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Western Indian bronze
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Western Indian bronze

Indian art
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History

Western Indian bronze, any of a style of metal sculpture that flourished in India during the 6th to the 12th century and later, mainly in the area of modern Gujarāt and Rājasthān states. The bronzes are, for the most part, images of the Jaina faithā€”representations of the saviour figures and ritual objects such as incense burners and lamp bearers.

Important hoards have been discovered at Akota, near Vadodara (formerly Baroda, in Gujarāt), and at Vasantgarh, near Pindwāra (Rājasthān). The images are mostly small in size, intended for private worship. The bronzes were cast by the cire-perdue (ā€œlost waxā€) process, and the eyes and ornaments are frequently inlaid with silver and gold. In the earliest imagesā€”such as the į¹šį¹£abhanātha and the Jivantasvami (MahāvÄ«ra as prince) from Akota that are now in the Baroda Museumā€”the Gupta idiom is apparent.

The dictates of the Jaina religion, which emphasizes the detachment of the TÄ«rthaį¹…karas from the world, left little scope for variety of representation (see TÄ«rthaį¹…kara). The main figures are shown either standing stiffly with arms to the side in the kāyotsarga (ā€œabandoning the bodyā€) pose or sitting in the posture of meditation (dhyana-mudra). More variety is seen in the attendant figures, such as the graceful caurÄ« (ā€œwhiskā€) bearer from Akota in the Baroda Museum. From the 8th century the number of attendant figures, such as yakshas and yakshis (respectively, male and female nature deities), and of the TÄ«rthaį¹…karas increased, and the composition became more elaborate. This tendency reached its extreme in metal images depicting all 24 TÄ«rthaį¹…karas. With the elaboration of design, the quality of the modeling became increasingly dry, so that the later bronzes are somewhat static and frozen.