Recommended listening: Sudharani Raghupathy - Madura Thillanas in Bharatanatyam
Story
As the sun set on Sembiyan Mahādevi village, the town's namesake looked into the west. The stone temple that stood here had been built to her design nearly twenty years earlier. At that time, in the year 981, her son Uttama Chola had been king of the Chola dynasty. Although her husband was already long dead, she was then at the height of her power. Now, two decades later, her son had long since passed away too, but here she remained, now an old woman and the great-aunt of the current king, Rājarāja Chola I.
The Chola dynasty had risen to power in Tamil Nadu a few generations earlier, but it was in Sembiyan Mahādevi's time that they started to truly become the dominant power in South India. With a larger territory than any Chola king before him, her father-in-law Parāntaka I saw the opportunity to expand his religious power by patronizing temples. In the ancient holy site of Cidambaram, named for the mangrove forests on the Bay of Bengal, Parāntaka had the rooftops covered in gold. His patronage of the temple at Cidambaram also initiated a trend that his daughter-in-law Sembiyan Mahādevi would take to new heights: the veneration of Natarāja, the god Shiva depicted as the Lord of the Dance. The image of Shiva in a state of cosmic bliss while dancing the world into creation had existed prior to this time, but it was the Cidambaram icon that inspired the Chola images in stone and bronze which constitute one of the greatest periods of artistic expression in Indian history.
Sembiyan Mahādevi's husband, the king Gandaraditya, ruled from 950 to 956. While he is not known to have built any temples during his short reign, he wrote a poem devoted to Natarāja called Tiruviśaippa which linked the divine image to Chola kingship. Meanwhile, his wife had already started commissioning the construction of temples, with her earliest dated to 940. Unlike Parāntaka, who mainly refurbished existing temples that had been built by local luminaries, Sembiyan sought to rebuild ancient temples in a distinctly Chola style. She had at least nine temples built from scratch, their granite walls replacing earlier buildings with an unprecedented uniformity in style, suggesting the mind of a single architect: Sembiyan Mahādevi herself. Elevating the cult that her father-in-law had promoted and her husband had written poems about, Sembiyan spread Chola royal influence throughout their conquered territories by establishing prominent shrines to Natarāja in the temples she commissioned. The Natarāja sculpture at Kailāsanāthasvāmin temple in the village named after her epitomizes her characteristic style. When she rebuilt temples, however, she always ensured that the older inscriptions were meticulously recopied onto the new buildings, suggesting an eye towards preserving history as well as forging a bright new future.
Sembiyan Mahādevi was not alone in patronizing temples as a Chola royal woman. Queens and princesses were overall much more proactive than kings and princes when it came to pious patronage. Her great-niece, Kundavai Pirāttiyār, was one such generous benefactor. The elder sister of the great king Rājarāja Chola I, Kundavai followed her great-aunt's example in spreading the reputation of the Cholas through commissioning architecture. In addition to temples which were built in her name, she also sponsored the construction of irrigation tanks and even a hospital. Like Sembiyan, she donated more than just the funds to build temples, but also for the maintenance of staff including hundreds of professional dancing girls drawn from the temples' nearby villages. Both she and Sembiyan donated jewellery to adorn the statues they commissioned. Not all of these statues were of Natarāja and other Hindu gods. They were tolerant monarchs, commissioning Jain and even Buddhist temples as well as Hindu ones.
But some of the art they sponsored was of a more personal nature. Kundavai had lost both of her parents in one fell swoop in the year 970. Her father never recovered from the assassination of her older brother Aditya II, and he died heartbroken in his golden palace. His wife Vanavanmahādevi, Kundavai's mother, decided to follow him to the next life by choosing sati, the old Hindu custom of widow suicide. Many years later, when Kundavai and her brother Rājarāja raised the great temple at Thanjavur, she installed bronze statues of both of her parents. To the statue of her mother, she donated twenty earrings and a string of beads for her marriage badge, and she ensured that a twilight lamp would always be burned before her mother's image. While Kundavai was said to honour her mother's pious choice of sati, it's hard not to wonder whether in the absence of her mother to raise her, she looked to her great-aunt Sembiyan Mahādevi as a mother figure instead. Sembiyan herself had become a widow in 956, but she remained one of the most influential people in the Chola royal family, commissioning temples until her death around the year 1006.
Here in the year 1000, we see Sembiyan Mahādevi and Kundavai Pirāttiyār dancing together in front of the Natarāja icon. Both of them appear to have had a strong personal devotion to Natarāja which was reflected in their own mastery of the sacred Hindu dance form of Bharata Natyam. Although Sembiyan's wealth ensured that trained dancing girls would always be available to honour Shiva here, one can easily imagine that she and Kundavai would have sometimes liked to take matters into their own hands. With their hands and feet painted red to highlight their movements, they practice the Bhujangatrasita karana, the same pose that Shiva performs in the shrine behind them. Perhaps they are practicing for the celebration of Sembiyan's birthday which she ordered be kept in the village named after her every year in the spring. Kundavai looks to her aunt to study her perfected movements, probably enjoying a break from the duties that kept her busy as one of her brother's key advisors. The sun casts long shadows across the temple grounds as the two women carry out their synchronized dance. Two of the greatest patrons of art in South Indian history, they move together as one, united in faith before the Lord of the Dance.
The Chola dynasty had risen to power in Tamil Nadu a few generations earlier, but it was in Sembiyan Mahādevi's time that they started to truly become the dominant power in South India. With a larger territory than any Chola king before him, her father-in-law Parāntaka I saw the opportunity to expand his religious power by patronizing temples. In the ancient holy site of Cidambaram, named for the mangrove forests on the Bay of Bengal, Parāntaka had the rooftops covered in gold. His patronage of the temple at Cidambaram also initiated a trend that his daughter-in-law Sembiyan Mahādevi would take to new heights: the veneration of Natarāja, the god Shiva depicted as the Lord of the Dance. The image of Shiva in a state of cosmic bliss while dancing the world into creation had existed prior to this time, but it was the Cidambaram icon that inspired the Chola images in stone and bronze which constitute one of the greatest periods of artistic expression in Indian history.
Sembiyan Mahādevi's husband, the king Gandaraditya, ruled from 950 to 956. While he is not known to have built any temples during his short reign, he wrote a poem devoted to Natarāja called Tiruviśaippa which linked the divine image to Chola kingship. Meanwhile, his wife had already started commissioning the construction of temples, with her earliest dated to 940. Unlike Parāntaka, who mainly refurbished existing temples that had been built by local luminaries, Sembiyan sought to rebuild ancient temples in a distinctly Chola style. She had at least nine temples built from scratch, their granite walls replacing earlier buildings with an unprecedented uniformity in style, suggesting the mind of a single architect: Sembiyan Mahādevi herself. Elevating the cult that her father-in-law had promoted and her husband had written poems about, Sembiyan spread Chola royal influence throughout their conquered territories by establishing prominent shrines to Natarāja in the temples she commissioned. The Natarāja sculpture at Kailāsanāthasvāmin temple in the village named after her epitomizes her characteristic style. When she rebuilt temples, however, she always ensured that the older inscriptions were meticulously recopied onto the new buildings, suggesting an eye towards preserving history as well as forging a bright new future.
Sembiyan Mahādevi was not alone in patronizing temples as a Chola royal woman. Queens and princesses were overall much more proactive than kings and princes when it came to pious patronage. Her great-niece, Kundavai Pirāttiyār, was one such generous benefactor. The elder sister of the great king Rājarāja Chola I, Kundavai followed her great-aunt's example in spreading the reputation of the Cholas through commissioning architecture. In addition to temples which were built in her name, she also sponsored the construction of irrigation tanks and even a hospital. Like Sembiyan, she donated more than just the funds to build temples, but also for the maintenance of staff including hundreds of professional dancing girls drawn from the temples' nearby villages. Both she and Sembiyan donated jewellery to adorn the statues they commissioned. Not all of these statues were of Natarāja and other Hindu gods. They were tolerant monarchs, commissioning Jain and even Buddhist temples as well as Hindu ones.
But some of the art they sponsored was of a more personal nature. Kundavai had lost both of her parents in one fell swoop in the year 970. Her father never recovered from the assassination of her older brother Aditya II, and he died heartbroken in his golden palace. His wife Vanavanmahādevi, Kundavai's mother, decided to follow him to the next life by choosing sati, the old Hindu custom of widow suicide. Many years later, when Kundavai and her brother Rājarāja raised the great temple at Thanjavur, she installed bronze statues of both of her parents. To the statue of her mother, she donated twenty earrings and a string of beads for her marriage badge, and she ensured that a twilight lamp would always be burned before her mother's image. While Kundavai was said to honour her mother's pious choice of sati, it's hard not to wonder whether in the absence of her mother to raise her, she looked to her great-aunt Sembiyan Mahādevi as a mother figure instead. Sembiyan herself had become a widow in 956, but she remained one of the most influential people in the Chola royal family, commissioning temples until her death around the year 1006.
Here in the year 1000, we see Sembiyan Mahādevi and Kundavai Pirāttiyār dancing together in front of the Natarāja icon. Both of them appear to have had a strong personal devotion to Natarāja which was reflected in their own mastery of the sacred Hindu dance form of Bharata Natyam. Although Sembiyan's wealth ensured that trained dancing girls would always be available to honour Shiva here, one can easily imagine that she and Kundavai would have sometimes liked to take matters into their own hands. With their hands and feet painted red to highlight their movements, they practice the Bhujangatrasita karana, the same pose that Shiva performs in the shrine behind them. Perhaps they are practicing for the celebration of Sembiyan's birthday which she ordered be kept in the village named after her every year in the spring. Kundavai looks to her aunt to study her perfected movements, probably enjoying a break from the duties that kept her busy as one of her brother's key advisors. The sun casts long shadows across the temple grounds as the two women carry out their synchronized dance. Two of the greatest patrons of art in South Indian history, they move together as one, united in faith before the Lord of the Dance.
Artist's Comments
Happy New Year! This one was really fun to research. There is a ton of scholarship available about these two, so much that I didn't even manage to read all of it! That rarely happens for an individual woman in this series. For this one I'd like to thank Francois for introducing me to Bharatnatyam dancing and for giving me a few tips on the related symbolism; Seb for helping me decipher the eroded Chola murals; and Prateek for always encouraging me to learn more about Indian history. Also a special shoutout to my sister Ellie who kept me entertained during the final stretch of colouring this one! Here's to another year of bringing the stories of incredible medieval women to light. ~ January 1, 2021
Resources
Want to learn more about Sembiyan Mahādevi and Kundavai Pirāttiyār? Here are some recommended resources.
"Kundavai: A Chola Princess" by V. Balambal
This article gives an overview of Kundavai's life. You can learn more about her relationships and the buildings she patronized.
"Early Cōla Kings and 'Early Cōla Temples': Art and the Evolution of Kingship" by Padma Kaimal
Excellent article about how Semibyan Mahādevi fundamentally changed the way Chola royalty patronized temples. Kaimal also provides a wealth of her own photographs, including the photographs of Natarāja in Kailāsanāthasvāmin temple which I used as the main reference photos for this picture's background. She also includes a family tree and a map of major Chola sites.
"Queen or Goddess?" on Khan Academy
In this short but informative video, Emma Natalya Stein of the Freer Gallery analyzes a statue believed by some to be of Sembiyan Mahādevi. You can read Vidya Dehejia's argument that the statue is a portrait of Sembiyan Mahādevi in her article "The Very Idea of a Portrait". For the opposing view, Padma Kaimal makes her case against reading the statue as a portrait in "The Problem of Portraiture in South India, Circa 970-1000 A.D.". Kaimal's article also provides several images I used as references for drawing this illustration, notably the portrait of Rājarāja's wife Lōkamahādevi in Śivayōganātha temple and the mural of the Cidambaram worshippers in Rājarājēśvara temple. I wonder whether the latter mural might represent Rājarāja, Kundavai, and two of Rājarāja's wives.
"Dating the Nataraja Dance Icon: Technical Insights" by Sharada Srinivasan
In this article, Srinivasan estimates the age of Chola bronze sculptures with the Nataraja design using lead isotope analysis and trace elemental analysis. Sembiyan Mahādevi's contribution to Nataraja patronage, particularly in stone, is highlighted. The author's photo of herself demonstrating the Bhujangatrasita karana in Bharata Natyam dance served as my reference for both figures in this illustration.
"Leela Samson performs Bharatnatyam: archival footage from the formative years" on YouTube
This is a spellbinding performance of Bharatnatyam by one of India's best dancers, Leela Samson. This gives you an idea of the sort of dances Sembiyan Mahādevi and Kundavai Pirāttiyār performed. Note that their dance style would not have been called Bharat Natyam at the time as this was a later name applied to ancient temple dances such as sadir or dasi attam. (Thanks to Francois for this detail!)
"Photographic feat" by T. S. Subramanian
Many of the murals in Chola temples are not easy to see and are even harder to photograph. This article highlights cutting-edge photographs taken of the murals at the great temples in Thanjavur. There are a few damaged images of royal women I used to inform this illustration.
"Kundavai: A Chola Princess" by V. Balambal
This article gives an overview of Kundavai's life. You can learn more about her relationships and the buildings she patronized.
"Early Cōla Kings and 'Early Cōla Temples': Art and the Evolution of Kingship" by Padma Kaimal
Excellent article about how Semibyan Mahādevi fundamentally changed the way Chola royalty patronized temples. Kaimal also provides a wealth of her own photographs, including the photographs of Natarāja in Kailāsanāthasvāmin temple which I used as the main reference photos for this picture's background. She also includes a family tree and a map of major Chola sites.
"Queen or Goddess?" on Khan Academy
In this short but informative video, Emma Natalya Stein of the Freer Gallery analyzes a statue believed by some to be of Sembiyan Mahādevi. You can read Vidya Dehejia's argument that the statue is a portrait of Sembiyan Mahādevi in her article "The Very Idea of a Portrait". For the opposing view, Padma Kaimal makes her case against reading the statue as a portrait in "The Problem of Portraiture in South India, Circa 970-1000 A.D.". Kaimal's article also provides several images I used as references for drawing this illustration, notably the portrait of Rājarāja's wife Lōkamahādevi in Śivayōganātha temple and the mural of the Cidambaram worshippers in Rājarājēśvara temple. I wonder whether the latter mural might represent Rājarāja, Kundavai, and two of Rājarāja's wives.
"Dating the Nataraja Dance Icon: Technical Insights" by Sharada Srinivasan
In this article, Srinivasan estimates the age of Chola bronze sculptures with the Nataraja design using lead isotope analysis and trace elemental analysis. Sembiyan Mahādevi's contribution to Nataraja patronage, particularly in stone, is highlighted. The author's photo of herself demonstrating the Bhujangatrasita karana in Bharata Natyam dance served as my reference for both figures in this illustration.
"Leela Samson performs Bharatnatyam: archival footage from the formative years" on YouTube
This is a spellbinding performance of Bharatnatyam by one of India's best dancers, Leela Samson. This gives you an idea of the sort of dances Sembiyan Mahādevi and Kundavai Pirāttiyār performed. Note that their dance style would not have been called Bharat Natyam at the time as this was a later name applied to ancient temple dances such as sadir or dasi attam. (Thanks to Francois for this detail!)
"Photographic feat" by T. S. Subramanian
Many of the murals in Chola temples are not easy to see and are even harder to photograph. This article highlights cutting-edge photographs taken of the murals at the great temples in Thanjavur. There are a few damaged images of royal women I used to inform this illustration.