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← An Introduction to Indian Art – Part I — all chapters

Class 11Art & CultureAn Introduction to Indian Art – Part IChapter 7

Indian Bronze Sculpture

≈ 30 min read · 3 Prelims and 2 Mains questions from this chapter

Attempt questions

Start here: why this chapter matters

In simple wordsA stone statue stays where it was carved; a bronze can travel. Temples carried their bronze gods out in processions, monks carried small Buddhas across Asia, and kings had themselves cast in metal so later generations would see them. This chapter follows those travelling images from the Indus cities to the Chola court.

The chapter is short but packed with names: sites (Daimabad, Chausa, Akota, Sultanganj, Phophnar, Kurkihar), regions (Kashmir, Himachal, Bihar–Bengal, Tamil Nadu), iconographic terms (abhaya, tribhanga, bhujangatrasita, apasmara, jvala-mala) and patrons (Sembiyan Mahadevi, Krishnadevaraya). Its centrepiece is the Chola Nataraja, one of the most tested images in UPSC art questions.

Links in this book: Chapter 2 (the Dancing Girl and lost-wax casting at Harappa); Chapter 4 (Gupta-age Buddhas of Mathura and Sarnath in stone); Chapter 6 (the temples where these images were worshipped — Thanjavur, Nalanda).
Links to Themes in Indian History: Theme One (Harappan metalwork); Theme Four (Mahayana images, Bodhisattvas); Theme Six (bhakti in Tamil temples); Theme Seven (Vijayanagara and Krishnadevaraya).
UPSC: the Chola Nataraja (1993, 1995), the Dancing Girl’s material (2025), and Chola and Gupta contributions to culture in Mains (2022, 2024).

Word	What it means here
Bronze	An alloy of copper and tin (see the trap below on NCERT’s definition)
Cire perdue / lost-wax	Casting from a wax model that is melted out of its clay mould
Shasanadevi	In Jainism, a guardian goddess attached to a tirthankara
Sanghati	The Buddhist monk’s outer robe
Abhaya mudra / hasta	The raised-palm gesture meaning ‘fear not’
Tribhanga	A graceful pose with three bends of the body
Vaikuntha / Chaturanana Vishnu	Vishnu with several faces (human, lion, boar…)
Ardhaparyanka asana	A seated pose with one leg hanging down
Achamana mudra	A hand gesture of sipping — here, about to drink poison
Apasmara	The dwarf of ignorance or forgetfulness under Nataraja’s foot
Bhujangatrasita	The raised-leg dance pose (as if startled by a snake)
Jvala-mala	The ring or garland of flames around Nataraja
Kalyanasundara	Shiva as bridegroom in his marriage to Parvati
Ardhanarishvara	Shiva and Parvati joined as one half-male, half-female figure

The chapter’s bronzes on two to-scale panels, protohistoric and historical.

Every bronze school the chapter names, with dates and typical images.

Reading NCERT’s chapter-opening photograph (page 103)A Chola-style Nataraja in dark metal against a violet background: the dancing god inside a ring of flame-tongues on a lotus pedestal, one leg raised across the body, hair flying out. It previews the chapter’s finale (section 6).

At a glance — the six ideas to carry away

Lost-wax (cire perdue) since the Indus age: wax model → clay coat → wax melted out → metal poured → mould broken.
Earliest: ‘Dancing Girl’ (c. 2500 BCE, tubular limbs); Daimabad chariot (c. 1500 BCE, sturdy bulls, elongated rider).
Jain: Chausa (Bihar, Kushana, 2nd c. CE; Adinath with long locks); Akota (Gujarat): throned tirthankaras, groups of 3 or 24, shasanadevis Chakreshvari and Ambika.
Buddha: Gupta and Vakataka standing Buddhas in abhaya — Dhanesar Khera (Mathura folds), Sultanganj (Sarnath, monumental), Phophnar (Amaravati influence); portable.
Himachal and Kashmir (8th–10th c.): Vaikuntha Vishnu; Pala school at Nalanda and Kurkihar (from 9th c.): Avalokiteshvara, Tara.
South: Pallava Shiva (Vishapaharana); Chola (10th–12th c.) Nataraja, Kalyanasundara, Ardhanarishvara; patron Sembiyan Mahadevi; Krishnadevaraya portraits at Tirupati (16th c.).

1. Casting in metal: the beginnings

In simple wordsIf you can model in wax, you can cast in metal: the wax is a stand-in that disappears, leaving its exact shape behind as a hollow for the metal to fill. Indians learnt this trick more than four thousand years ago and never forgot it.

Indian sculptors mastered bronze as well as terracotta and stone. The cire perdue or lost-wax process was learnt as early as the Indus Valley culture, together with alloying metals. Bronze statuettes of Buddhist, Hindu and Jain icons survive from many regions, from the second to the sixteenth century, mostly for ritual worship and of great beauty. Metal casting was also used for everyday utensils — for cooking, eating and drinking — and present-day tribal communities still use the lost-wax process.

The ‘Dancing Girl’ from Mohenjodaro is perhaps the earliest bronze sculpture, datable to c. 2500 BCE; her limbs and torso are simplified in tubular forms. A similar group of bronzes comes from excavations at Daimabad (Maharashtra), datable to c. 1500 BCE, notably the ‘Chariot’: wheels as simple circles, an elongated driver, and sturdy bulls in front.

What is bronze? — an NCERT slipNCERT says bronze is made ‘by mixing copper, zinc and tin’. Standard definition: bronze = copper + tin; brass = copper + zinc (Beyond NCERT). UPSC once asked ‘which is not an alloy’ with bronze, brass, steel and zinc as options (1984, 1989) — the answer is zinc, a metal. Use ‘copper and tin’ for bronze.

Beyond NCERT

UPSC 2025 asked what the Dancing Girl is made of: bronze (Chapter 2 discusses NCERT’s ‘copper’ caption).
The Daimabad hoard (Ahmednagar district) also includes an elephant, a rhinoceros and a buffalo.
Lost-wax folk metalwork of central and eastern India is widely known as Dhokra.

2. The lost-wax process (NCERT’s box)

In simple wordsThink of making a jelly mould in reverse: you make the shape first in wax, bury it in clay, melt the wax out, and pour metal in. Each mould is broken to free the image, so every casting is one of a kind.

NCERT’s box describes the method still used especially in Himachal Pradesh, Odisha, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal, with regional variations. Pure beeswax is melted over a fire, strained through fine cloth into cold water, where it solidifies; it is pressed through a pichki or pharni into noodle-like wires, which are wound into the shape of the image. The model is coated with a thick paste of equal parts clay, sand and cow-dung; a clay pot is fixed into an opening on one side. Metal weighing ten times the wax (the wax is weighed first) — largely scrap from broken pots and pans — is put in the pot; as the plastered model is fired, the wax melts and the metal flows down the channel into its shape. Firing is done almost like a ritual, in silence. The image is then chiselled and filed. Sometimes an alloy of five metals — gold, silver, copper, brass and lead — is used.

The five stages of the method in NCERT’s box, with a schematic of the mould.

⤵ Lost-wax, step by step (NCERT’s box)

Prepare the waxbeeswax melted, strained into cold water

Shapewax pressed into wires and wound into the image

Coatclay, sand and cow-dung; a clay pot fixed for the metal

Fire and pourwax melts out; metal (10 × wax weight) flows in

Finishbreak the clay; chisel and file

Reading NCERT’s photograph of a craftsman at work (page 105)A metal-worker sits on the floor of a workshop, filing a newly cast, gleaming figure lying across his lap; finished images stand nearby. What to notice: the finishing stage — every casting needs hours of chiselling and polishing — and that this is a living craft (NCERT names Kumbakonam in the south).

Two versions of the processChapter 2 describes the basic lost-wax steps for Harappa (wax model, clay coat, drain wax, pour metal, remove clay). This box adds the folk details — wax wires, clay–sand–cow-dung coat, metal 10 × the wax weight, a clay cup. NCERT’s ‘five metals’ list includes brass, itself an alloy; the composition of five-metal (panchaloha) images varies from source to source (Beyond NCERT).

3. Jain bronzes: Chausa and Akota

In simple wordsJain sculptors made the tirthankaras recognisable in a crowd: one by his long hair, others by short curls, each with a throne and a guardian goddess.

Jain tirthankara images from Chausa, Bihar, of the Kushana period (second century CE), show mastery of the male physique with simplified muscles. Adinath (Vrishabhnath, Rishabhanatha) is identified by long hair-locks falling to his shoulders; other tirthankaras have short curly hair. Many Chausa bronzes are in the Patna Museum. Jain bronzes from Hansi (Haryana) and from Tamil Nadu and Karnataka are in various museums.

Gujarat and Rajasthan have long been strongholds of Jainism. A famous hoard was found at Akota, on the outskirts of Vadodara (Baroda). Finely cast by lost wax, these bronzes were often inlaid with silver and copper to bring out eyes, crowns and the textiles of the seats. Most show Mahavira, Parshvanath or Adinath. A new format appears: tirthankaras seated on a throne, singly or in groups of three or twenty-four. Female images of yakshinis or shasanadevis were cast too — Chakreshvari for Adinath and Ambika for Neminath. Stylistically they draw on Gupta and Vakataka bronzes.

Jain bronze formats and the two shasanadevis NCERT names.

Akota’s date — NCERT gives twoPage 103–104 dates the Akota hoard ‘between the end of the fifth and the end of the seventh century’; page 104 then says it shows casting in western India ‘between the sixth and ninth centuries’. Safe line: Akota, near Vadodara — 6th–9th c. bronzes (some from the late 5th).

4. Buddha bronzes of the Gupta and Vakataka age

In simple wordsThese Buddhas were made to travel. Small enough to pack, refined enough to admire, they went with monks from monastery to monastery — and carried the ‘classical’ Gupta style far beyond India.

Many standing Buddhas with the right hand in abhaya mudra were cast in north India, especially Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, in the Gupta and post-Gupta periods (fifth–seventh centuries). The sanghati covers the shoulders and turns over the right arm; the other end wraps over the left arm, its pleats held in the extended left hand; the drapery spreads in a wide curve at the ankles. The modelling suggests thin cloth; the figure is refined, youthful and proportionate compared with the Kushana style. At Dhanesar Khera (Uttar Pradesh) the folds follow the Mathura manner — a series of drooping curves; Sarnath-style bronzes have foldless drapery; the outstanding example is the monumental Sultanganj Buddha (Bihar). Vakataka Buddhas from Phophnar (Maharashtra), contemporary with the Guptas, show the influence of Amaravati (third century CE): the right hand in abhaya is free, so the drapery clings to the right side in a continuous line, and makes a marked curve at the ankles where the left hand holds it. These bronzes were portable: monks carried them for personal worship or installation in viharas, spreading the classical style across India and to Asian countries overseas.

The three draping styles NCERT distinguishes.

⤵ How a small bronze spread a style

Cast in a workshopUP, Bihar, Maharashtra — Gupta and Vakataka age

Carried by monksfor personal worship on their travels

Installed in viharasfar from where they were made

Copied locallythe refined classical style spreads across India

Overseasto Buddhist countries of Asia

Beyond NCERTThe Sultanganj Buddha, over two metres tall, is in the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery (UK). Compare the Sarnath stone Buddha of Chapter 4 — the same foldless, transparent robe.

5. Kashmir, Himachal and the Pala school

In simple wordsIn the mountains, sculptors gave Vishnu extra faces to show his different powers at once. In Bihar and Bengal, monks’ workshops brought back the calm grace of Gupta art for a new set of Buddhist deities.

Himachal Pradesh and Kashmir produced Buddhist and Hindu bronzes, mostly in the eighth, ninth and tenth centuries, in a distinct style. Notable is the variety of Vishnu iconography: the four-headed Chaturanana or Vaikuntha Vishnu, whose central face is Vasudeva and two others Narasimha and Varaha. The Narasimha and Mahishasuramardini Durga bronzes of Himachal are among the most dynamic of the region.

How the faces of a Vaikuntha Vishnu are arranged. Schematic.

Four heads, three namedNCERT calls the image ‘four-headed’ but names only three faces. The fourth, at the back, is usually identified as Kapila (a sage or fierce face) in standard accounts (Beyond NCERT). For Prelims: Vaikuntha / Chaturanana Vishnu — Kashmir and Himachal; Vasudeva, Narasimha, Varaha.

Pala school. In Buddhist centres like Nalanda, a bronze-casting school emerged around the ninth century under the Pala dynasty in Bihar and Bengal. At Kurkihar near Nalanda sculptors revived the Gupta classical style after a gap of some centuries. A notable bronze is a four-armed Avalokiteshvara in graceful tribhanga. With Vajrayana, goddess worship grew and Tara became very popular: seated on a throne beside a curving lotus stalk, right hand in abhaya.

Reading NCERT’s northern bronzes (pages 104–106)

Shiva Family, tenth century CE, Bihar: a crowned Shiva seated with Parvati on his lap on a stepped pedestal, with smaller attendant figures — a family group cast as one piece (Pala-era Bihar).
Ganesh, seventh century CE, Kashmir (pages 104 and 106, the same image): a small standing elephant-headed figure with a pot belly and a staff, the surface green with age — compact, chunky Kashmiri modelling.
Bronze sculpture, Himachal Pradesh: a cluster of serene faces under a tall flaring head-dress, with smaller faces below — a multi-faced image of the kind the text describes (the caption does not identify it).

Beyond NCERTKashmiri bronzes often have silver and copper inlay in the eyes and ornaments; Pala bronzes from Nalanda and Kurkihar influenced Tibet, Nepal and South-East Asia. (Chapter 6 adds that Nalanda’s bronzes outnumber those of all other eastern sites.)

6. South India: Pallava, Chola and Vijayanagara bronzes

In simple wordsIn Tamil temples the main image never moves — but its bronze twin does. For festivals, the bronze deity is dressed, garlanded and carried through the streets. That is why Chola bronzes are so perfect from every side: they were meant to be seen moving.

Bronze casting reached a high stage in south India in the medieval period. Bronzes were cast under the Pallavas (eighth–ninth centuries), but the most exquisite came under the Cholas in Tamil Nadu (tenth–twelfth centuries). The craft is still practised, especially at Kumbakonam. A distinguished tenth-century patron was the widowed Chola queen Sembiyan Mahadevi. Chola bronzes are among the most sought-after collectors’ items worldwide.

Pallava: an eighth-century Shiva sits in ardhaparyanka asana (one leg hanging), the right hand in achamana mudra — about to drink the poison (Beyond NCERT: the Vishapaharana form). Chola: the dancing Nataraja was evolved and fully developed under the Cholas, with many later variations. In the Thanjavur region a wide range of Shiva iconography developed: the ninth-century Kalyanasundara shows the marriage (panigrahana) in two separate statuettes — Shiva’s extended right hand accepts Parvati’s right hand as she steps forward bashfully; their union is shown in a single image as Ardhanarishvara; independent Parvati figures stand in graceful tribhanga.

The Nataraja (NCERT’s box). This dance is associated with the end of the cosmic world. In the Chola bronze Shiva balances on his right leg, its foot pressing down apasmara, the demon of ignorance or forgetfulness; he raises his left leg in bhujangatrasita, representing tirobhava — kicking away the veil of maya (illusion) from the devotee’s mind. He has four arms: the main right hand in abhaya hasta; the upper right holding the damaru to keep the beat (tala); the upper left carrying a flame; the main left in dola hasta, linking with the abhaya hand. His hair-locks fly on both sides, touching the circular jvala-mala, the garland of flames around the whole figure.

The parts of the Nataraja image NCERT describes, on an abstract figure. Not a drawing of any bronze.

⤵ Reading a Nataraja from the ground up

Pedestala lotus base carrying the ring of flames

Right foot on apasmaraignorance crushed

Left leg raised (bhujangatrasita)tirobhava: the veil of maya kicked away

Four handsabhaya (fear not), dola hasta, damaru (rhythm), flame

Flying locks and jvala-malathe dance at the end of a cosmic cycle

Reading NCERT’s Chola bronzes (pages 103–108)

Kaliyadaman, Chola bronze, Tamil Nadu (page 103): a slender boyish figure dances on one foot on a coiled serpent whose hood rises behind like an arch, one hand raised in a reassuring gesture — Krishna subduing the serpent Kaliya (Beyond NCERT: the story).
Devi, Chola bronze (page 105): a tall, slim standing goddess in tribhanga, high crown, one hand raised as if holding a flower, the other hanging loose — graceful proportions and smooth surfaces.
Nataraja, Chola period, twelfth century CE (page 107, two views): the god in the ring of flames, right foot on the dwarf, left leg swung across, four arms, locks fanning out; the larger photograph shows the burnished metal and every flame-tongue on the ring.
Seated goddess and standing Ganesha (page 108, uncaptioned): a gilded seated goddess with one leg pendant on a stepped throne, and a four-armed standing Ganesha on a pedestal with rings for poles — the kind of processional image carried at festivals.

Vijayanagara. In the sixteenth century, sculptors experimented with portraiture to preserve the memory of royal patrons. At Tirupati, life-size standing bronze portraits show Krishnadevaraya with his queens Tirumalamba and Chinnadevi, combining likeness with idealisation — the bodies imposing and graceful, both hands in namaskara mudra.

Exam traps

The Chola Nataraja is called the greatest iconographic creation of the south Indian sthapatis (UPSC 1993) and invariably has four hands (UPSC 1995).
Raised leg = left; standing leg = right, on apasmara. Drum (damaru) in the upper right hand; flame in the upper left.
Sembiyan Mahadevi was a Chola queen and patron (10th c.), not Pallava.
Tirupati’s bronze portraits are of Krishnadevaraya with Tirumalamba and Chinnadevi. NCERT places Tirupati in ‘the Vijayanagar Period in Andhra Pradesh’; the empire’s capital, Hampi, is in Karnataka.
NCERT’s sentence ‘abhaya hasta or the gesture suggesting’ is cut short — read ‘suggesting fearlessness’ (‘fear not’).

Beyond NCERT

The dance is the ananda tandava, linked with Chidambaram; Nataraja images of this type were carried in processions as utsava-murtis.
Swamimalai, near Kumbakonam, is the best-known centre of traditional bronze casting today.
Sembiyan Mahadevi was the widow of the Chola king Gandaraditya.
The Krishnadevaraya portraits stand in the Tirumala temple.

7. Stone and metal side by side

In simple wordsStone is taken away from a block; bronze is built up in wax and then poured. That one difference changes everything — size, balance, how many copies, and whether the image can leave the temple.

	Stone sculpture	Bronze sculpture
Technique	subtractive: carved from a block	additive: modelled in wax, cast by lost wax
Size and weight	often monumental, fixed	usually small to life-size, portable (Sultanganj is an exception in scale)
Form	figures often attached to a back slab or wall	free-standing, open forms possible — raised legs, flying locks, rings of flame
Use	architectural decoration, fixed main icons	processional and personal icons; carried by monks; daily utensils too
Style	shared regional styles (Gupta, Pala, Chola)	the same styles — e.g. Sarnath foldless robes in stone and bronze
Survival	survives in place	often melted down for reuse (Chapter 6); survivors are prized collectors’ items

Why this matters for MainsExercise Q2 and Mains questions on ‘continuity in Indian art’ reward exactly this comparison. Use one pair of examples: the Sarnath stone Buddha (Chapter 4) with the Sultanganj bronze; Chola stone temple sculpture (Chapter 6) with the Chola Nataraja.

NCERT exercise — answer outlines

Three discussion questions and one search task. Try each first.

Q1. Has the technique of bronze casting been a continuous process? How did it evolve?

Yes, continuous. Indus Dancing Girl (c. 2500 BCE) → Daimabad chariot (c. 1500 BCE) → Chausa Jain tirthankaras (Kushana) → Akota Jain hoard with silver and copper inlay, throne format → Gupta and Vakataka standing Buddhas (Dhanesar Khera, Sultanganj, Phophnar) → Kashmir and Himachal (Vaikuntha Vishnu) → Pala Nalanda and Kurkihar (Avalokiteshvara, Tara) → Pallava and Chola (Nataraja, Kalyanasundara) → Vijayanagara portraits (Tirupati) → living craft at Kumbakonam and among tribal communities. Evolution: from simplified tubular forms to refined classical modelling, complex open compositions (Nataraja), inlay, multi-figure groups and portraiture; also utensils throughout.

Q2. Stone and metal sculpture developed together. Compare them technically, stylistically and functionally.

Use the table in section 7. Technically: carving (subtractive) vs lost-wax casting (additive); bronze allows open, balanced forms and fine detail, one casting per mould. Stylistically: shared regional idioms (Mathura folds, Sarnath foldless robes, Pala grace, Chola elegance); bronze freer in movement. Functionally: stone for architecture and fixed icons; bronze for portable, processional and personal worship, export along monastic routes, and household objects.

Q3. Why are Chola bronzes considered the most refined?

Mature technique (10th–12th c.); iconographic richness — Nataraja, Kalyanasundara, Ardhanarishvara, Parvati, Kaliyadaman; open, balanced compositions (Nataraja on one leg within a ring of flames); graceful tribhanga, slender proportions, smooth surfaces, expressive faces (Parvati’s bashfulness); meaning in form — apasmara, bhujangatrasita, damaru, flame; royal and queenly patronage (Sembiyan Mahadevi); made to be seen in the round in procession; a continuing tradition at Kumbakonam; valued worldwide (UPSC 1993, 1995).

Q4. Search for Buddha bronzes from Himachal, Kashmir and other regions outside the Chola period.

Search task. Look for: Gupta-age standing Buddhas (Sultanganj, Dhanesar Khera), Vakataka Phophnar Buddha, Kashmiri crowned Buddhas with inlaid eyes (8th–10th c.), Himachal Buddhist bronzes, Pala Buddhas and Bodhisattvas from Nalanda and Kurkihar, and Nagapattinam Buddhas (Chola-period Buddhist port, Chapter 6). Record date, findspot, gesture, robe style and inlay.

What to remember

Numbers

Dancing Girl, Mohenjodaroc. 2500 BCE

Daimabad bronzesc. 1500 BCE

Span of bronze icons (NCERT)2nd–16th century CE

Chausa Jain bronzesKushana, 2nd century CE

Akota hoard (NCERT)late 5th–7th c. or 6th–9th c.

Akota tirthankara groups1, 3 or 24

Gupta and post-Gupta Buddhas5th–7th century

Himachal and Kashmir bronzes8th–10th century

Pala school at Nalandafrom c. 9th century

Pallava bronzes8th–9th century

Chola bronzes10th–12th century

Nataraja’s arms4

Metal used in folk lost-wax10 × the weight of the wax

Five-metal alloy (NCERT)gold, silver, copper, brass, lead

Krishnadevaraya portraits16th century, Tirupati, with 2 queens

One-liners

Lost-wax (cire perdue): wax model, clay coat, melt wax, pour metal, break mould.
Dancing Girl c. 2500 BCE; Daimabad chariot c. 1500 BCE.
Chausa (Bihar, Kushana): Adinath with long locks.
Akota (Vadodara): throned tirthankaras in 1, 3 or 24; Chakreshvari–Adinath, Ambika–Neminath; silver and copper inlay.
Dhanesar Khera = Mathura folds; Sultanganj = Sarnath foldless; Phophnar = Vakataka, Amaravati influence.
Vaikuntha Vishnu (Kashmir, Himachal): Vasudeva, Narasimha, Varaha.
Pala: Nalanda, Kurkihar; Avalokiteshvara (tribhanga), Tara (abhaya).
Pallava Shiva: ardhaparyanka, achamana mudra (about to drink poison).
Chola: Nataraja, Kalyanasundara, Ardhanarishvara, Parvati; patron Sembiyan Mahadevi.
Nataraja: right foot on apasmara, left leg raised, damaru, flame, abhaya, dola hasta, jvala-mala.
Tirupati: Krishnadevaraya with Tirumalamba and Chinnadevi, namaskara mudra.

Traps to avoid

Bronze = copper + tin; NCERT’s ‘copper, zinc and tin’ is a slip (brass = copper + zinc).
Nataraja has four hands (UPSC 1995), not two, six or eight.
Nataraja stands on the right leg on apasmara and raises the left.
Damaru in the upper right hand, flame in the upper left.
Adinath has long locks; other tirthankaras short curls.
Chakreshvari is Adinath’s shasanadevi; Ambika is Neminath’s.
Sultanganj (Sarnath style, foldless) ≠ Dhanesar Khera (Mathura folds).
Akota is in Gujarat (near Vadodara), Chausa in Bihar.
Sembiyan Mahadevi was a Chola queen, not Pallava.
NCERT names only three faces of the ‘four-headed’ Vaikuntha Vishnu.
Akota is dated two different ways in the same chapter.

How to strategise

Prelims — what UPSC asks

Chola Nataraja: the greatest creation of the south Indian sthapatis (1993); four hands (1995). Expect statements on apasmara, raised left leg, damaru and flame, jvala-mala.
Harappan bronze: the Dancing Girl is bronze (2025). Alloys: bronze = copper + tin; ‘not an alloy’ = zinc (1984, 1989, general science).
Likely: Akota and Chausa Jain bronzes, the Sultanganj Buddha, Kurkihar, Vaikuntha Vishnu, Sembiyan Mahadevi, the Krishnadevaraya portraits.

Mains — where it appears and how to answer

GS1 2024 (Chola achievements in art and architecture) and 2022 (Gupta and Chola contributions): for ‘art’, use the Gupta-age Buddha bronzes (Sultanganj, portability) and the Chola bronzes (Nataraja’s meaning, Kalyanasundara, Sembiyan Mahadevi’s patronage); pair with Chapter 6 for architecture.
Frame for any bronze answer: technique (lost-wax) → region and date → iconography and pose → patron → function (worship, procession, portability) → continuity to today.

Self-check

Tap an option. NCERT's own exercise questions come first; the rest test the figures and common confusions.

1. The lost-wax process of casting was known in India as early as:

2. Bronze is an alloy of:

3. A Jain tirthankara bronze with long hair-locks falling to the shoulders represents:

4. The Akota hoard of Jain bronzes was found near:

5. Which Buddha bronze shows foldless, Sarnath-style drapery on a monumental scale?

6. In the Chola Nataraja, the upper right hand holds:

7. The tenth-century patron of Chola bronzes named in NCERT is:

UPSC questions from this chapter

Open any question to attempt it in the Question bank — your attempt is saved to your progress.

Prelims

3 questions · newest first

2025Prelims GSThe famous female figurine known as ‘Dancing Girl', found at Mohenjo-daro, is made ofAttempt →1995Prelims GSBronze icons of Nataraja cast during the Chola period invariably show the deity withAttempt →1993Prelims GSWhich one of the following is considered to be the world’s greatest iconographical creations made by the ‘Sthapatis’ of south India, particularly during the Chola period?Attempt →

Mains

2 questions

2024GS1“Though the great Cholas are no more, yet their name is still remembered with great pride because of their highest achievements in the domain of art and architecture.” Comment. (Answer in 250 words)Write answer →2022GS1Discuss the main contributions of Gupta period and Chola period to Indian heritage and culture. (Answer in 250 words)Write answer →

3 Prelims and 2 Mains UPSC questions are linked to this chapter. More from An Introduction to Indian Art – Part I.