From the early historic cultural complexes in the vicinity of rivers to the emergence of Amaravati Nagarjunakonda, and further into the history of the region, Andhradesa has been a cradle to more than two-thousand-year-old art form in metal, especially of copper and Bronze images. Such Bronze images of this region are spread profusely across temples, museums and private collections. Present work evolved on the basis of the data on the Bronzes from Andhradesa. The endeavour was towards analysing the stylistic peculiarities of these images and appreciate the various cultural points of their manufacture and dissemination. The study thrives to bring forth the regional stylistic traditions of Andhradesa through the various periods in history.
Dendukuri Nagamani completed M.A (History) and submitted M.Phil Thesis on "Material Cultures and Social Formation of Early Deccan" to University of Hyderabad. She was awarded PhD by Mumbai University for her work on "Agrarian Structure of Telangana Based on Epigraphic and Literary Data [400 CE-1000 CE]". She presented papers at the '18th International Conference on Maharashtra: Culture and Society' at Gluckman Conference Centre, University of Texas, Austin in January 2019, and at International Conference on Maharashtra held between 21-25th September 2021 on Zoom platform at St. Antony's College, University of Oxford. She published papers in Journal of Epigraphical Society of India, Place Name Society of India, Journal of the Ancient Sciences and Archaeological Society of India, and in Felicitation volumes on re-knowned scholars. She also worked with All India Radio, Chennai. She lives in Mumbai.
Andhradesa is a historical entity, consisting of present day Telangana state, and regions of Rayalaseema and coastal Andhra in the state of Andhra Pradesh. Enough archaeological evidence from this region, from proto and early historical times, is available regarding use of metals and evolved techniques of metallurgy. The period of habitational and agricultural expansion during the pre millennium, as is evident from the archaeological and numismatic data, records extensive metallurgical activity. We have a variety of metal objects that range from domestic, military, agrarian, ornamental usages which include ritual assemblage. Most importantly, the early images of display or cultic purposes made of alloyed metals (broadly categorized as bronze) were obtained from early historic stratigraphical layers from Dhulikatta (Karimnagar District), Nagarjunakonda (Guntur District), Nelakondapalli and other excavations. These images form the basis for understanding the artistic activity that had thrived since very early times in the regions of Andhradesa. Subsequent historical evidence relatable to bronze making activity of the region comes in the form of large number of bronzes from treasure troves, excavations, explorations besides the Museum exhibits, individual collections, and temple deposits. As these objects stand out to tell their own stories, it is compelling to examine important centres of metal craft of the region, with an understanding that present day centres are manifestations of a continued tradition.
It gives me great pleasure to write foreword to Bronzes of Andhradesa by Dr Dendukuri Nagamani. There have been surveys made earlier of bronzes of India, as also those from regions of sizeable territories like South India or Eastern India, the Deccan, or even from significant centres like Nalanda. And I am glad that Dr Dendukuri has made a good venture to take a survey of bronzes from an artistically significant region like Andhra- desha. As the author rightly points out the region of Andhra has a significant past, right from Proto-historic times, of mastering the technique of smelting important metals like bronze and iron. During the medieval period, it was metalworkers of this region that provided raw material to the West Asian foundries, to produce the world famous "damascened swords'. And this art of metal working practically continues uninterrupted to the modern times.
It was no wonder, therefore, that the craft, which had shown its merit more than two millennia back, came forth with a new shine and distinct character when the breezes of urbanism, and zest of a new religious fervour touched this gifted land. Some early specimens, from a couple centuries earlier than the Current Era to the five centuries after, were significant discoveries when they came to surface during excavations. The bronze objects from Nagarjunikonda, Amaravati, Jaggayyapeta, some of them specimens of personal ornaments or utensils in daily use, and images of the Buddha testify to this. The Footed Bowl, reported to be retrieved from Malaysia, and illustrated by the author, stands testimony to its religious and aesthetic value appreciated and acknowledged by devotees and aesthetes in a land across the ocean.
The author, before actually describing and appreciating the specimens in two sections one thematically grouped on the basis of religious affiliation as Buddhist and Jain, and the other chronologically period wise has tried to understand, in the introductory chapter, these artistic specimens in terms of their character as specimens from a culturally, ethnically, linguistically and historically distinct region. It is worth mentioning in this context that Telugu, the language that binds the newly formed two states of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, has been very recently declared as a 'Classical Language', by the Government of India.
The author has opened up with a topic of debate in the art historical circles, viz. whether the periods in art historical writings be named after the particular geographical units in a given region or after the Royal dynasties that ruled them, and patronised the flowering artistic innovations in the region. Considering the pros and cons in the matter she has arrived at a practical solution of naming the periods after the Royal patrons, justifying that the local idioms of the artists/ artisans are blended, unified and projected as distinct style under their support and encouragement only.
Another matter of importance, from the point of view of her presentation in the monograph, was the phenomenon of continuity in the style and forms in the region of Andhradesa.
Present study tries to chronicle the bronze images of the historical Andhradesa, through a study of the trends of change and continuity, in terms of their transition from the spontaneous to thematic, stylistic standardisation. Inspiration for this endeavour comes from the availability of a large number of bronze sculptures from the historic Andhradesa. They are products of the contemporary socio- cultural situations, and represent regional idioms that often blend into the dominant styles. They also highlight the co-existence of multiple religious faiths and a continuous integration of ideas that lent a harmonious blend to art themes. But, we should also bear in mind that, the contemporary perspective regarding sectarian themes may not be relevant to the historical contexts in which these icons were produced as we see a coherence among distinct faiths. The Jaina composite images stand a classical example for this synthesis.
It is a historical fact that the cultural traditions of Andhradesa often encompassed the present day linguistic boundaries. The present study thus takes into account the present states of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh and also the contiguous regions in terms of their influence on the Andhra art traditions. The data pertaining to bronzes help us draw useful deductions regarding the stylistic features of the art traditions of Andhra through various historical phases since the early times. For example, the Chalukyan, Rashtrakuta, Kakatiya styles demonstrate a stylistic continuity with Karnataka, while the Chola, Vijayanagara and the later Eastern Ganga specimens represent an artistic synthesis of Andhra with contiguous Tamiladesa and Kalinga.
Thus, this study is not a rigid attributive exercise on chronology or stylistic categorization; rather the focus is on the trends of continuity in the regional space of historical Andhradesa. The regional styles need to be appreciated in their particular Geo-temporal contexts in their own uniqueness. "As Styles become more local, there is a concurrent iconographic and stylistic elaboration"as every school of art has its own conventions and styles, these were crystallised in the medieval period thriving on preserved types (Coomaraswamy1985:74-78). Concurrent iconographic and elaborations were employed over the local styles (Ibid:78).
Though there cannot be a rigid stylistic classification of these art objects, in the present study, the dynastic attribution facilitated an understanding of the trends in broad chronological and regional contexts. We have tried to incorporate all available data on early bronzes as it provides an understanding of the evolving trends and styles. In the discussion on Buddha bronzes especially, overseas data was also analysed to understand the travel of Andhra style to different destinations.
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