The Chola Bronzes @ The Royal Academy

One of the most amazing things about being back in a city with plenty of artistic pursuits is a simple sense of cultural humility and sense of history. Throughout Europe’s Dark Ages, amazing empires rose, flourished and left their cultural mark on the history of human civilization.

The Chola Bronzes currently at the Royal Academy are a good reminder of this essential fact. Beautiful, devotional pieces of art dedicated to the Hindu pantheon that encompassed all of Southern India during the 9th century ACE and for 400 years.

The workmanship and quality of the bronzes are stunning, and while the exhibit is way too small and needs to be on par with the Rodin exhibit currently showing in terms of comprehensiveness and breadth, it is still an impressive (if brief) survey of the gorgeous sculpture of the period.

The fact that many of the bronzes are so well taken care of due to their being in constant use even today is testament to both the quality of their casting, the care of their possession and the fact that they survive in many museums around the world today and in private collections due to caches of the devotional bronzes being hid against Muslim invaders throughout the 14th century and being constantly rediscovered.

Reminds me I need to learn a lot more about Indian history, theology and iconography before even attempting a trip to the great sub-continent and that in 2007 I need to be a lot better about travelling and learning (for instance, I have no idea why different people pray to Shiva, Vishnu, Ganesha or Kali really or what their representative attributes are other than a handful of half-known stories - anyone who has some pointers on where to begin in reading about this stuff, I’d sure appreciate the direction).