Visual and Verbal Discourses on the Royal-Divine Image in Early Medieval Peninsular India

Abstract

The early medieval period in peninsular India—from the sixth to the thirteenth centuries A.D.—was a period of large-scale political, economic and cultural changes, which led to the emergence of territorial kingships and their consolidation into imperialistic concerns, such as the Cola empire in Tamil Nadu. This was a change from the early historical forms of kin-based chiefdoms in the region. Political patronage to the institutionalized form of temple religion oriented towards devotion to a personal god played a significant role in this socio-political acculturation. The creation of various forms of temple iconography—both narrative and iconic in nature—was an integral part of this process. This was also a period of the beginning of the creation of the Agamic texts, which were canonized much later. These Agamic texts provided the guidelines for the making of the temple and its icons, and also for the worship system. However, this was a two-way process. The Agamas were in their evolutionary stage at this time, they assimilated the existing iconographic and religious practices, and also created new dimensions of temple religion and iconography. The temple religion was patronized by royalty, as it was instrumental in the socio-economic acculturation process. At the same time, royal eulogies attempted to create a parallel between royal patronage and the divine image being worshipped in the temple. This resulted in the creation of a visual and verbal discourse that attempted to establish the ruler as the protector and the controller of the territory he ruled. This visual and verbal discourse provided legitimacy to the territorial monarchy that had come to establish itself in the region. This article explores the forms of visual and verbal discourse through which this process was established in early medieval peninsular India. For this purpose, the Brahmanical temple iconography from the region has been studied, covering the dynastic span of the Pandyas, Pallavas and Colas of the Tamil region; Calukyas of Badami in Karnataka; and the Rastrakutas of the upper Deccan. An attempt has been made to draw a symbolic parallel between the ideas from the visual material and those evident from court literature and eulogies found in copperplate land grants from the region.