Figure
18th century (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
This voluptuously carved figure, elaborately dressed with an ornate headers and magnificent coiffure, is a splendid representation of devadasi ('slave of god'), the professional caste of temple servants who, alongside the brahmin priests, attended to the needs of the deity. The devadasi attended to the lamps and sang celebratory songs. They provided entertainment for the deity by dancing and singing auspicious and laudatory songs (stotra) in praise of god. When a portable image was taken on daily procession within the temple enclosure, they accompanied singing devotional songs. At the bedchamber puja, performed around 10 p.m., they sang lullabies as the god was lulled to sleep. Throughout these ceremonies, the deities were treated like royalty, and celebrated in the eulogising language normally reserved for kings.
This wooden panel, still with traces of the brightly coloured polychrome which once decorated it, may have once formed part of a temple chariot (ratha) in which portable images of the presiding deity and his consorts would be paraded during temple festivals. From 7th and 8th century descriptions of such festivals contained in the devotional poetry of the bhakta poet-saints, these processions were accompanied by the sound of drums and conches, and the dancing of young woman devotees belonging to the god. Panels such as this also served as decoration on the interiors and verandas of Keralan temples, often being used as ceiling struts, forming an angled bracket between pillar and sloping ceiling.
This wooden panel, still with traces of the brightly coloured polychrome which once decorated it, may have once formed part of a temple chariot (ratha) in which portable images of the presiding deity and his consorts would be paraded during temple festivals. From 7th and 8th century descriptions of such festivals contained in the devotional poetry of the bhakta poet-saints, these processions were accompanied by the sound of drums and conches, and the dancing of young woman devotees belonging to the god. Panels such as this also served as decoration on the interiors and verandas of Keralan temples, often being used as ceiling struts, forming an angled bracket between pillar and sloping ceiling.
Object details
| Category | |
| Object type | |
| Materials and techniques | |
| Brief description | Female temple attendant (devadasi), polychromed wood, Kerala, south-west India, 18th century |
| Physical description | This voluptuously carved figure, elaborately dressed with an ornate headdress and hairstyle, once brightly painted, is a splendid representation of the famous devadasi, 'servants of God', the professional caste of dancers and singers attached to the temples. The dancer is set within a shallow arched niche against a plain rectangular slab. She stands upon a projecting plinth which is decorated with floral motifs. She turns her head to look towards her right with her right leg bent and her right arm, which is now broken at the elbow,extended, as though about to start dancing. She wears a richly ornamented helmet-shaped headdress with her long hair twisted into a bun on the left side of her head. The whole of her upper body is nude although she is heavily bejewelled, including her ears, arms and hands, although her ankles and feet are bare. Her lower body is elaborately clothed in bejewelled swags and pleated festoons under her rounded stomach. There is a roughly square tenon in the centre of the top edge to fix the panel in its original setting. |
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| Historical context | In South India the courtesan was the centre of song and dance, and one of the genres that developed as part of the repertoire of a devadasi were padam poems which were sung and often danced to. Addressed to the god who is also the lover, these devotional poems, permeated by erotic themes and images, reflect the complexities of the relationship between the devotee and his god. The genre flourished in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, particularly with the contribution made by writers such as Ksetrayya (dates unknown). An excerpt from one of Ksetrayya's poems of a courtesan to her lover is as follows: "You coax women's affections, make them amorous and faint, do things you shouldn't be doing, confusing them, lie in bed with them, and then you leave without a sound. shaking your dust all over them." (cited in Ramanujan, A.K. et al, When God is a Customer, Telegu Courtesan Songs by Ksetrayya and others, New Delhi, Oxford University Press, 1995, 98). |
| Summary | This voluptuously carved figure, elaborately dressed with an ornate headers and magnificent coiffure, is a splendid representation of devadasi ('slave of god'), the professional caste of temple servants who, alongside the brahmin priests, attended to the needs of the deity. The devadasi attended to the lamps and sang celebratory songs. They provided entertainment for the deity by dancing and singing auspicious and laudatory songs (stotra) in praise of god. When a portable image was taken on daily procession within the temple enclosure, they accompanied singing devotional songs. At the bedchamber puja, performed around 10 p.m., they sang lullabies as the god was lulled to sleep. Throughout these ceremonies, the deities were treated like royalty, and celebrated in the eulogising language normally reserved for kings. This wooden panel, still with traces of the brightly coloured polychrome which once decorated it, may have once formed part of a temple chariot (ratha) in which portable images of the presiding deity and his consorts would be paraded during temple festivals. From 7th and 8th century descriptions of such festivals contained in the devotional poetry of the bhakta poet-saints, these processions were accompanied by the sound of drums and conches, and the dancing of young woman devotees belonging to the god. Panels such as this also served as decoration on the interiors and verandas of Keralan temples, often being used as ceiling struts, forming an angled bracket between pillar and sloping ceiling. |
| Bibliographic references |
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| Collection | |
| Accession number | IS.95-1987 |
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| Record created | June 28, 2001 |
| Record URL |
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