Karaikkal Ammeiyar - Karaikkal Ammaiyar in Art

Karaikkal Ammaiyar in Art

In 1954, A.L. Basham published a photograph in his The Wonder that was India depicting an ascetic or demonic female figure that he called “Kali as Demoness playing Cymbals”, and in 1955, Heinrich Zimmer called this female character “Kali". One year later, this type of figure was identified as the Tamil Nayanar Karaikkal Ammaiyar by Jean Filliozat in Kârâvêlane’s Kâreikkâlammeiyâr: œvres éditées et traduites. In 1956, Kârâvêlane and Jean Filliozat presented a publication that included the first French translation of the verses ascribed to the Tamil saint-poet Karaikkal Ammaiyar, which probably dated to the 6th or 7th century. Karaikkal Ammaiyar was depicted in South Indian art from the 11th century onwards. The publication included several plates depicting the female Nayanar, in bronze, stone, or as being a part of a temple structure. A dancing Shiva on the south wall of the Brihadeeswarar Temple at Gangaikonda Cholapuram (c. AD 1025) shows, on Shiva Nataraja’s right side, an emaciated female figure playing the cymbals and displaying ascetic or demonic features. She has wild uncombed hair, pointed shrivelled breasts, and a fierce facial expression. Filliozat identified this figure as Karaikkal Ammaiyar.

This depiction of the squatting female figure was published by Hermann Kulke in 1970 in his analysis of the religious and historical background of Cidambaram in Tamil Nadu based on the Cidambaramahatmya. He also calls the figure Karaikkal Ammaiyar, and states that this emaciated figure strongly resembles the Mother Goddess Chamunda (Kulke 1970:123). In 1976 Mireille Bénisti published an article in which she states that the figure of Karaikkal Ammaiyar is depicted in Khmer art, especially in Cambodia. On a lintel from Vat Baset in Cambodia she found a figure that she interpreted as the emaciated Tamil Nayanar Karaikkal Ammaiyar. However, the study of Peter de Bruijn published in 2007 pointed out that similar emaciated female figures are to be found in Southeast Asia, but cannot be identified as Karaikkal Ammaiyar.