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Chola Bronze Nataraja
The Chola dynasty's lost-wax cast bronze Nataraja (Shiva as Lord of the Dance) is a masterpiece of Hindu art, with Shiva performing the cosmic dance …
Timeline
- c. 950–1030Thanjavur · Tamil NaduThe Chola dynasty supported major Shaiva temples, whose workshops cast mobile Nataraja Shiva images by the lost-wax method, establishing the classic composition of flame ring, raised foot trampling the demon, and four arms holding attributes, for daily worship and festival processions (utsava).
- 1031–1040Thanjavur · Tamil NaduWhen the Chola Empire controlled South India and Sri Lanka, centers such as the Brihadisvara Temple cast large numbers of bronze Nataraja images, elegant in form and precise in proportion; copper-plate inscriptions record metal alloys and enshrinement systems, making them exemplary objects of South Indian religious art.
- c. 1040–1200Kumbakonam · Tamil NaduNataraja bronze casting expanded from court sponsorship into an institutionalized religious industry covering the Tamil region, with clearly divided workshop labor. The iconographic paradigm influenced Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia through maritime trade and religious networks, becoming an iconic object of Hindu visual culture.
Sources
- The Sensuous and the Sacred: Chola Bronzes from South India — Vidya Dehejia (2002)
- Great Living Chola Temples https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/250/