This exhibition, which runs from 11 November 2006 until 25 February 2007 at The Royal Academy in London, is of approximately forty bronze sculptures exploring the artistic and cultural riches of the Chola dynasty of southern India between the ninth and thirteenth centuries.

Throughout their rule the Chola were great patrons of the arts and oversaw an extensive programme of temple construction. Portable bronze sculptures, revered as physical manifestations of the Hindu gods, were produced to fulfil public functions and preside over specific festivities. Chola bronzes are widely considered to be among the finest works of Indian sculptural art.

Among the bronzes on display are Hindu deities:

SHIVA

UMA, DURGA, KALI

The great goddess is addressed by a host of names. In her active form as destroyer of demons she is frequently hailed as the warrior goddess Durga or, when shown with fangs in her mouth, as Bhadrakali – Auspicious Kali. Indeed, when Durga-Bhadrakali is engaged in feats of cosmic destruction, she herself frequently wields the trident.
Image: Standing Durga, c. 970, bronze, height 57.2 x 20 cm. Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Georgia and Michael de Havenon in memory of William H. Wolff 1992.142

GANESHA

	The delightful, pot-bellied Ganesha, with his elephant head and curved trunk, is perhaps the most endearing and gentle of gods. He is the elder son of Shiva and Parvati. Various legends exist to explain his elephant head.
Image: Ganesha, c. 1070, bronze, height 50.2 cm. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Katharine Holden Thayer, 1970.62. Photo: © The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Katharine Holden Thayer 1970.62

VISHNU

	Vishnu is the god who wears a long lower garment and a crown and sports on his chest a mole-like emblem called the shrivatsa. He favours the sacred basil leaf and wears a long wild-flower garland. In his two rear hands he holds his attributes: a discus – his weapon of choice – and a conch shell, whose sound is heard in all Vishnu temples.
Image: Bhu-Varaha, Vishnu's Avatar as Gigantic Boar, Embracing Goddess Earth, thirteenth century, bronze, 45.5 x 30 x 27 cm. Victoria and Albert Museum. Photo: V & A Images/Victoria and Albert Museum.

This exhibition runs from 11 November 2006 until 25 February 2007 at The Royal Academy in London.

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