ABSTRACT
Royal Portrait Sculpture in the South Indian Temple
Crispin Branfoot
Portrait sculpture is unusual in Indian art until the sixteenth century in southern India, when it becomes a major genre. This article surveys the evidence for portraiture in Tamilnadu before the sixteenth century, discusses the iconographic conventions of life-size royal portraiture in stone and the art-historical problems in determining the identity of sculptures. The following section examines the location and function of portrait sculptures identifying a connection between their location and festival processions within temple complexes. In the final section, the development of portraiture in Tamilnadu from c.1500 is explained with reference to changes in the nature of kingship in south India.