3384

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    Brass South Indian Horse-Mounted Aiyanar

    Pudukottai region, Tamil Nadu, South India
    circa 18th century

    height: 21cm, length: 13.2cm, width: 7.3cm

    Sold

    Provenance

    UK art market

    – scroll down to see further images –

    This image, almost certainly from Tamil Nadu, in India’s south, shows the god Aiyanar mounted on a horse. Aiyanar is shown with luxuriant hair pulled to the top of his head, a long moustache, copious jewellery, and a Shaivite mark on his forehead. One hand grips the rein of the horse and the other is held aloft as if gripping a spear. [Pal (2003, p. 280) illustrates a similar model of a mounted Aiyanar which also holds an arm aloft but with the spear missing.]

    The well-cast horse also has copious jewellery and decoration. It stands on an open platform.

    Aiyanar and his horse have been cast separately. The god sits atop the horse and can be freely removed.

    Aiyanar (also spelt Ayyanar, Ayanar or Iyenar) is a village deity of Tamil Nadu. He is primarily worshipped as a protective guardian deity. Most Hindu priests with a strong attachment to Aiyanar are from the local potter community, but other caste members also officiate in his temples. The linkage with potters accounts for the large numbers of terracotta models of horses to be found in the grounds of Aiyanar temples in those parts of Tamil Nadu where Aiyanar worship is practiced. These models are there for the god to use at night when he emerges from the temple. It is why many of these models verge on being life-size.

    The example here is in fine condition. It is heavy and well cast, with a fine patina.

    The final image below shows an Aiyanar statue at a temple in the Chettinad district of Tamil Nadu, South India. (Photographed in January 2015.)

    References

    Pal, P., Art from the Indian Subcontinent: Asian Art at the Norton Simon Museum, Yale University Press, 2003.

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