This volume is concerned with the massive tiered platform, square in plan and with flights of stairs prominently located on the west side, that stands at the centre of the medieval city of Vijayanagara in the Bellary District of the modern Indian state of Karnataka. This structure is presented here by a scholar who in recent decades has made a renowned name for herself in the study of aspects of South Indian culture, especially of the Vijayanagara period. In this publication she places this stepped and decorated platform - known colloquially as the Mahanavami Dibba - into a scholarly context. All future work on this large and enigmatic structure will need to be aware of this work. Here, in an authoritative but non-speculative presentation, the author describes all of the relief sculpture that is such a striking feature of the various sequences of friezes running around the building. She describes them block by block, as well as according to themes and to chronology. This, the main part of the book, is accompanied by a chapter near the beginning by George Michell also well-known for his work at Vijayanagara (Chapter Three); he describes the architectural features of the structure which, given a long use and much ‘conservation’ during the last century, is complicated. In a prefatory note he also speaks of this monument as exceptional in Indian architecture and it is indeed difficult to imagine anything elsewhere that is at all similar. The volume is accompanied by black and white photographs and also by relevant examples of the architectural drawings which have become such a renowned feature of the Vijayanagara Research Project to which the author has long been a stalwart contributor.
The foremost problem with this dramatic structure is the uncertainty as to its use. After a gracious Author's Note, Dallapiccola lays out the problems as to why the usually-accepted link between the platform and the festival of the Mahanavami (the festival that culminates in Dasara), cannot any longer be accepted, despite its long history of unthinking use. The dense packing of royal domestic structures around the raised platform on the south and west sides makes it impossible to envisage this as a space for the parades, elephants and crowds that the Portuguese sources describe for the Mahanavami; as the platform is oriented to the west this is a most telling consideration. Instead, and having examined all of the surviving sculpture, she writes, “The emphasis [in the carvings] on dancing, squirting [of coloured water] and water play, leads to the possibility that this area [the area to the south and west of the platform], with its numerous water features and restricted access . . . . . may have been the locale for the king's celebrations of the Vasantotsava [the spring festival] rather than the Mahanavami festival”. This statement appears at the beginning of the volume, but everything that follows appears to justify this statement. Later, she links this celebration of the festival to the fact that throughout the sculptural programme of the structure there are practically no religious figures shown at all (the only exception is the story of Narasimha and Chenchu-Lakshmi, which indeed is really more a folk-tale than a strictly religious narrative). This secular quality is a very striking feature of the Great Platform – this is a monument that forcefully celebrates royal power, whether through depicting processions and hunting, or courtly pleasures such as dancing and the playing of music. In this it appears as the secular counterpart to the nearby Ramachandra temple with its Ramayana sequence which decorates the main building. Here we also see relief sculpture, but devoted entirely to religious (though still royal) subject matter. Because of the continuing uncertainty over the use of the structure it appears in this publication, from the title onwards, as the Great Platform, rather than invoking either of the festivals with which it may have been connected.
This uncertainty as to its use is compounded by its history of investigation with clearance work on the top surface of the great square platform that tops the receding sequence of terraces, still being carried out into the 1990s and without any published record being forthcoming. Michell's chapter takes us through some of this history as well as describing the way in which the construction can be divided into four separate phases based on differences in placement within the structure, on jointing of the unmortared blocks and on the style of relief sculpture. Phase IV, the last one, is clearly differentiated by the use of finely-grained chloritic schist capable of taking highly detailed sculpture, while the other three phases are distinguished by the use of the local large-grained granite which generally takes a much less detailed style of sculpture. Michell suggests a date for the first phase of the structure in the middle of the fourteenth century though there is currently no archaeological or historical proof to support this; Phase II he considers to be only a little later. The dating for Phase III is argued to be early fifteenth century based on the similarity of mouldings found here and in the nearby Ramachandra temple which is dated by inscription. He also argues that the East Chamber entrance and its staircase (this, and a yet further flight of stairs on the south side, complement the major, apparently ceremonial staircases on the front, the west side) along with the columned structure on top of the platform belong to this period. The sad loss of evidence from this topmost part of the platform is much to be regretted. The informed speculation of a timber and possible brick and plaster superstructure is welcome, but is now all that we can go on. The final phase, Phase IV he suggests belongs to the first half of the sixteenth century and that at that time, the whole of the western facade of the platform was clothed in the green-grey chloritic schist, fragments only of which can be seen today. There has though been so much collapse and reconstruction on this face of the platform that this - like so much else - cannot be confirmed.
Chapter Four, the longest, is a discussion of sculptural themes and styles to which subject Dallapiccola brings a wealth of knowledge. Here she describes how the sculpture on the Great Platform illustrates two of the major cultural elements that are prominent at the site of Vijayanagara – a strong attachment to past traditions (eg. the flat and powerful relief sculpture with its links back to the hero-stone tradition) and a fascination with the new (eg the elongated and elegant figuration that probably come to the capital from the Tamil country following the incorporation of that region into the Vijayanagara empire). This dichotomy – the new and the old – is a fascinating feature throughout the architecture and art history of this pivotal site. In this chapter the various sculptural themes are discussed as they appear in each of the four phases delineated in the previous chapter.
Sculptural iconography is the subject of Chapter Five with discussion under headings such as ‘Royal Figures and Courtiers’, ‘Royal Insignia’, ‘Soldiers’ etc. While these, by definition, are closer to lists, there are nevertheless, fascinating insights, such as the discussion of animals and birds. Perhaps not surprisingly there are very large number of depictions of elephants, many in procession and frequently uprooting trees. While the latter is a common trope in Indian sculpture, the very frequent occurrence of this image, does make one wonder whether this isn't some reflection of an historical reality in which jungle is being cleared for agriculture around the newly-built city. Also highly visible amongst the carvings on the platform are horses, singly and also in procession and often led by foreigners who are indicated by different dress and the presence of facial hair. This is a reminder of the trade in these animals which was such a feature of commercial life in the medieval period, early on in the hands of the Arabs (the beasts were brought by sea from the Arabia) and latterly the Portuguese. Whether iron and steel from the Andhra and Karnatak smelting works were amongst the products traded in return is still a matter of conjecture.
The style of Chapter Five is continued in the remaining chapters, where the carvings of each Phase are analysed, with this done remarkably, block by block. While not speculative or exciting, this is determined and impressive scholarship, a database of information that anyone working on Vijayanagara-period relief sculpture, will need to consult. The book is completed by two Appendices, one on festivals (useful in the Mahanavami versus Vasantotsava debate) and one on depictions of Central Asian (or at least, non-local figures) in the relief sculptures. These figures, with their pointed caps, facial hair, ‘Chinese cloud collar’ garments and boots, were clearly considered fascinating and exotic, and appear repeatedly on this monument, either dancing or controlling horses, or sometimes as merchants or as palace guards.
This is a most useful book, a data-bank for anyone concerned with the historical changes from the late medieval to the early modern in southern India. Kingly power and its visual imposition on both the local and visiting populace is the subtext and the data presented will be of relevance to anyone working on this subject in the future. However, I can't close without regretting that the editorial process wasn't more rigorous (there are many typographical errors) and that, in this day and age when we are increasingly used to books produced in India being published in full colour, this book has all its images in black and white and even these not always very clearly reproduced. We can only hope that future volumes in this important and continuing series can benefit from the new technologies which India now commands.
