Saint Sambandar Copper Alloy Southern India, Chola Period

The child saint Sambandar depicted dancing with his weight on his right leg, knee bent and toes turned out, the hips swaying to the right with the left leg raised and held slightly forward of the body, knee bent and toes pointed downwards. The body is gently leaning to the left with the face looking right which creates a vibrant sense of movement throughout the sculpture. His left arm is extended in dolahasta mudra balancing his body, while his right hand is held in front, its fingers pointing upward. He is naked except for various items of jewelry, including bracelets, armbands, an elaborate arrangement of necklaces and a girdle of suspended bells (kinkini) that rest on his thighs. His domed hairstyle is secured by a crown with a halo (siraschakra) attached at the back, a convention of Chola sculpture. His face, with its slender, elongated eyes and slightly pursed lips bears a serene, otherworldly expression.

Heeramaneck Galleries, New York, 1937.

Exhibition of Early Indian Sculptures Paintings and Bronzes, College Art Association, New York, 1935
Master Bronzes, Albright Art Gallery, Buffalo, 1937
Paintings and Sculptures from the Albright Art Gallery, Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, 1961
Krishna in Miniature Bronzes and Stone, University of Notre Dame Art Gallery, Notre Dame, 1967

College Art Association, New York, Exhibition of Early Indian Sculptures Paintings and Bronzes, Catalogue of the Exhibition, 1935, Cat. 27
Albright Art Gallery, Master Bronzes, Catalogue of the Exhibition, 1937, Cat. 111

Saint Sambandar is among the most famous of the nayanmars, a group of sixty-three Shaiva saints who are widely venerated in southern India. These holy men traveled throughout the land singing hymns in praise of the Lord Shiva and their songs and poems form a rich corpus of devotional literature constituting the core of the Tamil sacred canon. Reputed to have lived in the 7th century, Sambandar was the son of Brahmins. According to legend, his father returned from a ritual dip in the temple tank one day to find the previously hungry and crying child playing contentedly with a golden cup while milk trickled from his mouth. In answer to his father’s bewilderment the child pointed upwards to the image of Shiva and Parvati that was carved on the temple tower and burst into joyous song in praise of the Divine Couple. This incident forms the basis of Sambandar’s iconography.

The creation of bronze images for the purpose of worship began in the 8th century during the Pallava period and reached an artistic apogee under the patronage of the Chola monarchs. Chola bronzes were made by ciré perdue or lost wax process and besides the skill required in casting, Chola craftsmen perfected the harmony of line and form in these images creating some of the finest sculptures in Southern India. The chubby yet pleasingly proportioned form of the child saint in the present image bears a touch of realism while his serene, idealized countenance points to his divinity.

Compare the jewelry with an 11th century dancing Krishna, Pal. P.; Art from the Indian Subcontinent, Vol I, Norton Simon Art Foundation, 2003, p.251, fig. 178.