|
Kerala
Church Art and Architecture Paper
presented by Prof. George Menachery at the National Seminar - Calicut
University 2002 on WESTERN IMPACT AND NEW OCIO-CULTURAL FORMATIONS IN
KERALA FROM THE XVI CENTURY: European Influence on Church Art and
Architecture of Kerala Kerala
Murals older than Rajput and Mughal paintings
1.1.1
What art and architecture is purely indigenous? There
is no art or architecture - no socio-cultural formations of any
significance, anywhere in the world - relating to a nation, a region, a
religious or racial or linguistic group - that is fully local or
indigenous. The art and architecture of Kerala - secular or religious -
from the sixteenth century onwards is no exception. Thus Church Art and
Architecture of Kerala from the commencement of the Christian presence
on these coasts at the dawn of the Christian era have been to a greater
or lesser degree influenced by those of other nations and religions as
they have been influenced by Keralas wealth of artistic and
architectural traditions. All the nations and cultures that came into
contact with Kerala - the Egyptians, the Phoenecians, the Greeks, the
Romans, the Arabs (of pagan, Jewish, Christian, and Islamic
persuasions), and the Europeans of a later date like the Portuguese, the
Dutch, the French, and the English and even other Europeans have all
left their mark on the society and culture of Kerala, as has also been
the case with mainland Indian groups. 1.1.2
The location of the state [Kerala] on the westwern seaboard, at the
centre of the international highway of sea-borne trade connecting the
East and the West, [and the North with the South] made it a meeting
point of many worlds, a melting pot of races and creeds, from early
times.1 The Hindu monarchs and chieftians of the post-Sangam period
ruled over a fertile agricultural tract the peace and safety of which
were guarenteed by the Western Ghats on the one side and the Arabian sea
on the other. The land itself was [for long] a secret shared between the
sea and the mountain, an illegitimate child of the two natural forces,
protected by and provided for by them in a special way.2 But already we
find in the first centuries B.C.E. / C.E. that while the monsoon route
connected Muziris (cranganore) directly across the Arabian Sea with
cities in the west (e.g. Alexandria, Aden) the West Coastal route gave
its ships ready access to the Indus3 and to countries to the North and
Northwest in Asia and Europe.4 1.1.3 It would appear that the impact of
her trans-Arabian-sea visitors were much more pronounced in the case of
Kerala than that of her mainland neighbours, even during and especially
after the Sangam age. This contact with the countries west has paved the
way for considerable influence of the societies and cultures of those
lands and their peoples on every phase and aspect of the life of the
inhabitants of Kerala. Thus from the arrival of Vasco da Gama in 1498
Portugal, the Netherlands, France, and England have had a great deal of
influence on the people of Kerala not only in the matter of material
cicumstances of life but also in the field of ideas and ideologies. One
of the strongest areas where this influence is manifested is in the
field of Kerala art and architecture in general and Christian art and
architecture of Kerala in particular. 2.1.1
Christian art and architecture in Kerala in the pre-European periods had
developed obtaining nourishment from two sources: one, from the
countries in the near-east including perhaps Greece, Rome, Egypt and
other Middle East countries from which ideas and practices were imported
by missionaries and traders, and two, the indigenous forms and
techniques of art and architecture that existed in the land.
2.1.2
By a happy mingling of these two streams already by the arrival of the
west in Kerala there was existing here a strong tradition of Christian
art and architecture which was notable for its aesthetic as well as
pragmatic excellence. The Portuguese, the Dutch, the French and the
English and also the missionaries from Germany, Italy, Spain, Belgium
&c. brought with them their own art traditions which resulted in
adding certain features to the already existing structures and
traditions without trying to or succeeding in totally replacing the
cultural heritage of the Christians. Hence today one can see a
harmonious blending of the East and the West in the Christian art and
architecture of Kerala although examples are not altogether lacking of
attempts made to implant certain incongruous elements into Keralas
cultural formations.
3.1.1
Two pictures are available about the churches and churchbuilding
activities of the Christians of Kerala at the beginning and end of the
sixteenth century. At one end we have the letters written by the four
bishops in 1504.5 At the other end of the century we have the documents
of the Synod of Diamper in Malayalam as found in the Kerala churches, in
Portuguese in the work of Gouvea6, and in English in the work of
Geddes7. 3.2.1
The tale of how Vasco da Gama went into a Hindu temple in Kerala and
mistook it for a church and venerated tha idol of Bhagavathi (?)
mistaking it for an image of the Blessed Virgin Mary would have clearly
illustrated the similarity of the Houses of God in Hinduism and
Christianity in Kerala had we any assurance that Gama already knew about
the shape of Devalayas in the land from his many spies and scouts. 3.2.2
The description of the reception given to the bishops by the faithful
sheds considerable light on the state of the churches, the Christians
and their cultural and artistic traditions: ...they were received by the
faithful with great joy and they went to meet them with joy, carrying
before them the book of the Gospel, the cross, censers, and torches...8.
And they, the bishops consecrated altars...9. 3.2.3
In the Synod of Diamper, 1599, there were represented more than a
hundred churches of the St. Thomas Christians. This indicates the
existence of a very large number of churches already at the coming of
the western powers to India. The description of the visits of Archbishop
Dom Menezes to various churches before and after the Synod throw some
light on the structures and arrangements of the churches before western
elements and types were introduced into Malabar.10 4.1.1
There were three striking objects of significance in front of the
typical Malabar churches, either inside the courtyard or just outside
it: the open-air granite(rock) cross which the present writer has
christened Nazraney Sthamba or Flag-staff made of Keralas famed teak
wood(e.g.at Parur), and often enclosed in copper hoses or paras(as at
Changanassery, Pulinkunnu, or Chambakkulam), or made out of some other
wood or other material.Stambas or pillars of some type or other are to
be found among the Buddists, Jains, Hindus, etc. in India.Such pillars
and structures were part of the Christian heritage of Kerala much before
the ascendancy of the Vedic Hinduism in these parts , although
J.Ferguson did not know or care about these11. ...4 -4- 4.1.2
The ubiquitous cross of Malabar churches is best represented by the rock
crosses,mostly outside the churches.The open-air rock-cross of Malabar
is an obelisk ,a tall stone column,with four,sometimes
decorated,slightly sloping sides.Rome has many obelisks (from Egypt and
East, but no cross-bearing structures decorating the piazzas and
squares); London has one on the banks of the Thames;Paris has one at the
place d la concorde; and even New York has one in the central park. Many
memorials like the Washington Memorial are obelisk-shaped. The Asoka
Pillar and other such Indian pillars were influenced by the
Graeco-Parthians,under Egyptian-Persian influence. The Nazraney sthamba
is a direct descendant of the obelisk., and much closer to it than the
other Indian pillars- in shape,method of constuction and transportaion ,
method of erection , function, and solar symbolism. The Roman
obelisk,bearing crosses today, have been converted to christianity ,
while Keralas cross-shaped obelisks were born Christian.The obelus and
the double -dagger reference marks in printing may be profitably
recalled here. Such obelisk crosses continued to be erected mostly in
front of churches even after western ascendancy without much change
although a few changes in the motifs on the pedestals etc. could be
noticed. 4.1.3
The three-tier gabled indigenous architecture of Kerala churches, which
lacked facades until the coming of the Portuguese, immensely gains in
richness symmetry, and beauty because of the open-air rockcrosses,some
of them more than 30 feet in height including the intricately carved
pedestals, and monolithic shafts. No other community in Kerala has such
a huge monumental stone structure. The indoor counterparts of these
crosses have the earliest carvings in Kerala of the national flower
lotus and the national bird peacock. Perhaps even the national animal
tiger is first depicted in Kerala art in church sculpture. There was no
rock carving in South India prior to the period of these indoor crosses.
The motifs, message ,and images on these crosses and their pedestals
display a remarkable degree of Indianness and Malayalee Thanima or
identity. Vedic Hindu Gods and Goddessess like Ganesha, Vishnu, Shiva,
Sapthamathas , Jeshta etc. appear in the art of the central Guruvayoor/Palayoor-Quilon
part of Chera country only after the 11th-13th centuries, and even in
the Salem-Erode section, and the Trivandrum-Cape Comorin section Vedic
Hindu deities appear in art only as late as the 9th century A.D. ...5 4
-5- .1.4 The base with a socket, the monolithic square and slightly
tapering shaft with cylindrical terminals, the horrizontal piece forming
the arms with a double(hole) socket in the middle, and the capital with
a cylindrical bottom end are the four members of the open air cross.They
are so well chiselled and proportionate that when put together the
socket and cylinder arrangement enables the cross to stand by itself.
However for the bigger crosses,pedestals in the form of sacrificial
alters of Ballikallus are found, often carrying exquisite reliefs of the
flora and fauna of the land in addition to scenes from daily life and
biblical scenes.The cross representing the supreme Bali (sacrifice) or
Mahabali appearing on the Balikkallu most appropriately represents the
Calvary/Bethania events and sheds plenty of light on the ideological ,historial,cultural
and technological bent of mind of the forefathers .Compare with the base
of the Obelisk of Theodosius,Constantinople,.A.D.390. 4.1.5
The obelisk is a ray of the sun - here a ray of Christ(of Hours -Xt. the
sun-God). This ray helps the lotus near - universally depicted on such
crosses to blossom forth representing in a typical Indian poetic conceit
the grace received by the sin - bound human soul(panka jam) from Christ.
Lotus representing the sun is found in other early Indian art also.The
half dozen interior Pehlavi inscribed crosses, some of them surely of
pre 7th century origin,which were mostly tombstones before they were put
up on the altars ,have generally the dove (Holy Spirit) depicted on top
of the clover or flowertipped equal-armed Greek cross,in addition to the
lotus at the bottom.In this three piece (Thri-kanda) cross one might,
perhaps, with considerable effort read the lotus represented Brahma
(Father), the flowery cross (Son), and the dove (Holy Ghost). But the
lotus has more universal and more diverse implications in the various
eastern creeds. 4.1.6 The arrangement to hold wicks found on the crosses
may be related to the preservation of fire ,and the effort to make it
available to the common people in the dim past, when Homakundams were
rare in Kerala or beyond the reach of the common folk.It is perhaps in
connection with the need to preserve fire that the oil-Nerchas and
oilAraas of the churches, and the compound -wall rocklamps are to be
evaluated.The oil related objects in the churches also indicate the
connection of this christianity with the trade of the land,especially
oil-trade.The bell like arrangement on some crosses also are
noteworthy.Veneration of the cross,angels,Adam and Eve... and of course
the Indian Cross itself are some of the religious carvings on these
structures. 4.2.1
Dwaja-Sthampa ...6 -6- The square of polygonal shape of the individual
pieces in the granite or rock lampstands at Kallooppara,Kundra, and
Chengannur indicate the antiquity of such lampstands in the
churches.Unlike in the churches ,in the temples ,the tradition of these
lamps continued and thus developed in to the present-day round shape of
the pieces. In art history generaly the simpler forms make their
appearance first , and refinements and complications indicate a later
date. Even when the tradition of lampstands declined in the churches,
many open-air crosses
had wickholders incorporated in to them, with the advantage that wind
and rain do not put off the flames. Church walls still display rows of
rock of lamps. Inside the churches the tradition of bronze lamps
continued display rows of rock lamps. Inside the churches the tradition
of bronze lamps continued vigorously, representing a variety of shapes
and types, and some lamps having even hundreds of wickholders, e.g. the
Aayiram Aalila lamps at Arthat or Angamaly, Kottekad. 4.2.2
In front of the church the third interesting object is the flagstaff,
sometimes covered with copper paras. Every festival is announced with
the Kodiyettu or flag-hoisting, a tradition going back to early Buddhist
times at least. All these three objects in the courtyard of the church
have a variety of liturgical functions associated with them. 4.3.1
Baptismal Fonts Let us now climb and go across the portico and enter the
Haikala or nave beyond the Aanavathil to look at the rock baptismal font
in the baptistry. 4.3.2
There are interesting rock baptismal fonts at Edappally, Kanjoor,
Mylakkombu, Muthalakkodam, Changanassery, Kothamangalam, Kadamattom etc.
The similarity of these baptismal fonts with illustrations of the fonts
used for the baptism of Constantine (4thC.) and Clovis (RheimsC.496) is
remarkable. 4.3.3
All the old baptismal fonts are of granite or very hard laterite. They
are all huge in size indicating that baptism by immersion must have been
the order of the day. Most of the old baptismal fonts depicted in the
STCEI & the ICHC were probably of a date prior to the decree of the
Synod of Diamper which made permanent fonts more or less compulsory.
Although most of the old baptismal fonts/ baptistries are found near the
west end or middle of the nave on the northern side - Kaduthuruthy(Big),
old Edappally, old Kanjoor, Changanassery (Southern side), in many
churches, mostly Jacobite/Orthodox ...7 -7- they are found close to the
sanctuary e.g. Angamaly (Middle-church). They are exquisitely carved
with reliefs of the baptism of Christ, Mary feeding the Child, angels,
Indian crosses, etc. There are also wonderful motifs of leaves, the
basket pattern, coir pattern, etc. engraved on these stones. By the way
the very Malayalam word Mammodisakkallu indicates a font made of stone.
Another term is mammodisath-thotti. The Holy Water Font is called
Annavella Th.-thotti. 4.3.4
The Architraves and doorposts in many churches are good examples of
south Indian rock-carving. (e.g.old Kayamkulam, Chengannur, Kanjoor)But
the rock-baptismal fonts are the real pride of many an old church. 4.1.1
Another aspect of church architecture that has scarcely been affected by
the later types from abroad is the old three tier gabled wooden roofing
with the highest roof for the Madhbaha or Sanctum Sanctorum and the
lowest for the Mukhamandapam or portico with the nave or Hykala having a
roof of middle height. Although
the rock crosses, the flagstaffs, the rock lampstands, the baptismal
fonts, and the three tiered roofing pattern have not been much affected
by the western visitors and conquerors many of the objects inside the
churches and the very appearance of the inside have undergone many
changes after the arrival of the Portuguese and other westerners. Let us
look at some of these changes. 5.1.1
There is an interesting description of Kerala churches in the account of
Joseph the Indian, c.1500. The Christians have their churches, which are
not different from ours, but inside only a cross will be seen. They have
no statues of the saints. The churches are vaulted like ours. On the
foundation is seen a big cross just as in our place. [May be the open
air cross?] They have not any bells. 5.1.2
There is much truth in the statement of Gerge Varghese: But once these
churches came under the jurisdiction of the Portuguese in the sixteenth
century, the ornate monumentality of the European churches was
introduced into the small temple-like Syrian Christian churches, which
even did not have windows in the early past. The baroque and ornate
altars with statues and foliages replaced the Chaldeo-Syrian altars,
which were infact only stone-tables with nothing more than candles,
Chalice and the Holy Book on them, the bare nesses
|
