Temple Cart Carving: Drummer

In museum work, the legacies of colonialism can permanently scar artifacts with missing or altered information. This drummer carving–measuring 70 cm in height, 15.6 cm in width, and weighing approximately 4.9 kg–is one such piece. Originally, this carving was identified as a “temple dancer,” perhaps because the central figure’s foot position–called sucī–is a common feature of South Indian dance. However, the figure cannot be called a dancer because it is primarily engaged in drumming, not dance. Additionally, temple dancers must originate from temples made of stone, but this carving is clearly made of wood. This notable discrepancy had altered the meaning of this piece in Spurlock’s database since 1998.

To uncover the meaning behind this drummer, we at the Spurlock museum looked to existing research suggesting that its origins lie in the South Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. This state, like many others throughout South and Southeast Asia, celebrates the Ratha Yatra festival. Here, Hindu deities are brought out of their temples and paraded around town in a colorful and melodious chariot procession filled with music, dancing and performance.

The devotional drums commonly used in Ratha Yatras can help us try to identify the kind of drums that this figure is holding. The drum could potentially be a dhol or chenda. Both of these drums are cylindrical in shape with strings suspended along their length and are used in both North and South Indian music. The dhol can be used to accompany religious ceremonies, and the chenda can be used in temple festivals, like the Ratha Yatra. While this interpretation may seem more accurate than the “temple dancer” interpretation, we may still be perpetuating the colonial scarring of meaning. This scarring can manifest in many ways, but each manifestation slowly chips away at the rich narratives behind Hindu festivals and customs.

1East-West Center. “Cosmic Characters: Wood Puppets of Asia.” https://www.flickr.com/photos/eastwestcenter/albums/72157702504347592/, 2019. https://www.flickr.com/photos/eastwestcenter/albums/72157702504347592/.

2Ghosh, Sampa, and Utpal Kumar Banerjee. Indian puppets. Abhinav Publications, 2006.

3Ghosh, Ujaan. “Chariots of the Gods: The Many Histories of Jagannath, ‘Juggernaut,’ and the Rathayatra in the Nineteenth Century.” History of Religions 58, no. 1 (August 2018): 64–88. https://doi.org/10.1086/697934.

4Hope, Annika. “Types of Indian Drums & Percussion.” Music Gateway, August 22, 2019. https://www.musicgateway.com/blog/musical-instruments/types-of-indian-drums-percussion.

5Tosato, Anna. "The Voice of the Sculptures: How the ‘Language of Dance Can Be Used to Interpret Temple Sculptures." Cracow Indological Studies 19, no. 2 (2017): 79-109.