Mahabalipuram. Arjuna's Penance
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Photographer: Arthur Llewellyn Basham
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The carvings in the Mahabalipuram monument are a veritable microcosm of gods, lions, angels, men, bears, deer, elephants and innumerable sorts of other living things which move from two directions - left and right - toward the center of the cleft (and the main channel of the water-fall). Beginning with the upper levels of this left sectional detail are many winged celestial beings racing toward the centre of the stone's composition, and beneath them, walking on the area of man's material existence, are earth deities, dwarfs, lions, deer, and bears. At the far right, standing in a pirouette position, which is actually an ascetic pose, is the petitioner Bhagiratha, who is gazing at the sun. His attitude is repeated in a charming detail of an 'ascetic cat' nearer to the cleft at the center of the monument on the right portion. We Must pay particular attention to the style expressed in the Mahabalipuram monument while considering its iconography, for the material of the stone itself dictates, for the most part, the handling of the cutting. This granite is very hard and necessitates a broad silhouette-like treatment of individual figures. -- Upper left portion.
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Archives Series
Basham Collection
Date created
circa 1970s
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This item is provided for research purposes. Contact the Australian National University Archives at butlin.archives@anu.edu.au for permission to use.
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