Help with Tamil Nadu trip in August. Buying Brass Chola sculptures?

Dear India Experts,
I need some help with my Tamil Nadu itinerary. Please forgive the flood of questions.
We are into small villages and quiet temple towns. Also, in the past we visited Madurai, Trichy, Tanjore, Mahabalipuram, and Konyakumari.
1. Please help me cut out one or two places from the following list.
-Chidambaram (1 day)
-Kumbakonam and temple towns around it (2 days)
-Thanjore (1-2 days; someone mentioned that one can buy Chala sculptures here. Any thoughts?)
-Viralimalai (1 day; to see the peacock sanctuary)
-Rameshwaram (2 days)
-Kanchipuram (1 day trip from Chennai)
-Tirupati (another 1 day trip from Chennai. Technically not in TN )

2. Any opinions on a day-trip to either Yercaud and Kodaikanal in late August. Worth a trip or drop it? I’ve been to Darjeeling in the past; enjoyed it, but not loved it.

3. Since my previous trip to South India, I’ve been dreaming of buying a brass sculpture– where is the best place to do that? Specific towns and shop recommendations are much appreciated. Any buying advice regarding what to look for in a quality sculpture?

Many thanks for all your help!

If that is what you are after, then drop Tirupati. Its everything buy that. Also 1 day will not suffice or will be rushed and tiring.

Well, this question couldn't be more timely. I spent the entire day on the 25th of June and some time on the 26th searching for the perfect and affordable (that's the operative word for me) bronze or Panchaloga (five-metals) nataraja. I visited about 11 outlets that day in various parts of chennai. I will afford one sometime later - but here's what i learnt and i hope it helps you.

Chennai gets (either as imports from within the tamil nadu or even now, increasingly from the north of the country) significant number of brass, bronze as well as panchaloga (five metals) items that are used as devotional objects.

Here're a few places where you could find the authentic 'lost-wax casting' idols:

a) Shops in Mint street, chennai behind the old temple (not for the faint of heart - crowded area and can be filthy at times).

b) VTI (Victoria Technical Institute) - near Spencer plaza - mount road. Very customer friendly. Prices are slightly higher but more importantly the variety isnt as good as the mint street stores.

c) Poompuhar (the Tamil Nadu state government handicrafts emporium)- also on mount road - this is on your left as you go straight from Spencer plaza towards ritchie street / parry's. They have a very good selection of bronze (including the now popular 'antique finish bronze idols- which in some cases is just a polish that would give it a patina' and brass.

d) Srushti handicrafts chennai - they're in chamiers and should have a good variety - i didn't visit them but spoke with the manager that day.

e) Giri stores, Mylapore- near the kapaleeshwara temple. More brass than bronze but prices are competitive.

Now, most of the lost wax items are made in kumbakonam - so if you're traveling there, those places might be a better bet to shop around. I guess you'd have to know a bit of tamil (I had challenges even in parts of chennai talking to the staff).

Few tips:
a) A typical 6 inch nataraja made in kumbakonam will start around INR 4500 in bronze and more than 10000 in panchaloga (in chennai shops). Cheaper than this, and you're looking at stuff made in muradabad or even in roorkee. A good statue (8 inches or more with good facial expressions) is north of INR 20,000.

b) Panchaloga will be typically heavier- lead is one of the components - lift a few statues and you'd get the idea.

c) The touristy shops on Anna Salai (mount road) opposite poompuhar are a rip off- they inflate prices and expect you to negotiate hard. Not a very pleasant experience there.

d ) A good sculpture will have symmetry, finish and above all, a sense of life in it. It's getting more and more difficult as the sculptors realize there's money to be made and consequently perhaps hurry up the process? You may want to google some chola bronze statues and have a look at the facial expression of the natarajas for the sense of serenity those statues have. That's my aim - to find one and then hopefully have enough dosh to pay the price as well. I saw something for Rs 48,500 at Giri chennai that was appropriately priced and also a Rs 5600 nataraja at VTI which i thought wasn't worth half that money. I think the spiraling prices of metals (especially copper) over the last two years has also taken its toll.

e) How do you get a sense of what makes an extra-ordinary nataraja - or rather, in the limited time that you'd have in Chennai how do you get the value for your money. Let's start by observing the statue on the domestic terminal (arrivals section) of Chennai airport. As you proceed towards the exit, take a minute to stop in front of the large nataraja statue displayed there. It has very good proportions and reasonably good expressions. The hands of a nataraja (especially the second left - pointing downwards towards the foot) is always graceful and sort of flowing. The head is bent slightly upwards, eyes closed, nose always turned up at about 15 degrees and the lord is seen smiling (just enough so) having conquered the demon under his foot.

f) Perhaps a minor point, the faithful would always pair a nataraja with a statue of Sivakami (parvathi) - to keep the yin and yang balance intact. A Sivakami idol will be smaller and lower priced - approx 1/3rd of the nataraja idol.

g) An excellent place to visit and see some of the old bronze idols would be the government museum in chennai. They have quite a collection of Chola bronze sculptures. I last visited in 2005 and i believe much improvement has been made since then. The website claims they have over 1500(!!) bronze pieces on display.

h) Make sure you insist on finding the origin of the statue (especially in chennai). Quite a bit of these have started coming in from UP (muradabad) and even Haryana (roorkee). I doubt if they are hand made at all. These statues are just 1/4th the price of the kumbakonam ones. If you shop around a bit, after feeling the weight of many statues you'd get the idea - but if not, ask the shopkeeper - they're usually upfront about it.

It will take time to find that perfect statue - but it's worth the investment as you would want to look at it every day. And besides, they last a lifetime.

good luck with your hunt.

Excellent post. The most information I have ever seen on the subject. Deserves a thread of its own

Gee, Nick, thanks! I'm tempted to edit it now with even more info ....

Oh, please do!

I've answered this question a couple of times, with "Poompuhar and VTI" but, although I bought a couple of small things over the years, I've never been in the market for serious bronzes. You have a lot more information, even if this is my home town.

I suggest a new thread, called something like buying bronzes in Chennai and Tamil Nadu. It is a question that comes up regularly, if not often.

WHY does not the OP use the search facility on this site, and enter Chola Bronzes, plenty of info there.

I dont want to repeat myself, as many others do

However vaibhav_arora has superb advice

Nick - couldnt make another thread but added some more.

Mod Note
I have created a new thread for you from your post, Vaibhav!

Buying Bronzes in Tamil Nadu

Thanks TD.

Wow, I went away for a few days and came back to such a super-helful elaborate response. Many thanks, Vaibhav_arora!

FSG, I did search for Chola bronzes, but the info was not very detailed. Vaibhav's response is very helpful.

Narendra, thansks for your comment, that helps to narrow my trip down