Pallava Sculptures: A Cultural Study

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The present book Pallava Sculptures - A Cultural Study is the result of extensive fieldwork and minute analytical research undertaken by the author for his Doctoral Degree "Social and Cultural History of the Pallava period as gleaned through the Sculptural Art (from Selective temples)" under the guidance of Dr. P. D. Balaji, Prof. and HOD (Retd.), Department of Ancient History and Archeology, University of Madras.

The core of the book is centered around the concept that the sculptors were influenced by the cultural traits that existed in the society and eventually that reflected in their art. As a result, the sculptural specimens of a particular period ought to reflect the cultural history of the then society. The present work is divided into eleven chapters, starting with a brief political history and the various stages of development of temple architecture and sculpture of the Pallava period. Then this book gives an elaborate description of material culture of the period as revealed through the sculptural art, such as the physiognomy of the people, their food habits, dwelling units, costume, coiffure, ornaments, household items, articles related to royal court, musical instruments, pastime activities, weapons, flora and fauna. Wherever necessary, corroborative evidences from literature and epigraphs are used. A chronological list of all the Pallava temples as known through the sculptural/architectural style and epigraphical evidences is given in the appendix. More than 400 photographs on important specimens supported by line drawings gives a visual comprehension to the theoretical description.

Dr. S. Krishnamurthy, is a native of Srikalahasti, Chittoor district, Andhra Pradesh. He had his schooling in Tirupati, had his Bachelor Degree from Rashtriya Sanskrit Vidyapeetha, Tirupati in 2005, obtained Masters Degree in Ancient History and Archaeology from University of Madras in 2007, Post Graduate Diploma in Archaeology from Institute of Archaeology, Archaeological Survey of India, New Delhi in 2009 and awarded Ph.D. from Department of Ancient History and Archaeology, University of Madras with the title "Social and Cultural History of Pallava Period as Gleaned through Sculptural Art (from selective temples)" in the year 2019. He is working as an Epigraphist in the Epigraphy Branch, Archaeological Survey of India, Ministry of Culture since December 2010. He was elected as an Assistant Editor of the journal Studies in Indian Epigraphy published annually by the Epigraphical Society of India in the year 2016 and as the Secretary of the Place Names Society of India in the year 2020. He published more than 40 research articles related to the field of epigraphy and sculptural art in various national level journals/edited volumes, participated in national and international conferences/seminars and co-authored one book entitled "Monolithic Pillars of the Gupta Period".

I am immensely happy to write a foreword for this Book on "Pallava Sculptures - A Cultural Study" embodying the findings of the research undertaken by the author for his Doctoral Degree under my guidance in the Department of Ancient History and Archaeology, University of Madras. At the outset, I must congratulate the author for having chosen an unexplored area, on which, though there are many works, not many dealth with the life style of the society through sculptural art.

The study of sculptures forms a fascinating field, as it reveals to the researcher a graphical picture of the life of the people of those times, when the creator of these artistic wonders actually lived and witnessed the life around him. Thus, these sculptures provide a link to the past, as it reflects the life of the people of bygone ages and give a visual corroboration to the historical data obtained through the study of literature and inscriptions. The present book is the outcome of my Ph.D. thesis entitled "Social and Cultural History of the Pallava period as gleaned through the Sculptural Art (from Selective temples)". As publishing the thesis as a single book will become bulky to handle and tiresome for the reader to comprehend, it is decided by me to publish them as two books. In this book various aspects of the cultural history of the Pallava period is elaborately described, with photographs and line drawings. Social aspects will be dealt exhaustively in a separate book, which will be published subsequently as a sequel. The primary source material used in this study, are the data derived from the sculptures of the Pallava period (circa 6th century C.E. to 9th century C.E.). The methodology involves, first reviewing of the literatures related to the topic of the research. This was followed by in situ and intensive study of selective sixty-five temples having potential sculptures related to the topic of research. Apart from the in situ sculptures, several loose sculptures under the custody of museums have also been studied. During field visits, all the sculptures were minutely studied and relevant data were collected. Besides, a detailed photographic documentation and drawings were undertaken. The data thus collected, were analytically studied to know various aspects of the material culture of the people in the sphere of dress, foot-wear, head-dress, ornamentation, musical instruments, household articles, articles related to royal court, pastime activities, weapons ora and fauna. Wherever feasible, data culled out from literature and inscriptions is also used as a Orroborative tool, for obtaining factual information from the sculptures, without which, it would ave been difficult to understand.

Culture can be defined as a set of ideas, beliefs, customs and conventions of a group of people in a given area. It is often influenced by various factors such as geographical, environmental, political and economical conditions. Mutual interaction with neighboring regions over a period of time also had its impact to a large extent on the cultural manifestations, like belief system, architecture, sculpture, dance, music or even in personal ornamentation and type of weaponry or tools used.