Conclusion (Social Life)

Society comprises of people belonging to various professional groups and the material culture associated with them also differs widely based on their means of existence, economic condition and the prominence given to them in the society. The sculptures of this period give visual evidence to the existence of various professional groups. For the sake of study purpose, they can broadly be grouped under various categories like: Religious, Political and Administrative, Military, Performing artists like dancers, musicians, warriors and wrestlers, Craftsmen and Miscellaneous.

Among those professing religious vocation, the most prominent are sages and priests (fig. 1 to 3) as well as various temple servants like attendants to the priests (fig. 6 to 8) and disciples of the sages. Best examples can be found in the Trimurti cave temple, Larger Bhagiratha penance panel, Varaha cave temple and Dharmaraja ratha at Mamallapuram, They can easily be identifiable with their simple dress, peculiar coiffure and are found associated with objects like flower-basket, bell, vessel with offerings, etc. In few cases, as seen in the Vaikunthaperumal temple at Kanchi`puram, a person can be identified as a brahmana, who is shown with a bearded face, matted hair and carrying an umbrella (fig. 4). Some of the female figures standing in graceful poses holding a flower-basket or a chamara (fig. 9) can be identified with dancing girls engaged in temple service. A rare representation of a Panan (bard) playing on his yal, can be found depicted in the Dharmaraja ratha at Mamallapuram (fig. 5).

The kings (fig. 10 to 16) and their royal courtiers (fig. 17) can be grouped under one category as they looked after the political and administrative needs of the society. Among them the ruling class can easily be identified by the grandeur of their head-dress, ornamentation and objects associated with royalty like throne, fly-whisk and royal umbrella. Depiction of kings in the sculptural art of this period can be found directly as well as in a double enterndre manner. Of the former type, can be seen in the Adivaraha cave temple, Dharmaraja ratha at Mamallapuram and Vaikunthaperumal temple at Kanchipuram. And the latter type can be seen in the Lalitankura-pallavesvara-griham at Tiruchirappalli, Govardhanadhari bas-relief panel, Varaha mandapam at Mamallapuram and in the Kailasanatha temple at Kanchipuram. Fine depiction of royal courtiers can be seen in the historical panels depicted on the cloister walls of the Vaikunthaperumal temple at Kanchipuram. The dvarapalakas, chamara-dhara and chhatra-dhara form an integral part of the sculptural depiction of gods and goddesses and they can be compared with the door-guardian watching over the chambers of the royalty, chamara-dhara and chhatra-dhara associated with royal figures seen in the Vaikunthaperumal temple at Kanchipuram. The door-guardians (fig. 19), carriers of fly-whisk (fig. 20) and umbrella (fig. 21), who have close proximity to the interiors of a king’s palace seem to have got a dignified status in the then society and this is also reflected in their coiffure and ornamentation.

It is known through inscriptions, that the army of the Pallavas was comprised of infantry, elephantry and cavalry. All these three units, bearing various kinds of weapons and wearing head-gears, find depiction in the sculptural art of the Vaikunthaperumal temple at Kanchi~puram (fig. 18). Apart from these panels depicting war scenes, a rare glimpse of those employed for beating cymbals (fig. 22) and drum (fig. 23), either for declaring the arrival or departure of a king or for signaling the commencement of the war can also be seen in the same temple.

Most often, the sculptures also portray men and women engaged in playing various musical instruments, which hints at the existence of musicians. Along with musicians, men and women in dancing pose can also be seen. However, in sculptural art of this period the musicians and dancers can be seen depicted only in association with a religious theme or a royal court (fig. 28). Rare depiction of theatre artists can also be seen from the panels in the Thatonrisvara temple at Kanchipuram (fig. 25). Similarly, martial artists can also be seen depicted rarely in the Avanibhajana-pallavesvara-griham at Siyamangalam (fig. 30). In the Vaikunthaperumal temple at Kanchipuram along with martial artists, (fig. 31) wrestlers are also seen, performing their skills in a royal court.

Regarding the craftsmen, no direct evidence can be found through sculptures. It is observed that all the sculptures of men, women and children depicted in the various temples of this period are adorned with dress and ornamentation. From this, it can be said without doubt that the then society do had specialized persons adept in the manufacture and selling of these objects. Inscriptional reference to the existence of persons engaged in such occupations endorses this fact. Thus, it can be surmised that there existed the profession of goldsmith (suvarnnakara)^[1] who made the various ornaments like crown, necklace, armlets, bracelets, anklets, waist-bands, etc. As these ornaments were obvious made of various raw materials like gold, silver, copper, bronze, it can be said that there existed group of persons, who actually quarried the raw-materials from the quarry site and supplied the same to the manufacturers, with or without intermediaries. In between the manufacturers and customers there could be intermediary traders, who sold these items. Similarly, there could have been group of persons, who manufactured ornaments out of semi-precious stones and terracotta, persons who collected and sold those ornaments, potters^[2] for making earthen pots of various sizes and requirements, blacksmith (loha-kara)^[3] for soldering and molding the weapons and other objects of iron, carpenter (kashthakarin)^[4], sculptor, architect (sthapathi)^[5], mason^[6], weaver (tantravaya)^[7], etc., for which, corroborative inscriptional references are found.

Among the miscellaneous category can be grouped the hunters, wood-cutters and pastorals. Depiction of hunter is seen in the Bhagiratha penance panel at Mamallapuram (fig. 32), Kailasanatha (fig. 33), Vaikunthaperumal temples (fig. 33) at Kanchipuram and on the apsidal shrine within the Bhaktavatsala temple complex at Tirukkalukunram (fig. 34). Depiction of men carrying axe can be seen in the Govardhanadhari (fig. 424) and Larger Bhagiratha penance panels at Mamallapuram. They may be regarded as men, who subsisted by cutting forest wood and supplying the same to various households and receiving payment in cash or in kind. However, the same can also be interpreted as a common villager who went to the forest or village, outskirts to collect wood for his own domestic needs. The Govardhanadhari panel (fig. 11) at Mamallapuram provides insight into the life of a pastoral village, wherein, the main subsistence was rearing of cattle. The study of the sculptural panel show, that even though the theme is derived from the Bhagavata Purana^[8], yet the persons and scenery depicted has an indigenous element in it and the inspiration seems to be from the then pastoral village.

The sculptures of this period also provide a glimpse into the status of women in the Pallava society. From an examination of various sculptures depicting women in this period, they can be grouped under four categories: (1) Religious, comprising of various goddesses, celestials and rarely as saint (fig. 38) (2) Secular, comprising of images of queen (3) Religious and secular type, in the form of attendant figures, dvarapalikas (fig. 39), chamara-dharis (fig. 9), female companion to the queen or goddess (4) Dancer (fig. 26) in a temple or a royal court, which is also both of religious and secular type and (5) as a devotee or woman in a village (fig. 11). From the sculptural depiction of woman as a goddess, it can be understood that She received respect as a mother. However, when depicted along with the male deity, as His consort She was always shown comparatively smaller in size, younger in appearance and relegated to a corner with the male deity occupying dominant position (fig. 37). Such a contrasting depiction of gods and goddesses can be taken to be as an artistic convention and as per the rules of iconometric texts. However, even in the formulation of these iconometric standards with regard to the measurements of various deities, celestials and other demi-gods, there seems to be a sort of hierarchal display and an underlying influence of the then social norms. Thus, women and other members of a society, who are thought of as sub-ordinate are depicted in the art as smaller in size and are relegated to the background. This perhaps hints at the patriarchal set up of the society, where the male member of a family always acts as a head and assumes a dominant role.

Sculptures also corroborate with inscriptional evidence, regarding the existence of the practice of polygamy, at least among the upper strata of the society. The portrait panels adoring the lateral walls of the ardhamandapa in the Adivaraha cave temple at Mamallapuram (fig. 13) attests to this fact^[9]. Inscriptions like the Velurpalayam plates of Nandivarman III (circa 852 A.D.)^[10], while describing the genealogy of the Pallava kings mention the name of the queen with the title mahishi or chief queen. Thus, it can be taken as an indicative of the existence of more than one queen for a king.

A solitary sculptural depiction hinting at the practice of imparting corporeal punishment can be found in the panels carved on the cloister walls of the Vaikunthaperumal temple at Kanchipuram. Here two men are seen pierced through a rod or spear, which can be identified as scene of impalement (fig. 40).

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Bahur plates of Nrpatungavarman, South Indian Inscriptions, Vol. II, pp. 513–547.

[2]:

Kasakkudi plates of Nandivarman II, South Indian Inscriptions, Vol. II, no. 73

[3]:

Vilavetti plates, Epigraphia Indica, Vol. XXVI, pp. 296–303

[4]:

Velurpalayam plates of Nandivarman III, South Indian Inscriptions, vol. II no. 98.

[5]:

Ibid.

[6]:

Punceri inscription of Paramesvaravarman I, South Indian Inscriptions, vol. XII, no. 23 (a).

[7]:

Vilavetti plates, Epigraphia Indica, Vol. XXVI, pp. 296–303.

[8]:

Srimad Bhagavata Purana, part II: Books 9 to 12, translated by C. L. Goswami, Gorakhpur 1892, (2^nd ed.), book 10, discourse 25, 1162–1165.

[9]:

H. Krishna Sastri, Two statues of the Pallava Kings and Five Pallava inscriptions in a Rock cut temple at Mahabalipuram, New Delhi, 1926, p. 3.

[10]:

South Indian Inscriptions, vol. II, part V, no. 98.