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Great Penance Panel

The Penance Panel, a great carving in relief, wascreated by the Pallava king, Mahämalla (Narasi¬ha-I), inthe mid-seventh century, A.D. It is the largest of its kindin India, more than 30 meters long and 12 meters high. Itcovers the rock surface of a cliff on the eastern flank of thehill at Mämallapuram. A vertical cleft in the center of thecarving divides the panel into two huge sections. On bothsides, rows of gods and demigods are depicted flyingeffortlessly past mountain slopes, toward the cleft.

Just to the left of the cleft, more than half-way up,an ascetic is standing on one leg, with arms up-raised andfingers interlocked above his head. And to the left of thisfigure stands the god ≤iva, who indicates with outstretchedhand that he is granting a boon to the ascetic.

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≤iva and the ascetic

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There has been a great deal of controversy over theinterpretation of this scene. Like so many other monu-ments at Mämallapuram, the great carved panel has beenassociated with the story of the Pä≈Ãava brothers. It ispopularly thought to portray “Arjuna’s Penance”. Butearly in the 20th century, the scholars V. Goloubew andG. Jouveau-Dubreuil rejected the popular belief that thefigure standing on one leg represents Arjuna. Accordingto these scholars, the penitent figure is King Bhagïratha,and the central cleft represents the path of the river Ga√gäas it flows down the mountains from heaven in responseto Bhagïratha’s request. A.H. Longhurst, an archæologist,discovered how the Pallavas had arranged for water tocascade down the central cleft from a cistern above to thetank below. The cascading water would represent thedescent of the Ga√gä. And all the heavenly beings wouldbe flocking toward the central cleft to witness this descentof the most holy of rivers.

A brief account of the stories of Arjuna and Bhagï-ratha will help to give perspective to the controversy.

The Story of Arjuna’s Penance

The great epic, Mahäbhärata, relates how Arjuna,the third of the five Pä≈Ãava brothers, at the request of theeldest, Yudhi±ªhira, took his bow and sword and went to

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a high Himalayan peak to carry out an extreme penance.The object of this asceticism was to obtain the incrediblypowerful weapon, the Pä≥upata, from the god ≤iva. Withthis weapon, Arjuna and his brothers would be assuredvictory in the war against their usurping cousins, theKauravas.

The Penance

At the beginning of his penance, Arjuna ate only fruitat lengthening intervals of days. After the fourth month,he “ate only the wind”. He wore a garment of grass andan antelope skin. He kept his bow near him. He wasstanding motionless on the tips of his toes, with arms up-raised, and his penance was so intense that he radiated aburning energy which caused the surrounding area to goup in smoke. The great sages, nearby, were so disturbedby Arjuna’s penance that they went in protest to ≤iva. TheGreat God assured the sages that he would grant to Arjunathe boon which he desired, and his penance would end.

The Trial

≤iva, however, first wished to test Arjuna’s bravery.The god assumed the appearance of a hunter (kiräta).His consort, the goddess Umä, also disguised as a forestdweller, accompanied him with a retinue of women.

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As ≤iva approached Arjuna, a rakshasa (demon),named Müka, who had taken the form of a gigantic wildboar, charged at Arjuna. The Pä≈Ãava prince, disturbed inhis penance, took up his bow, strung it, and, declaring hisinnocence, took aim at the boar in self-defense.

≤iva, disguised as a kiräta, tried to restrain Arjuna,calling out that the boar was his own quarry. But Arjunadisregarded the kiräta’s warning and let fly his arrow atthe boar. At the same instant, the kiräta also sent an arrowat the boar. Pierced by the two arrows, the demon waskilled.

Arjuna was infuriated with the kiräta. He accused himof interfering, taunted him about his retinue of women,and threatened to kill him. The kiräta laughed in scornand said that the fault was Arjuna’s because the boar wasrightfully his own quarry, and that it was his arrow whichhad killed it. The kiräta then declared that he would killArjuna, and he challenged him to fight.

Arjuna sent showers of arrows against the kiräta, butwith no effect. His arrows exhausted, Arjuna attacked thekiräta with his bow, striking the hunter on his forehead.The kiräta merely seized the bow. Arjuna then struck thehunter’s head with his sword. But the sword shattered.Finally, Arjuna attacked the kiräta with his bare fists, andthen grappled with him in a wrestling match. But the godsqueezed the breath out of Arjuna, and the warrior felldown unconscious. When he regained consciousness,

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the bewildered Arjuna sought refuge in the Lord ≤iva byforming a li√ga out of earth and worshipping this with agarland of flowers. To his great amazement, the garlandappeared miraculously transposed onto the head of thekiräta. Then, Arjuna realized that his opponent was noneother than the god he worshipped.

The combat between the Kiräta and Arjuna.

Sandstone panel, Kailäsanätha Temple, Kanchi.

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The Boon

Arjuna fell at ≤iva’s feet. The Great God was pleasedand praised the Pä≈Ãava. Arjuna then beheld ≤iva in theform of Mahädëva, the Lord of the Mountain, with hisconsort, the goddess Umä. On his knees and with his headbowed, Arjuna praised ≤iva and begged forgiveness. ≤ivalaughed in pleasure and embraced Arjuna, and, aftercomplimenting him, asked what boon he desired. Arjunatold him that he desired the Pä≥upata weapon. ≤iva thengave Arjuna the dreadful weapon which had the appear-ance of the god of death.

Finally, ≤iva, along with Umä, departed for heaven,and Arjuna rejoined his brothers.

Such is the story which is popularly believed to beportrayed in the Great Penance Panel at Mämallapuram.But two very serious objections to this interpretation havebeen raised.

Problems with the Arjuna Interpretation

The first objection to the “Arjuna’s Penance” interpre-tation raises the crucial question of what exactly is theobject of the attention of the multitudes flocking towardthe central cleft. If it were Arjuna in penance, then all thegods, demigods, humans, and animals should be intent onwitnessing ≤iva granting the boon of the Pä≥upata weaponto Arjuna.

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The central cleft area, Penance Panel

But why then is there a Gandharva couple, nearArjuna’s feet, flying by with their backs to ≤iva andArjuna? And why are two geese almost wagging their tailfeathers against Arjuna’s arm as they move away towardthe cleft? And why would a monkey and a Näga couple,down below, have their backs to ≤iva and Arjuna?

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In fact, all the creatures have their attention focussedon the central cleft. This fact of the central importance ofthe cleft is made clear in the Minor Penance Panel (nearthe lighthouse), where ≤iva and the penitent figure areisolated in the upper left corner of the relief, and all thecreatures of the ‘three worlds’ – all the animals, humans,and divine beings, which are portrayed under them and totheir left, have their attention focussed on, and are movingtoward, the cleft to the right which represents the course ofthe descending Ga√gä.

Minor Penance Panel

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The second objection to the “Arjuna’s penance”interpretation is that ≤iva does not appear and grant theboon to Arjuna while the Pä≈Ãava is standing on one legin penance. On the contrary, ≤iva comes disguised as ahunter. Arjuna’s penance is then disturbed by the attack-ing boar. Arjuna never returns to a one-legged stance.≤iva grants Arjuna the boon he desires only after Arjunais defeated in hand-to-hand combat and resorts to forminga li√ga of earth to worship ≤iva, and finally recognizesthe kiräta as the god ≤iva.

Let us then turn to the more plausible interpretationof the great relief carving. The following account is alsofound in the Mahäbhärata.

The Story of Bhagïratha’s Penance

King Bhagïratha’s great, great grandfather, KingSagara, wished to perform the horse sacrifice, the a≥va-

mëdha, which would establish him as a King of Kings.The sacrificial horse was released to wander at will. Theterritories where it roamed unchallenged were territorieswhich acknowledged the sovereignty of King Sagara. Tohinder the horse’s free movement or to capture it would bea challenge to Sagara’s sovereignty, and would provoke awar. However, the god Indra mischievously stole the

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horse and hid it in the underworld, near the hermitage ofthe great sage, Kapila.

When the horse was reported missing, 60,000 sons ofKing Sagara set out to find it. When these sons finallylocated the white stallion near Kapila’s hermitage, theysuspected the sage of having stolen it and rushed at him.Disturbed in his meditation, and enraged by their insult,Kapila gave them a blazing glance with fiery eyes, and ina flash, the 60,000 rash sons of Sagara were burnt to ash.

When Sagara learned what had happened, the kingsent his grandson, A¬≥uman, to try to find the horse.A¬≥uman made his way to Kapila’s hermitage, and, be-cause he politely asked for the return of the horse, thegreat sage obliged him.

In those days, the ocean had been swallowed up, andthe sacred river Ga√gä was located in the heavens and hadnot yet come down to earth. There was, on earth, no holywater with which to bathe the ashes of Sagara’s 60,000sons. As a result, their souls could not go to heaven.

In vain, Sagara practiced austerities in order to per-suade the holy river-goddess Ga√gä to descend to earthand purify the ashes of his sons. After Sagara died, hisgrandson, A¬≥uman, did penance. And then A¬≥uman’sson, Dilïpa. But they all failed. Finally, Dilïpa’s son,King Bhagïratha, was destined to succeed.

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The Penance

King Bhagïratha deputed his prime minister to governhis country in his absence, and then he departed for theHimalayas in order to practise austerities. He began themost frightful penance and subsisted only on fruit, roots,and water for the immensely long period of a thousandcelestial years. The river-goddess Ga√gä then appearedbefore him and asked what he desired. The king answeredthat he wanted her to descend to earth so that his ancestorsmight at last attain heaven.

The goddess agreed to do what Bhagïratha asked, butshe warned that her unbroken descent from heaven woulddestroy the earth. She said that the only one who couldsupport the crushing force of her descent and thus protectthe earth from destruction was the Great God, ≤iva. Shesuggested that the king practice further austerities so as toplease ≤iva.

The Boon

Bhagïratha then began further penance to win ≤iva’sprotection at the time of Ga√gä’s descent. In response tohis penance, the Great God, accompanied by his retinue ofga≈as (goblins), appeared before Bhagïratha and agreed togrant him the boon.

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Description of the Penance Panel

The Ga√gä descended from heaven to earth in twostages. The first stage was the precipitous fall fromheaven onto ≤iva’s head. The second stage was the morecontrolled flow from ≤iva’s head down mountains, acrossplains, into the dry ocean bed, and finally down to the un-derworld.

The water cascading down the central cleft of thePenance Panel during rainfall and at certain ceremonialoccasions in Pallava times would have represented theGa√gä during the second stage of its descent, when itflowed down the Himalayan slopes. The multitudes areflocking from both sides to witness this stage of theGa√gävatära≈a (the ‘coming down’ of the Ga√gä).

The penitent Bhagïratha and ≤iva, with his retinue ofgoblins, form an independent scene which represents anearlier episode in the story. Therefore, all of the othercreatures, including those with their backs to this groupexist in another time frame.

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≤iva, along with his ga≈as,

granting the boon to King Bhagïratha

The Pallava artists chose to represent ≤iva at the verymoment he appears before Bhagïratha to assure him of theboon. This event precedes the episode in which ≤iva takesthe form of Ga√gädhara (breaking the fall of the Ga√gä onthe locks of his hair). In the Penance Panel, the Ga√gä-dhara form is skipped over, and the grand climactic eventof the Ga√gä reaching the earth (with a provision for real,cascading water) is shown.

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In the cleft are carved figures of three snake people(Nägas), one above the other. In the Indian tradition,generally, the Nägas are associated with water. On thoseceremonial occasions when the Pallavas released waterfrom the cistern above, a splashing curtain of water wouldhave partially veiled these figures from the spectator’sview. Half-way up the cleft is the snake-king, with aman’s body above the waist, and a snake’s sinuous bodybelow. Spreading over his crown from behind his shoulderis a serpent’s hood with seven heads. Below him is hisqueen, with a three headed snake-hood. And below her,an ordinary looking snake.

The Nägaräja and his queen, facing directly out fromthe panel, have their hands together in a salute of adora-tion. They are, in fact, worshipping the sacred Ga√gäwhich would be falling over them and in front of them ina foamy curtain.

On either side of the Näga queen is a couple depictedin full human form. They are distinguished as Nägas onlyby the snake-hoods spreading over their heads from theback – a five-headed hood of the male to the left, and athree-headed hood of the male to the right. Their consortssport only a tiny, single-headed hood above their head-dress.

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The Nägas

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Kinnara

Another type of half-animal/half-human creature,the Kinnara, is depicted in the panel. The upper half ofthe Kinnara is human, the lower half, a bird’s body withwings. They are the heavenly musicians of mythology. Inthe great panorama, two couples are carved in the panel onthe left, and four, on the right. They are singing and play-ing musical instruments. The males are playing the vï≈ä

(lute), and the females are keeping time with miniaturejälra (cymbals).

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There are fourteen Gandharva couples flying fromboth sides toward the central cleft. Five of these couplesare on the left side, and nine couples, on the right. Thesedemigods in human form, both male and female, possesssuperhuman powers, including the ability to move at willthrough space.

Gandharva couples

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On the extreme right of the panel, flying just above thefemale elephant, are two pairs of Siddhas. These are sageswho have attained supernatural knowledge and miraculouspowers.

Siddhas

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Chandra (the Moon) and Sürya (the Sun)

Above ≤iva’s head is the Moon God, Chandra, shownhere in anthropomorphic form. Behind Chandra’s head isthe large disc of the moon. A much smaller disc – alsorepresenting the moon – rests on top of ≤iva’s hair. Justopposite the Moon God, on the right side of the cleft, isSürya, the Sun God. Sürya has a large disc behind hishead, representing the sun’s orb.

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There are three pairs of male and female dwarfsdepicted in the right section of the panel, and two pairs,in the left. These couples are shown sitting, watching,with peculiar hoods (with flaps over the ears) coveringtheir heads. One couple, seated just to the left of ≤iva,might be considered part of his group, along with thefour ga≈as, who surround him.

Dwarfs

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The ga≈a standing between ≤iva and Bhagïratha has astomach formed into the fierce face of a lion-like creature.

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≤iva is shown holding the shaft of a tri≥üla (trident)with his lower right hand. His lower left hand is in theboon-bestowing pose, the varada mudrä. His upper lefthand holds the para≥u (axe), and his upper right handgrasps the tail of a cobra, which loops down behind hisright side and reappears, with its three-headed hood, justnext to his lower right hand.

≤iva and his insignia

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≤iva wears in his left ear the patra-ku≈Ãala, a cylin-drical type of earring. And in his right ear, the makara-

ku≈Ãala ear ornament. This difference of ear ornamentshas no special significance in this period. It only reflectsthe style of the times: up until the latter part of the seventhcentury, it was common for both men and women to weardifferent types of ear ornaments in the right and left ears.

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Ordinary mortals are seen in the panel to the left. Fourwoodsmen are moving toward the cleft, carrying staves orbows. A fifth, with a hatchet, is depicted high up, just tothe left of the Moon God.

Below Bhagïratha is a small temple with an image ofVish≈u inside. Seated near this shrine is an elderly ascetic,bent over in deep meditation. It has been suggested thatthis sage is Kapila, who was a well-known devotee ofVish≈u.

Below this sage is another person practising yoga, andtwo disciples seated near him. The heads of these threeimages have been broken off. Just below these seatedpersons, four more disciples are portrayed standing on theriver bank. One is wringing out a wet cloth, another has a

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pot of water on his shoulder, a third is saluting the Ga√gä,and the fourth is performing the ritual of gazing at thenoonday sun through the slits of his interlocked fingers.

Hermitage on the banks of the Ga√gä

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On the other side of the cleft, just under the tusks ofthe big bull elephant, there is a humorous portrayal of acat imitating King Bhagïratha and pretending to practiseausterities. This cat is standing erect on one leg, with hisfront paws up-raised.

There are several accounts in Indian tradition of hypo-critical old cats who pretend to do penance on the banks ofthe Ga√gä. The cat in the Penance Panel is surrounded bymice who do not suspect his treachery. One mouse is evenworshipping him with paws pressed together in salutation.

Hypocritical cat

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Various types of animals are portrayed. The two greatelephants have six little calves playing around their legs.

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Then there are fifteen lions and other large cats andtwo little cubs, ten deer and antelopes, mountain goats,four monkeys, a hare, an iguana stalking an unsuspectingbird, one boar, a tortoise, two jungle cocks and two hens,and geese.

Lioness with cubs

Deer

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Antelope

Monkey, hare, and iguana

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Antelope and boar

Jungle fowl