Curated by Prof. Himanshu Prabha Ray

The thief who stole my heart: Sacred Bronzes from Chola India
Illustrated lecture by Prof. Vidya Dehejia, Barbara Stoler Miller Professor Emerita of Indian Art, Columbia University, New York, and author of a range of books on the history of Indian art that connect the literary and visual arts in meaningful ways. Her recent publications include The Thief who Stole My Heart: The Material Life of Sacred Bronzes from Chola India, 855-1280 (2021); India: A Story through 100 Objects (2021); The Unfinished. Indian Stone Carvers at Work (2016) among others. Prof. Dehejia served as Chief Curator & Deputy Director, Freer & Sackler Galleries of the Smithsonian in Washington DC, and as Acting Director in 2001-2002

Chair: Prof. Parul Dave Mukherji, Professor, School of Arts & Aesthetics, Jawaharlal Nehru University
 

The talk commences with an introduction to the sacred bronzes created by a master sculptor around the year 1000, and suggests that his inspiration may have been child-saint Sambandar’s opening hymn that hails Lord Shiva as “the thief who stole my heart.” Prof. Dehejia explores this sensuous imagery before moving to ask questions of this material that have not been asked before. Where did the Cholas acquire the copper required to cast the many temple bronzes that are solid heavy pieces of metal? What were the circumstances that permitted the creation of hundreds of temples and vast numbers of sacred bronzes despite the constant warfare that the Chola monarchs were engaged in?