The Annual Reports of the Archaeological Department published by R. Narasimhachar from 1906 to 1922 attracted considerable attention of scholars both in India and abroad. These contain ample description of architecture and sculpture. Many scholars expressed the view that the pages in the Annual Reports containing these descriptions need to be put together in a permanent form. This was in contemplation of preparing a monograph on Hoysala architecture. In the meantime, Narasimhachar thought of issuing about half a dozen short monographs with suitable illustrations on a few notable buildings in the state treating both architecture and sculpture. He introduced this series in 1916 under the title Architecture and Sculpture in Mysore and brought out three numbers.
I. The Kesava temple at Somanathapura.
II. The Kesava temple at Belur.
III. The Lakshmidevi Temple at Dodda Gaddavalli.
No. III was published in 1919 and the series did not continue thereafter. This series was not revived even after 1956 when more districts were added to the then Mysore state. Addition of new districts necessitates production of more number of monographs under this series. Now this series is revived.
The present work is on the narrative panels found on four pillars from Kadur, now kept in the Directorate of Archaeology and Museums, Mysore. These pillars of the Rashtrakura period are extremely important because art and architecture of the Rashtrakutas are not known in abundance. These pillars contain four stories from the Panchatantra, which are rare in sculptures, in addition to those from the Mahabharata and the Puranas. The sculptor has exhibited his skill by carving several scenes of the same story in one panel or in several panels. The Directorate is very happy to place Narrative Panels from Kadur before the scholars and public.
Dr. Channabasappa S. Patil, has painstakingly prepared this monograph and enabled the Directorate to continue the series after a gap of nearly seven decades. Sri Balaraja Naidu has prepared the prints and Sriyuths S. Jothirlingeswarappa and D.J. Ganesh have typed the manuscript. I am exceedingly grateful to all of them.
Art and architecture of the Rashtrakutas are less known when compared with those of the other dynasties ruled over Karnataka, viz. the Chalukyas of Badami, the Gangas, the Chalukyas of Kalyana, the Hoysalas and the Vijayanagara rulers. Four pillars found in Kadur are important for understanding the art and architecture of the Rashtrakuta period.
Three of these pillars were found reused in the construction of a modern temple dedicated to Hanuman and the fourth was lying in a pond nearby in Kadur in Chikmagalur District. These have been brought to Mysore and kept in the Directorate of Archaeology and Museums in Karnataka.
These pillars have been studied by Dr. M.H. Krishna¹ and Dr. M.S. Nagaraja Rao.2 Dr. Krishna has not made a detailed study, because some sides of the pillars were embedded in the wall. By mistake he identifies the Panchatantra stories as the Bhagavata stories. Dr. Rao restricted his research only to the Kiratarjuniyam theme. These pillars are attributed to the period of the Rashtrkuta king Amoghavarsha.
All the four sides of these square pillars are profusely carved (Pls. 1-4). Each face is divided into four horizontal panels embellished with different figures. Each panel is bordered by a floral, beaded or jewelled band. The top and the bottom panels contain highly decorated kūdus filled with different types of flowers, elephants, man and elephant, man and snake, human figures, Ganesa and Mahishasuramardini(?). The second panel from the top contains Lakshmi, pairs of mythical birds, swan, bull, kinnaras, tree, moon, pot-foliage, geometric and floral decorations etc. on three pillars while on the fourth pillar it contains stories from the Panchatantra. The first pillar contains a scene of landscape depicting sea, sky and trees on one of its sides. The third panel from the top is broad and contains narrative panels depicting stories from the Bhagavata-purana, the Śiva-puraņa, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. These narrative reliefs may be classified as follows.
Vedas (1182)
Upanishads (493)
Puranas (624)
Ramayana (741)
Mahabharata (354)
Dharmasastras (165)
Goddess (496)
Bhakti (242)
Saints (1503)
Gods (1290)
Shiva (370)
Journal (187)
Fiction (60)
Vedanta (362)
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