva

Kapila Vatsyayan

The exhibition Manifestations of Shiva and the symposium Discourses on

Shiva : Nature of Religious Imagery. held in Philadelphia in April-May 1981. were
events of great importance, both as scholarly achievement and as a new step in
Indo-U. S. cultural relations .

The exhibition was the culmination of the life-long pursuit of a subject by

Stella Kramrisch, one of the world 's greatest living historians of Indian art. Her
journey encompassing Indian art and her contribution in the field is as important
as that of Ananda Coomaraswamy and Vasudeva Saran Agrawala . Amongst the
pioneers, it was these three scholars who were mainly responsible for a body of
work on different facets of Indian art which cumulatively stands for a distinctive
point of view with a conceptual base. Others. particularly Niharranjan Ray. Moti
Chandra and Karl Khandalawala. belong to yet another category of scholars re-
sponsible for bringing new material to the forefront and clarifying many issues
of foreign influences. assimilations, social significance and chronologies .
C. Sivaramamurti stands in a class by himself, both in respect of iconographical
studies and interpretative work . In the field of iconography today, he has no
equal and he towers head and shoulders above the rest.

In Philadelphia, Stella Kramrisch and C. Sivaramamurti met both phys-

ically in space and on an intellectual plane . For this rare opportunity to be a
spectator and witness to the meeting of two great minds, one was immeasurably
grateful. Of course, one missed the presence of Niharranjan Ray for he would
have provided a foil to these two scholars.

The exhibition was thematically arranged , with a very clearly conceived

plan and discerning selection of 200 examples from collections in the U. S., U. K.,
Europe and India . The sheer artistic excellence of the paintings, stone sculpture s
and bronzes wa s a treat for the eye, and made even more meaningful through
a dramatic and sen sitive presentation. This was Stella Kramrisch's statement on
Shiva . articulated verbally in the catalogue and in her book The Presence of Shiva
and visually supported in concrete terms through the exhibition . The uncreate.
the unmanifest made manifest through the principle of bi-unity and of the one and
the many and finally th e triad is her theme . The power of concentration , of re-
straint and control at the very moment of creation is Stella Kramrisch' s preoccu-
pation . The holding and disbursal of the seed, her identification of the cosmic
paradox. its manifestation through the complementary images of Shiva and
Sh ak ti , of the Yogi Shiva watching his own states as Bhairava. Bhikshatana and
Ag hor. is th e glory and joy of Stella Kramri sch herself reliving her th eme at a
heightened level of consciou sness . Behind the great diversity of the manifestation s

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 of Shiva as Lingam, Chaturmukha, Ardhanarishvara, Yogi and Nataraja was a
central image unseen but dominant in her vision . It was the Trimurti of Elephanta
as was apparent to any sensitive observer of the exhibition. Stella Kramrisch
confronting the image physically in Elephanta was a turning point in her career
and she describes the experience vividly. This was her first entry into India in
time and her first entry into the realm of the Indian spirit That first day's expe-
rience in Bombay in the twenties of this century cumulatively flowered into the
exhibition, the magnificient catalogue, the book, The Presence of Shiva, and the
first two introductory lectures on the Shiva at Elephanta with which, appropri-
ately enough, this Yajna on Shiva opened in Philadelphia. Elsewhere I have
described Stella Kramrisch's conception and visualisation as also the experience
of going with her through the exhibition during and after the installation. Almost
of equal significance was the visit to the exhibition with Stella Kramrisch and
C. Sivaramamur~i together and with the latter singly. In a flash , one saw that
while Stella Kramrisch 's mind and spirit travelled to the fundamental abstract
concepts and the emergence of the manifestation as Ardhanarishvara, Yog1;
Bhairava, Nataraja, Tripurantaka, Somasundara with the Dev1; for C. Sivaramamurti
it triggered off sh/oka aftersh/oka from Sanskrit literature. His monumental memory
is a unique personal retrieval system and it was a fascinating and moving
experience to hear the verses of Kalidasa, Ratnakara and other poets come alive
through the images . He narrated story after story of the Lingoda Bhava, the
Ardhanarishvara, recited the verses of the saints on the bull Nandi (who is none
other than the ego of Shiva), cited references to the dalliance of Shiva and
Parvati, their all too understandable domestic quarrels and tensions as seen in
the Pahari paintings and Chalukyan images, the portrayal of Kartikeya in
Kumarasambhavam and, above all , to the descriptions of the dance of Shiva.
Stella Kramrisch and C. Sivaramamurti moved amongst the magnificent bronzes
drawn from Himachal Pradesh, Kashmir and South India, as they would amongst
family members . They seemed to whisper secrets to each and to the images .
A special communication through stance, posture and glance was evident This
was a gift for those who had the sensitivity to see, hear, absorb and respond.

On the discussion table, the theme came alive in another dimension.

Michael Meister's tightly structured symposium schedule sometimes did give way
under the pressure of physical time or the over-zealousness of a few partici-
pants trying to smother listeners with information, but the interest in the theme
or the level of discussion never flagged. A rich array of Indian and Western
scholarship was represented. There were the archaeologists (Debala Mitra,
U. P. Shah, R. Nagaswamy, Krishna Deva, K. V . Soundara Rajan and H. Sarkar
amongst the Indians, and Doris Chatham and Odile Divakaran amongst
the Westerners) who have spent a life-time on particular forms of Shiva . There
were others like M . Dhaky and Michael Meister who have specialised on Shiva
monuments . Besides, there was a fair representation of younger scholars like
Devangana Desai, Thomas Maxwell and others. There were also literary scholars
such as Ludo Rocher, A K. Ramanujan. Barbara Stoler Miller, and
Wendy O'Fiaherty . Walter Spink, Pratapaditya Pal, Pramod Chandra were among
the others who participated in the symposium. Above all there was the presence
of Stella Kramrisch and of C. Sivaramamurti. quiet. listening and, only occa -
sionally and most meaningfully, intervening to clarify a point or make a state-
ment Besides, amongst the participants and discussants were many lively alert

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 minds from the disciplines of anthropology (.A:rjun Appadurai) and of Near Eastern
Art and Archaeology (Irene Winters) and cultural historians (Pupul Jayakar from
lnd1a) .

The symposium began wi th the Shi va mon uments and a v ery ri c h and
closely documented paper by Michael Meister on Shiva Forts in Centra l India .
Through the paper and the line drawings and analysis. Michael Meister convin-
cingly presented his case for the geometric configuration of the Shiva temples
in the ground-plan and the elevation-plan and demonstrated how the Shaivite
temples were transformed from sanctuaries to forts. His meticulous approach was
a lesson in both methodology and analysis. A whole section was devoted to the
Lakulish Images of Shiva which have been the subject of some controversy.
Debala Mitra conce ntrated upon Eastern India and U. P. Shah on the images
of Shiva as Lakulish in Western India. Doris Chatham's paper on the Shiva
images in Elura was informative, although. in her analysis of the dance panels
of Elura, she did not contribute anything new on the subject and seemed to
rely heavily upon Gopinath Rao. Similarly, Odile Divakaran's paper on Durga,
the great goddess, was rich and informative and massive data relating to the
Durga image was presented. The most important amongst the new approaches
to the Shiva images was Thomas Maxwell's paper on the reassessment of the
Shiva at Pare!. Understandably, this paper gave rise to a heated controversy
because Thomas Maxwell sought to disturb the hitherto accepted notion of
dividing plastic images in terms of the three loka-s (worlds) and evaluated the
panel as a meditational construct. Perhaps the publication of this paper wdl
provoke further stimulating comment. M . Dhaky presented a very charming paper
on the Bhuta-s and Bhutanayaka-s, specially their schematic presentation In the
temples. His paper gave rise to a discussion on the sociological interpretation
of the Gana and Bhuta figures, their placement and their function in a total
design .

R. Nagaswamy, as was to be expected, presented hitherto unpublished

material relating to the Chola Shiva figures and also sought to re-interpret the
IConography and significance of the Brihadeshvara temple. He also offered an
explanation for the placing of the reliefs of the 108 dancin9 karana-s in
Brihadeshvara. above the garbha gnha. He interpreted the temple, its structure
and the planning of the main lingam and the reliefs as a replica of the cosmic
dance of consciousness. This is indeed a novel explanation and further responses
to this thesis would be eagerly awaited . C. Sivaramamurti silently yet eloquently
nodded, thus giving his assent. Similarly Devangana Desai's paper was a re-mter-
pretation of the mithuna figures in Khajuraho. She competently refuted earlier
theories on the subject. specially those based on the Tantric cults and analysed
these reliefs in terms of the Sandhya Bhasha and the Shriyantra. Again this is an
ongmal and refreshingly new approach which requires further discussion. Her
paper was a model of conciseness and organisational clarity in presentation.

"""" Shiva. King of Dancers. Chola Dynasty. Tamil Nadu. tenth century Bronze, height 30"
Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

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 There was a lively session on the literature and poetry of Shiva. While
Ludo Rocher gave an account of the development of the theme in the Purana-s.
A. K. Ramanujan presented the powerful Shaivite poetry of medieval Kannada
bhakti poets. Barbara Stoler Miller's paper on Kalidasa's verbal icon (A shtamurti)
was thought-provoking. Wendy O'Fiaherty presented a very interesting paper on
Shiva Erect and Supine . She sought to interpret Shaivite mythology in the light of
Freudian psychology and of the structuralism of Levi Strauss . This paper was
well-received except for a debate on her interpretation of even the Trivikrama
image of Vishnu as a sex symbol. Her identification of the Durga images as symbols
of war, battle and love was well-taken and could be further supported . The dis-
cussion on the paper revolved around concepts and paradigms of understanding
a civilization and culture from the inside and outside . It was argued by some of
the participants that looking at Indian myth through Freud and the paradigm of
binary opposites might not always help to bare the whole truth. For example. it
was said that instead of the binary opposites, could not the principle of the triad
(trimurt1; tnkala. triguna, tripurantaka, triloka. trisandhya) be considered as more
pertinent for identifying the typology? A paper on Natesha was presented by
Kapila Vatsyayan where the history of scholarship in respect of the identification
of the Nataraja images was discussed. Also presented was a new chronology for
the three sites in South India which have a systematic depiction of the 108
karana-s in stone relief.

There were also papers on the Shiva theme and the Gorakhnatha theme
1n Indian painting and the place of the Shiva theme in Orissa in the context
of the Jagannatha cult. Both Pramod Chandra and Joanna Williams presented
papers which were convincingly competent. with a well-defined structure and
conclusions .

The two major events were supplemented by several other programmes,

specially in the Museum , comprising music and dance recitals, lectures and above
all a film called Manifestations of Shiva by Malcolm Leigh.

Outstanding amongst the music and dance recitals was a memorable

concert by Vishwanath and Ranganath (Balasaraswati's brothers) on Shaivite music
and another by Ranganayaki. There were performances by Rita Devi. Ustad Ali Akbar
Khan. and Kapila Vatsyayan . Amongst the lectures those of Wendy O'Fiaherty,
Pratapaditya Pal. Pramod Chandra and B. N. Goswami were quite popular .

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