Thivanka Image House
a world of wonder
Tucked away under huge shade trees, a pleasing dive away from the main cluster of Pollonnaruwa’s ruins is the Thivanka pilimage identified as the image house of the Jetavanarama built by king Parakramabahu.
The Chulavamsa describes this image house as being created out of brick and stucco an elixir for the eyes. “…the Thivanka image, shimmering with rows of figures of lions , geese and the like, with many diversely perforated balustrades and with railings.”
Here at the Thivanka Pilimage we are treated to a sample of ancient classical art and the delightful sculpture of Polonnaruwa era.
From outside the walls of the building are festooned with a profusion of decorative sculpture.
Ornamented balustrade |
Half way up on the wall a procession of jolly figurines of gana or dwarf figures are seen bursting with the full joy of life. Their merriment. their passion. and sensuality is overwhelming.
H.C.P. Bell wrote that so crowded together are these merry little persons in their pradakshina circumbulation of a building from left to right that as many as two hundred and fifty upwards once joined the gay throng that goes laughing along the foot of the temple. For it would be hard to find a more jovial band, male and female, jostling one another jesting and sporting the while, with all the exuberant good natured conviviality which makes crowds on pleasure bent.
According to Martin Wickramasinghe the sculptors humor and joy of life had to be inhibited in making of statues of the Buddha and of other gods in austere moods but in carving the dwarfs figures they availed themselves of an outlet and ceased an opportunity to express their suppressed feelings even boisterous and sometimes riotously spiriting the gana figures with the joy of life and the exuberance conviviality of pleasure loving men and women.
In-between the dwarfs can be seen a series of elaborate vimanas or miniature presentments of shrines. Images of gods can be still seen in some of the pillared alcoves found here.
Competing with the dwarfs and vimanas for your attention at the base of the edifice is a frieze of spirited lions. Lovable, frolicking, with their well grown manes and well trimmed tails.
Inside the building the central attraction is the pilima or image of the Lord Buddha in the trice bent posture from which the image house gets its name as Thivanka (three times bent) pilimage (image house).
However the climax is reached in the unique murals of the pilima-ge depicting stylistic trends of the 12th and 13th centuries.
There is some debate about the dating of these paintings. Some believe that although the Thivanka Pilimage was built by king Parakramabahu I it is possible that king Parakramabahu II in his attempts at renovations painted fresh murals over the existing old ones. This theory is supported by archaeologists who have discovered evidence of two layers of plaster containing paintings belonging to two periods.
The murals today can be seen faded yet in softly glowing tints .
It has been recognized that there is a distinct difference in quality, style and even the subjects of the murals found in the outer chambers and the inner chambers of the Thivanka image house.
The murals at the entrance being sketchier and illustrational. while in contrast the inner paintings show that they are carefully painted. Again the paintings in the outer chambers show the Bodhisattva in his previous births, living in the world of men while the themes pictured in the inner chambers in large panels portray the Buddha in the milieu of the gods.
Art scholars say that elegance, elaboration and grandeur are the dominant qualities of the murals of the inner chambers. The graceful expressions on the faces of the gods the dramatic poses in which their bodies have been cast and the delicate fingers held in equally dramatic mudras are a pleasure to behold.
Many more are the architectural marvels that you will identify to be admired at the Thivanka pilimage.
Taking all together ; the decorative exuberance, and the ostentatious embellishments that distinguish the art and sculpture of the Thivanka Pilimage makes it a treasure trove from the grandeur of Polonnaruwas’s past.
by Kishanie S. Fernando
Daily Mirror, January 08, 2007
Created : March 19, 2008
Updated
:
October 27, 2008
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