Appreciating the Sculptural Tradition of India By Dr Chithra Madhavan
The Department of Humanities and Social Sciences organised the 8th Dr Dilip Veeraraghavan Memorial Lecture on 9 March 2017. The lecture is held every year in memory of the late Dr Veeraraghavan, who served as faculty at the department between 1988 and 2009. The Guest Speaker, Dr Chithra Madhavan talked on ‘Appreciating the Sculptural Tradition of India’. Prof V R Muraleedharan welcomed the gathering and introduced the Speaker.
Dr Chithra Madhavan began the talk with the appreciation of the famous bronze figurine ‘Dancing Girl’ from the Indus Valley Civilization. She went on to describe the salient features of the pillar capitals of the Maurya, Sunga and Gupta periods. She took the audience on a sculptural journey across India with her presentation. The presentation included the Ajanta Cave Temples, Badami Cave Temples, Seeyamangalam and Mamallapuram sculptures from the rule of Mahendravarman I and Narasimhavarman I respectively. Temples from Trichy, Thanjavur and Gangaikondacholapuram were described. Carvings from temples of Halebidu and Hampi in Karnataka were elaborately elucidated. Other sculptures from Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh and Odisha were included.
The Speaker also explained the inscriptions accompanying some of the sculptures. She called for a better appreciation of the Indian sculptural tradition and urged students to explore the valuable treasure of knowledge behind every carved stone.
Prof Bhaskar Ramamurthi, Director, was present on the occasion. Guests, faculty, scholars and students attended the event.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER –
Chithra Madhavan has a M.A. and a M.Phil. from the Department of Indian History, University of Madras and a Ph.D. from the Department of Ancient History and Archaeology, University of Mysore. She is the recipient of two post-doctoral fellowships from the Department of Culture, Government of India and from the Indian Council of Historical Research, New Delhi. She is the author of seven books – History and Culture of Tamil Nadu (two volumes), Vishnu Temples of South India (four volumes) and Sanskrit Education and Literature in Ancient and Medieval Tamil Nadu. She has written the text for a coffee-table book Snapshots Of A Bygone Era- A Century of Images. Chithra is a guest faculty at various institutions in Chennai such as Kalakshetra Foundation and the Asian College of Journalism. She frequently delivers lectures on temple architecture and iconography at various venues in India including several IITs and also abroad.
-By Akshay Patil
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