INTACH team restores 17th-century ceiling paintings at Tamil Nadu temple - The Times of India

More than 50 panels of 17th-century ceiling paintings at a Tamil Nadu temple that were in the danger of being lost for ever have been restored by an INTACH (Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage) team. Experts have described these paintings as masterpieces of Indian art.

The paintings in Devasiraya mandapam of the Tyagarajaswami temple at Tiruvarur, about 40km east of Thanjavur, tell the story of how the image of Lord Tyagarajaswami was brought to Tiruvarur by a monkey-faced Chola king, Muchukunda. Because of decades of neglect and damage from water leakage, smoke, fungus, insects, dust, bird nesting, and other factors, nearly half of the panels had been severely damaged, and the other half were in acute danger of similar deterioration.

Following the sustained efforts of Ranvir Shah, founder trustee of Prakriti Foundation, an INTACH team led by KP Madhu Rani was allowed to clean and preserve the paintings, to waterproof the roof of the mandapam, and thus to save these priceless works for future generations.

Prakriti Foundation in Chennai has now published a comprehensive photographic and scholarly documentation of the Tiruvarur paintings, with the exquisite photographs of VK Rajamani, the doyen of art photographers in south India, and a scholarly introduction and annotation by Professor David Shulman of the Hebrew University,Jerusalem. The book, "The Mucukunda Murals in the Tyagarajasvami Temple, Tiruvarur", by VK Rajamani and David Shulman, makes the paintings accessible to art lovers throughout the world. It is being released in the Devasiraya mandapam on January 26. The book includes a detailed description by Madhu Rani of the entire process of conservation, an essay that may be a model for all similar work on surviving medieval murals.

The release will open the mandapam to all visitors. Lectures by Professors Davesh Sonaji, Rajeswari Ghosh, Saskia Kersenboom, and David Shulman, among others, will illuminate the meaning of the Tyagaraja story and provide context to the paintings on the newly conserved ceiling directly above the audience.

The work is, however, not complete. Although 90% of the professional stabilizing of the mandapam and its ceiling has been accomplished by the INTACH team, side-waterproofing and other final touches are yet to be given. There is hope that a model of shared private-public engagement will assure the future of these paintings and completion of the work.

Experts are worried at recent speculation that plans are afoot to retouch or repaint these great paintings, thereby ruining them for ever, as has, in fact, happened at many Tamil temple sites. Experts say such retouching would be an unmitigated catastrophe now that the INTACH team has completed its scientific cleaning and conservation. The difference between retouching or repainting and careful conservation is vital: the former destroys; the latter keeps such works alive as close as we can get to their original forms. This difference has not yet been sufficiently internalized by the bodies responsible at many temples and surviving palaces, they point out.

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15th century inscription discovered

Udupi:An important inscription of 15th century belonging to the Sangama dynasty of Vijayanagara Empire has been discovered at Rattadi, a small village in Kundapura taluk.

A press release issued by T Murugeshi, professor in ancient history and archaeology at MSRS College (Shirva) informed that the stone record is preserved in Bhandarkars Arts and Science College, Kundapura.

The top of the inscription is designed in a horse-shoe shape and has a standing Nandi, Linga with 'prabhavali', a lamp, a man seated in saluting posture, sun and moon from left to right respectively in bas relief. The inscription is in Kannada and dates back to the Saka era. The inscription has great significance in the study of Vijayanagara Empire and the Tuluva history of the period. The record mentions Sangama Emperor Devaraya I with his royal titles like 'Raajaadhiraaja Parameshwara', 'Bhasege Tappada Raayara Ganda', 'Proudha Devaraya Odeyaru.'

When Devaraya II was ruling Vijayanagara as an emperor, his officer Bhachanna Odeya appears to have defeated and subdued some ruler of Kabsanaala Durga.

The inscription begins with an invocation to Lord Ganesh, Lord Shiva and Bringinatha.

It mentions the date of Saka year 1330, sarvadhari samvatsara, sravana bahula, 12, Sunday.

This corresponds to 1408 AD. The study of the full text of this epigraph may reveal some more valuable facts of history, which is under detailed study, the release stated.

14th century idols found in Banaskantha village - The Times of India

PALANPUR: Seven idols which might be long to 14th century were recovered on Saturday from a field in Rah village, about 24 km from Tharad, in Banaskantha district. The discovery was made when farmer Akji Vaghela was ploughing the field. Nine conches and seven idols, of which five are made of 'panch dhaatu' (five metals) and two made of black stones, were recovered from the site.

Police sub-inspector G R Patel who had reached site after getting the information said, "The black stone idols are damaged and the metal idols are covered in a thick layer of rust."

"The idols are yet to be identified, but probably belong to ancient times," said Ravi Shankar, sub-divisional magistrate of Tharad on Sunday. At present, we have kept the idols at the police station, he added.

Tharad is located on the international border with Pakistan and was once known as 'Jain-nagar' because of the number of Jains staying here. Local Jains feel that the idols might belong to Jain tirthankars.

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Mongols, Vikings and Romans Connected to Climate : Discovery News

Genghis Khan may have found the most brutal solution to global warming.

The Mongols conquered one of the largest empires ever starting in the 13th century AD. In doing so they also slaughtered the populations of many entire cities, and even whole civilizations, like the Khwarzm in what is now Kazakhstan.

Without people to farm the land, much of it reverted to forests. Those forests inhaled large amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, according to a paper published in the journal The Holocene. Those forests may have stockpiled 700 million tons of carbon dioxide, as much as the world's current use of gasoline produces in a year.

Lead author, Julia Pongratz, and Ken Caldeira of the Carnegie Institution and colleagues at the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology in Germany analyzed historical records of land use and compared those with a global climate/ carbon cycle model to track how land use and historical events altered carbon dioxide levels.

The longer the duration of the human catastrophe, the more carbon was absorbed by new forests, Pongrantz found. The depopulation of the Americas after invasion by the Spanish, English and other European powers had a similar atmospheric impact to the Mongol conquests. But other shorter-term mass deaths didn't slow agriculture down enough to affect the atmosphere.

"We found that during the short events such as the Black Death and the Ming Dynasty collapse, the forest re-growth wasn't enough to overcome the emissions from decaying material in the soil," says Pongratz. "But during the longer-lasting ones like the Mongol invasion and the conquest of the Americas there was enough time for the forests to re-grow and absorb significant amounts of carbon."

"Today about a quarter of the net primary production on the Earth's land surface is used by humans in some way, mostly through agriculture," Pograntz said. "So there is a large potential for our land-use choices to alter the global carbon cycle.”

“In the past we have had a substantial impact on global climate and the carbon cycle, but it was all unintentional,” Pograntz said. “Based on the knowledge we have gained from the past, we are now in a position to make land-use decisions that will diminish our impact on climate and the carbon cycle. We cannot ignore the knowledge we have gained."

The current rate and scale of climate change are unprecedented in human history, and another study point out that if humanity does not heed the fate of the Greenland Vikings and the Roman Empire, civilization may be doomed to repeat the chaos of collapse.

Rome rose and prospered during a stable, warm, moist period in climate history, but collapsed during colder, drier, more variable times, according to research by a team of researchers led by Ulf Buntgen of the Swiss Federal Research Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape, which Emily Sohn of Discovery News wrote about recently.

Climate Changes Linked to Fall of Roman Empire

An increase in climate variability from 250 AD to 600 AD, coincided with the spread of the Huns and migrations of Germanic tribes, the researchers said in a recent issue of Science. They studied preserved tree rings from that time to determine climate, a science called dendrochronology. During that period, trees had smaller rings, meaning less yearly growth and harsher conditions.

Historians corroborate the researcher's work. Edward Gibbon wrote in The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire that German tribes crossed a frozen Rhine River on December 31, 406. Others have noted that the freezing of the Rhine was speculation, but the research of Buntgen and his team at least show that the German migrations and invasions coincided with cold weather.

A warm period also coincided with the re-development of organized civilization in Europe, but another cold period in the 14th century may have aided in the spread of the bubonic plague, which thrives in cooler conditions. At the same time, Viking settlements in Greenland disappeared. Cold weather may have made agriculture and rearing livestock impossible on that giant, ice-covered island.

Atlantic Circulation On the Fasttrack for Change

But wait, isn't the problem now that the climate is getting warmer? Shouldn't Europe be happy that the climate is getting balmier? The problem is that warmer average temperatures don't mean warmer temperatures everywhere.

The Sensitive Seasons of Europe

Europe's pleasant climate is caused by an ocean current that brings warm water from the tropics north. But as the waters in the Arctic get warmer, the temperature difference that drives that current is breaking down. Other research has shown a significant decrease just since the 1970's in the strength of one of the currents involved.

“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it,” said the Spanish-American writer George Santayana. These two studies show that the rise and fall of human civilizations are often linked to the climate, and that human activities can affect the climate.

Russia-InfoCentre :: Archeologists Find Traces of Unknown Civilization near Kislovodsk

Kislovodsk archaeological expedition headed by Dmitry Korobov has found about two hundred ancient settlements following a uniform architectural concept on the Kabardian Ridge, in the foothills of Elbrus.

It is possible to say about discovery of an unknown civilization that once existed. And yet the researchers are at a loss regarding material samples of what culture they have unearthed.

It is interesting to note that a direct view of Elbrus opened from every ancient settlement. It could hardly be accidental. It seems that the people, who had come here, had purposefully chosen the place to see the mountain. By approximate calculations of historians, about 25 thousand persons could have lived in all the 160 settlements at the same time.

The mysterious people mysteriously disappeared. After the 9th century B.C. they left their houses in the foothills of Elbrus and went away. Scientists hope to solve at least a part of the riddles of the ancient inhabitants of the ridge. There is, for example, an assumption that dwellers of Arkaim - a big settlement that prospered behind Urals in the 3rd-2nd millennia BC - could have reached that land.

The Hindu : Ancient, historical Yogyakarta and modern, pulsating Jakarta reflect the country's multi-cultural ethos

Ancient, historical Yogyakarta and modern, pulsating Jakarta reflect the country's multi-cultural ethos
The bus from Yogyakarta rumbles to a stop in the midst of lava fields looped by a tent city of souvenir shops. The UNESCO-restored 9th Century Mahayana Buddhist Temple of Borobudur is a long walk, past well-laid out gardens, hedged in by morning glory. Finally, Borobudur comes into sight — a pageantry of umbrellas and sarongs marches past in the noon-day sun.

The restoration of Borobudur, ranked an equal of the Parthenon by Arnold Toynbee, was a meeting ground for ancient heritage and modern technology. Built by the Buddhist Sailendras over 80 years, the temple lay abandoned and forgotten for nearly eight centuries, shaken by quakes and lashed by torrential rains. In a 19th Century expedition that almost rivalled the search for the Holy Grail, Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles, then British Lieutenant-Governor of Java, heard of the ruins overrun by the jungle, and ordered it to be cleared of the undergrowth. The Dutch took over later.

Worth the climb

Getting to the top (105 ft) of the temple is like a hike from hell, but worth the effort. The andesite and basalt volcanic stones that make up the pyramid are at varying heights, and bas-reliefs (2,672) depicting the lives of the Buddha are strung like a rosary around the six square terraces. I jostle past tourists, worshippers, school children and heritage enthusiasts to journey through this Buddhist vision of the universe in stone. The birth of the Buddha, his enlightenment, elephants, dancing apsaras — scenes from the ordinary world swirl up to nirvana.

Seventy-two Buddhas in various asanas sit facing outwards in the top three circular terraces. Enclosed in perforated bell-shaped stupas, they surround a large central stupa encasing nothing. The view from the top is splendid — the valley glows green with paddy and bamboo copses, and in the distance beyond the overhanging clouds are the outlines of the active Merbabu and Merapi volcanoes.

I drive three km East to Candi Mendut, another Buddhist temple of the same period. Inside sit three magnificent statues — the Buddha flanked by Boddhisattvas.

Lunch is at a restaurant in the midst of rain-inundated fields. The wait for traditional Javanese fare is interrupted by a wayang kulit performance — flickering shadow puppets symbolising good and evil, dance to the music of the gamelan.

I arrive at Yogyakarta, 30-odd km away, and race past its rich culture-filled streets at sunset. The city was the capital during the revolution from 1945-49, but its history dates back to the 17th Century when it was ruled by the Sultan, and rose in revolt against the Dutch. As recognition of this bravery, the province enjoys the special status of a monarchy.

Old meets new

I fly into the Indonesian capital of Jakarta late on a weekend night with the city blazing with lights and people, and eons away from falling asleep. The following morning, I drive through streets tangled with traffic and lined with stores to the downtown harbour district which, Fatahillah, a Sumataran warrior, named Jayakarta after his victory over the Portuguese.

In 1619, the Dutch (under Jan Pieterszoon Coen) defeated the British and renamed the city Batavia. Over three centuries, from a well-entrenched fort they administered their far-flung colonial empire, mastering the spice trade. The Japanese named the city Djakarta during World War II. I walk around Fatahillah Square past The Museum of Fine Arts, a neo-classic building, and the Stadhuis, the City Hall built in 1710, now the Jakarta Museum. The quiet square belies its violent history — many Chinese were slaughtered here in 1740, forcing them to flee across the fort walls to Glodok where they continue to live in numbers. Across the Grand Canal lie Dutch-style houses reminiscent of Amsterdam.

From the past

A little ahead around Merdeka Square lies the Sekretariat, the porticoed white Presidential Palace, the National Monument with its gigantic flame, the West Irian Liberation monument, and an exquisitely-carved Arjuna Wijaya chariot statute with horses leaping and foaming at the mouth. The glacial Istiqlal mosque is a massive marble and glass structure, and lies across the road from The Church of Our Lady of Assumption, an ornate Roman Catholic neo-Gothic cathedral. It has an altar dedicated to St. Francis Xavier, who introduced Christianity to the Indies.

Like the saint, I have to journey to India, but not before I race through congested Jalan Surabaya shopping for barnacled porcelain dishes ferreted from sunken ships, Javanese puppets, batik fans, a mask and wood carvings.

A quarter of a globe away and couple of months since my travel to the Indies, I still glimpse shades of life from the archipelago — a carved Garuda from Bali threatening to leap off my bookshelf, a Sumatran mask scowling from the wall, a beatific Buddha smiling mysteriously and the aroma of cinnamon coffee wafting up on a winter morning…

Plea for UNESCO to save Indonesian temples

UNESCO has been asked to urgently help save ancient Hindu temples, which are reportedly threatened by volcanic ash flows from Mount Merapi on an Indonesian island.

Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, said in a press statement in Nevada (USA) that, "these ancient temples are world archaeological treasures and it is our moral duty to preserve these for the coming generations."

The Prambanan temple complex was built in the 9th century AD and includes temples dedicated to Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva with reliefs depicting episodes from the Ramayana, the ancient Hindu epic. And, as if lifted from the pages of such a legend of destruction and rebirth, fears have arisen that powerful flowing volcanic mud produced by Mount Merapi - the volcano erupted in October and November - could now destroy the historic structures.

Dewi S. Sayudi, an official with the Volcanic Technology Development and Research Center, said that there is a serious threat to Prambanan because the nearby rivers carrying large amounts of volcanic debris, called lahar. (The Jakarta Post reports), "The lahar that we have seen so far is just the tip. The flows carry only a small portion of the thick layers of volcanic debris from the slopes of Merapi."

Lahars act like concrete, flowing when carried by water but becoming solid when deposited on land.

The eruptions in October and November, Merapi's most powerful in a century, were estimated to have spewed more than 150 million cubic metres of volcanic debris consisting of large rocks, stones, sand and ash.

Hours of heavy rain over the peak of the world's most active volcano turned the thick layers of heated volcanic debris into powerful mud-flows that sped their way down the slope, sweeping away all in their path.

A thick deposit of volcanic debris extending 15 kilometres along the banks of the Gendol River has raised the water level dramatically. This has resulted in a vast wall of volcanic debris 1.5 kilometres in width and more than 10 kilometres long flowing to the Opak River.

Despite the threat, no preparations have been made so far by Prambanan Temple officials, who continue to monitor the flow of the Opak River as rainfall increases as Indonesia heads into the peak of the wet season.

The head of the Serayu-Opak River Region Agency, Bambang Hargono, said all the dams set up to stop volcanic debris were at full capacity. (ANI)

The Hindu : Arts / History & Culture : A bas-relief gone dry at Mamallapuram

On December 6 and 7, 2010, Mamallapuram, 50 km from Chennai, famed for its Pallava period rock-cut sculptures, recorded 20 cm of rain. It was the kind of rainfall that could have brought to life one of the famous bas-relief panels there, adjacent to the popular Arjuna's Penance bas-relief: Krishna lifting Govardhana hill to protect the cowherds, their wives, children, cows and bulls from a deluge caused by the wrath of Indra.

The pounding rain would have created a dramatic cascade down the rock and all around the bas-relief of Krishna and the community of cowherds just as the Pallava sculptors of the 7th century C.E. intended, says S. Balusami, Associate Professor of Tamil at the Madras Christian College, Tambaram.

The Pallava sculptors had conjured up the Mamallapuram rock as Govardhana hill and created a splendid row of sculptures depicting the life of cowherds and a majestic Krishna nonchalantly lifting the hill with his left hand.

Art historian C. Sivaramamurti, in his short book, Mahabalipuram, first published by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) in 1952, asserts that: “This representation of the Govardhana scene is probably the best in India, even the one at Ellora coming nowhere near this.”

But, Dr. Balusami says, the Vijayanagara rulers of the 14th/15th century C.E. built a pillared mantapa in front of this bas-relief, killing forever the cascade effect. In fact, with the pillared mantapa in front, the sculptures are no longer an open-air bas-relief, which is now merely called the Krishna Mantapa. In a sense it amounts to vandalism. Says Sivaramamurti: “Vandalism has not caused much damage, except for the later Vaishnavite mark incised on the forehead of the couchant bull and the erection of the modern pillared hall which destroys the view of the original façade.”

Dr. Balusami, a scholar on Mamallapuram sculptures, has found tell-tale evidence of 26 furrows cut on the rock above the line of bas-relief sculptures to channel the rain water and create a picture of verisimilitude.

Pallava artisans had also excavated terraced steps and narrow channels on the sloping rock above for water to gush down the “Govardhanagiri.” But the Vijayanagara chieftains cut a trench high up on rock and raised a one-foot high wall to drain the water on either side of the bas-relief.

In defence of his argument, Dr. Balusamy points out that the central cleft in the adjacent sculptures of Arjuna's Penance represents the Ganga coursing down the Himalayas. He quotes from A.H. Longhurst's Pallava Architecture, part II, Intermediate or Mamalla Period, published by the ASI, to support his argument. Mr. Longhurst says: “If the visitor will take the trouble of climbing to the top of the rock…he will find a number of rock-cut channels or footings immediately above the cleft [in Arjuna's Penance], showing that a brick or masonry cistern was once built on this spot… It would appear that on certain festival occasions, this cistern was filled and the water allowed to flow down the cleft in the form of a cascade into the tank below, simulating the descent of a mountain torrent… There can be little doubt that the whole scene is a symbolical representation of the Ganges flowing down the Himalayas.”

“DYNAMIC, LIFE-LIKE”

Dr. Balusami has proposed that the central theme of the “dynamic, life-like” sculptures in the bas-relief of Krishna lifting Govardhanagiri is “safety” or “protection.” Everybody is feeling safe because Krishna has protected them from the deluge. A cowherd has a child on his shoulders and his wife holds the hand of another child while she carries on her head pots of milk and curd; a royal lady is looking up in amazement at Krishna holding aloft the hill; tall Balarama has his hand around an elderly cowherd, in a gesture of protection; a cowherd plays the flute and cows sway their heads to the tune; his wife is feeding their infant; another cowherd is milking a cow, which is licking her calf; nearby a bull and a cow are walking close to each other; a woman is carrying pots in a rope-sling; and a young couple, hands held together, is dancing with gay abandon. Everywhere there is relief that the danger has passed.

All these events, Dr. Balusami proposes, have a remarkable similarity to the descriptions in the poems of Mullai Thinai in Tamil Sangam literature, datable between third century B.C.E. and third century C.E.

The Hindu : Life & Style / Kids : Connecting with the Romans

Coins help archaeologists and historians discover the history, culture, economy and religious importance of a bygone era.

The Government Museum of Chennai, the Italian Embassy Cultural Centre, New Delhi and the Indo-Italian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Chennai, have organised an exhibition on Roman Coins and other Roman antiquities found in South India.

The tale of trade between India and the Roman empire highlights the mood of the exhibition. The journey was arduous and filled with many adventures. But for the traders, it was a journey that brought them riches and they risked their lives to get it. Just before and after the Christian era, Romans began to trade with India. They watched out for the trade winds of the monsoons and landed in the west coast of India. They travelled through the jungles of the Western Ghats and then by crossing the Palghat pass reached the region of Coimbatore. Here they bought the varied spices and precious gems. But gradually they learned to sail round the Southern tip of India and reach the ports of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh on the East coast.

While the relationship between the two countries began with trade, there were more connections to come — diplomatic ties, exchange of art and culture, so much so that many aspects of Roman politics, society and culture mingled with Indian traditions and beliefs.

The exhibition hall displayed the different coins that were found in many parts of Tamil Nadu. Imitations of the Roman coins were found too in many sites in India, and these were produced in India. It is believed that when there was a shortage of genuine coins from the West, the imitations wee produced here.

Displayed also were precious stones, the terracotta in Arikamedu, beads, fragments of figurines and armlets of Cornelian. Roman coins were also used as jewellery. they were hung round the neck and looked similar to the “Kasu malai” of Tamil Nadu. These special coins were found in Gumada in Andhra Pradesh and in Sooriyapattu in Tamil Nadu.

The importance of Arikamedu as the main trade site, was highlighted in the exhibition. While there were other sites in South India like Pattanam in Kerala and Karur and Alagankulam in Tamil Nadu, it is Arikamedu in Pondicherry, that is properly identified and documented. This 34-acre ancient Roman trade centre was declared a protected site in the 1940s and in 2003 was owned by the ASI 9Archeological survey of India.) Mortimer Wheeler's excavation in 1945 inspired other excavations in India. and the methods and principals of Stratigraphy-based (the study of rock layers and the layering process (stratification); the layering of deposits, with newer remains overlaying older ones, forming a chronology of the site.During excavation, archaeologists are not just concerned with what is at the bottom of their unit. They are also keenly interested in their sidewalls, where they can get a profile view of the stratigraphy in the archaeological deposit.)

That were used in Arikamedu are still in use today.

The largest amount of Mediterranean amphora (long conical jars with handles on both sides) jars has been found in Arikamedu. These came to India filled with — wine, olive oil, fish sauce and apples. The goods that the Romans came for were — gems, silk, cotton, ivory, spices, sandalwood and peacocks.

There were shards of pottery, carefully housed in the glass displays. These fragments of pottery bore inscriptions in Tamil language and in Tamil Brahmi script, of the 2nd century B.C. – 3rd century A.D. They also had pieces of pottery that had Prakrit, old Sinhalese and Lain.

Another interesting aspect of the exhibition was the focus on ancient Tamil epic poems and Greaco Roman literary works that threw light on the trade between the countries.

For example in the Tamil Sangam (composed at the Sangam or the “confluence of Tamil scholars” in Madurai, capital of the Tamil Pandiya kingdom) poems, especially the “Ahananuru” and the “Purananuru” there are references to the rising and successful trade. These foreign traders were known as “Yavanas.”

A verse in the “Ahananuru” describes the Malabar port of Muziris, where the Yavanas paid gold for pepper.

‘When the town where the good ships,

Masterpieces of the Yavanas,

Stirring the white foam of the Periyar, river of the Cheras,

Sail in with gold and sail off with pepper

When this Muziris overflowing with posperity

Was besieged with the din of war…”

There is information how the Yavanas were in great demand in Tamil Nadu for the technical abilities and were employed as builders, carpenters and blacksmiths. Tamil kings made them build war weapons like “siege engines.” As they were strong, they made excellent gatekeepers and bodyguards.

The poems describe the Yavana lamps that had steady flames and burned without flickering. They were described to be in shapes of a swan and very similar to the “Pavai Villaku” of Tamil Nadu.

In Greaco Roman literature of Pliny, Ptolemy and otheres, detailed and accurate accounts are given of the trade ties between the Roman Empire and India.

The Curator, Numismatics Section of the Museum, says this exhibition is a boon to students as it brings alive their lessons. It documents the commercial and the cultural ties and the ancient maritime heritage and monopoly of trade.