Rare Varahi sculpture recovered

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Srinivasan Kalyanaraman <kalyan97@g...> wrote:

Date:24/09/2004 URL:

http://www.thehindu.com/2004/09/24/stories/2004092402921300.htm

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Rare Varahi sculpture recovered

 

By T.S. Subramanian

 

Chola period that was recovered by the Idol Wing of Tamil Nadu police

on Tuesday. â€" Photo: Vino John

 

CHENNAI, SEPT. 23. A priceless sculpture of a "Varahi" (boar-headed

female figure), stolen from a temple in Pudukottai district of Tamil

Nadu, has been recovered by the Idol Wing of the State Police. Dating

back to about 850 A.D. of the pre-Chola period, it is one of the

earliest sculptures of Tamil Nadu, according to archaeologists. The

high-relief Varahi in white granite is 145 cm tall and 55 cm broad.

 

It belonged to the Muchukondesvara temple at Kodumbalur in Pudukottai

district, which is a protected monument of the Archaeological Survey

of India (ASI), Chennai Circle. The Irukkuvelir chieftains, who ruled

the Kodumbalur area in the 9th-10th century A.D, belonged to the

pre-Chola period.

 

One night in October 2003, a gang of men entered the temple, beat up

the guards, tied them up, and carted away the heavy sculpture in a

vehicle. The ASI alerted the Idol Wing of the police and the Customs

Department.

 

A team headed by Inspector-General of Police K.P. Mahendran,

Superintendent of Police R. Tamilchandran and Deputy SPs R. Balan and

E. Bharathidasan went to work. They began checking vehicles plying on

the roads around the district.

 

Dumped in lake

 

The thieves dumped the idol in a lake in Mazhuvankaranai village,

about 80 km from Chennai. The villagers retrieved it and began

worshipping it. Recovered by the police on September 21, it is now in

the ASI office at Fort St. George, Chennai.

 

T. Satyamurthy, Superintending Archaeologist, ASI, Chennai Circle,

called it "a very important and a rare Varahi." It is one of the

seven

goddesses of the "sapthamatrikas."

 

The Varahi, which has the head of a boar and the body of a female, is

"a marvellous sculpture," he said. It has four arms. One upper arm

holds a "sankhu" (conch) while the other has a "chakra" (wheel) in

"prayoga" form â€" it is about to unleash the chakra. While the right

lower arm is in "abhaya mudra," the left arm rests on the left thigh.

It is in the seated form or "vama lalitha asana."

 

The Varahi's ornamentation is even more elaborate, said G.

Thirumoorthy, Assistant Archaeologist, ASI. She has a breast-band,

wears a necklace, and a "karantha makuta" or a crown looking like a

pile of pots. She has a lower garment, which is in folds. On the

upper

part of the left lower arm, she wears a band. There is a twisted holy

thread running across her body. She has bangles on her hands, and

"pada valaya" too.

 

Dr. Satyamurthy explained why it was a rare piece of sculpture.

Although art (sculpture) in Tamil Nadu grew with the Pallavas, it

matured with the Chola kings. In-between, sculptors attempted many

sculptures and this Varahi belonged to that period.

 

A Varahi in Thanjavur's Brihadeesvara temple also probably dates back

to this period (850 A.D.), and so belongs to the earlier period than

the temple, he said. The two Varahis were "artistically more or less

the same."

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