The Nolamba Bull- Carrier of many tales

The Nolamba Bull - Carrier of Many Tales

            Bull has been an integral part of the Indian sculptural scene for thousands of years....irrespective of time, space and varying styles. It was stamped on the Harappan seals and it mounted the highly polished pillared capital of Asoka at Rampurva. But it is as the mount of Shiva that it has becomes the most iconic representation for approaching Shiva.    

     It is the carving of Nandi that puts the Indian sculpture on an unrivalled plane. The Nandi is carved in round. It is not a  part of a  frieze to be mounted on a ceiling or to be fixed on the wall. The stone idol conveys the throbbing physical vitality of the bull. And yet the Nandi is more. It has a divine side. He is the means to Shiva . In the hands of the Indian sculptor the Indian bull transcends his vital physicality and emerges as part of the divinity or the divine itself ! The sculptor controls the physicality, virility and subsumes it with devotion....single minded devotion for Shiva.

     What stories are told by the Nolamba bull? Is it the continuance of the Harappan legacy? Is there a break ? Or does it tell us the same story with a twist?

    Traversing the erstwhile kingdom of Nolambas we came across at least three different representation of bulls.

    The bull which was a part of the Ashtadikpala panels, the royal bull and the seated bull.

   Godly Carrier- In the Ashtadikpalas panel it is not only the Gods but their carriers that get full justice at the hands of the carvers. The best example of the bull is represented on the ceiling of Kalleshwara temple at Arlaguppe. The sculptors have rendered the carrier of Isana in full glory. The motion of the bull gliding through the skies carrying Isana and his wife is delineated with great joy. He is caparisoned, bejeweled from head to paws and he carries Isana and his wife  on a saddle befitting the Gods. On his head there  are strings of beads and a breast band that includes a hara of bell clappers. Carrying the God of the direction surrounded by gandharvas and musicians, ears all alert, eyes front, looking bemused he himself emerges as the centre of attention!

      Royal insignia (Paricchada)- Bull was the royal symbol of the Nolambas. Nothing communicates the connection of the rulers with the people more than the adoption of this bull which roamed the countryside while  residing in the hearts of Shiva bhaktas.

     A detail on the pillar at Siddheshwara Temple. bull with its royal trappings, a royal throne, crown with a central gem. a scepter, a conch of victory, canopy of state, a golden foot stool, flags, an umbrella, air of fly whisks and banners.

Bull as a royal symbol might have been their umblical chord connect with the Pallavas…after all they did call themselves as Nollamba Pallavas !!

       These two representation of bulls put him on a pedestal. In the first one he is dwelling in the rarefied air inhabited by celestial beings.In the second one his lineage is royal...regal, distant and aloof. The bull nowhere belongs to the people. 

       But then we see the third form - Nandi. It was this form that we saw all over the region.This was the land of Shiva and his devotees.

    We see Nandi sitting alone or with his Shiva as a  part of  a frieze... when Shiva is Natesa or when he is with his Uma or when his  teaching through silence as Dakshinamurthy. We see him him with matrika Ishwari. Then we see the real bull, the bull without trappings, the bull as Nandi who is the carrier of prayers for the people of Nolambavaadi, the bull who does not need to shine before his lord.

The Nandi the solitary idol carved in schist tells a different tale....

......a tale of Nolambas, Nolambavaadi and how he becomes the medium that bridges the gap between the people, their rulers and their deity. The rulers were ardent devotees of Shiva. The Shiva idols carved under their patronage are no stone idols but Shiva himself. And so is the Nolamba Nandi! 

       This is the Nandi of the humble countryside. He is a living breathing life like bull close to the people who cast the yoke on its broad shoulder to till their land and made him sit in front of Shiva as Nandi ! Maybe the Nolamba sculptor also worked in the field with his bulls and thus carved him so life like? He was the means to till the earth and a medium to reach Shiva.

      The Nolamba Nandi may have been modeled on the local bull traversing the countryside, perhaps on  Hallikar? The Nandi is of medium size, full bodied, long pointed face, large hump, small tapering ears, pointed horns, the dewlaps falling like ruffles … A single bell woven in a rope holding the folds show it’s connect with the countryside.

     In the inspired hands of  the Nolamba sculptor the Hallikar transformed into a regal Nandi fit to be worshipped by the kings!

     After all the Nolambas were unwavering in their devotion to Shiva. They were the patrons of these temples and their Nandi is no ordinary Nandi.

     Stella Kramrish describes it best...... Nandin conveys Shiva. An image of controlled vitality and devotion. "His head raised towards the lingam in the temple, his brows sweep over large almond shaped eyes. Horns, ears and hump are volumetric enhancement of Nandi's compact shape which comprises of legs, tail and dewlaps. The skin of the dewlap contributes further interest to the bull's shape: striated with incised lines, it serves, when seen in profile, as a link between the bull's weighty recumbent body and the relatively small, alert, and attentive face. The garland of flowers, a string of bells, a saddlecloth and leg ornaments accentuate the vaulting planes of the statue"

     The Nolamba Nandi  too is carved with visible symbols of ornamental offerings.The Nandi is carved wearing a thick hara with rope designs. The bell clappers are elaborate and so is the saddle.

     Shiva pleased with Nandi's tapas gifted him his own makuta and ear rings. 

      But  the Nolamba Nandi displays no ostentatiousness. He is no Hoyasalan Nandi exuding richness and trappings of wealth. There are no ornaments filgreed on Nandi to overwhelm his bodv and distract the devotee. The Nolambas were Pasupatas believing in asceticism and worship in simple form......undue ornamentation leads to distraction and hampers unrestrained devotion. So their Nandi is regal, powerful, austere but not plain!

       The sculptor may not have been able to speak like animals but they saw with animal eyes. It is this that gives these sculptures such an extraordinary intensity of emotion, intelligence and life. Thousand years have passed but the couchant Nandi still speaks for his devotees ...he still communicates in Nolambavaadi !!