The ancient musical instruments through Shiva's dances

If Shiva is the god of dance, his artistic skills don't stop there. He knows sixty-four forms of art which, for what interests us here: the dance, the song, the theater and the practice of the musical instruments. In India, the best-known Shiva dance is that where the god appears in the singular posture known as Naṭarāja or King of Dance. Shiva  is considered as the destroyer of the world, but he is also interpreted in India as the supreme Creator. He does not utter the world, he dances it and his dance represents the animation of the universe.
In India, Shiva holds in his right upper hand, an hourglass-shaped drum with whipping balls, ḍamaru or ḍamarin (Sanskrit), with which he rhythmizes the destruction and creation of the world. In his upper left hand, he carries fire, symbol of destruction. His lower right hand is in abhaya-mudrā, a protection gesture, while his lower left hand shows his raised leg symbolizing the liberation's hope (moksa). He tramples on the dwarf demon Muyalaka who represents the forces of ignorance and disorder. He is encircled by flames that symbolize the succession of cosmic cycles.

In Cambodia, the two oldest representations of the Shiva Dance date back to the first quarter of the 7^th century. They are two lintels, referenced 1748 and 1757 (hereinafter), today exposed to the National Museum of Cambodia in Phnom Penh. In these two cases, the god is represented as a man with two arms surrounded by musicians on both sides.
In the Angkorian period, in most scenes, Shiva is depicted with ten arms, dancing on Kala's head. He presents the creation of the dance alphabet - in the form of 108 karana (positions, transitions) described in the Nāṭya Śāstra - by performing a vigorous dance at the time of the twilight: sandya-tandava. We can clearly see some carefully carved mudrās in Banteay Srei. This type of representation is however not systematic.

Kâla is a creature that can be seen throughout the Khmer history. Many interpretations have been given about its visible face in the lower register of many lintels and pediments. It is also called Kirtimukha. This term consists of two Sanskrit words: kirti “glory” and mukha ‘face, mouth or entrance, opening’. In all cases, its features are: a round face, a wide upper jaw, protruding teeth and dilated nostrils in a lion-like snout. The lower jaw is sometimes present but most of the time, only the triangular tongue is visible. Garlands of foliage escape from his mouth. According to an Indian legend, the voracious Kâla demanded a victim to Shiva: the god was very angry about its request and demanded that the creature devours itself. Then Kâla began to execute, until only its face and its upper jaw remained. Shiva then ordered it to play the role of temple guard and remind devotees of the gods' power to protect or destroy. According to this interpretation, Kâla commits everyone to determine whether its own actions are worthy of the gods.

Along with Shiva and the musicians, there is, in several scenes, a female character who appears for the first time in the 10^th century: Kāraikkāl Ammaiyār. “Her name means ‘Mother/Woman from Kāraikkāl’ in the southeastern Indian state of Tamil Nadu. She was probably the first poet to write hymns to the god Shiva in the Tamil language, in approximately the mid-6^th century. Speaking to god in one’s mother tongue, rather than Sanskrit, was pivotal to the development of Hindu bhakti or devotionalism that arose in response to the religions of Jainism and Buddhism, which reached the apex of their popularity in South India during the 5th and 6^th centuries. She is considered the author of 143 poems organized into four works of poetry that are included in the eleventh book of the Tirumuṟai, the Śaiva canon: Aṟputat Tiruvantāti (Sacred Linked Verses of Wonder), with 101 veṇpā verses; Tiruviraṭṭai Maṇimālai (The Sacred Garland of Double Gems), with 20 stanzas alternating in veṇpā and kaṭṭalaik kalittuṟai; and the two patikams called Tiruvālaṅkāṭṭu Mūtta Tiruppatikaṅkaḷ (First Sacred Verses on Tiruvālaṅkāṭu), which are ten-verse poems with an eleventh “signature” verse each and which are set to music (some texts call the first patikam Tiruvālaṅkāṭṭu Mūtta Tiruppatikaṅkaḷ and the second patikam simply Tiruvālaṅkāṭṭu Tiruppatikaṅkaḷ, or Sacred Verses on Tiruvālaṅkāṭu). Kāraikkāl Ammaiyār’s poetry reveals a fascinating portrait of the localization of the pan-Indian god Shiva in the Tamil country and the early formation of a self-conscious community of devotees dedicated to him. In several of her verses, Kāraikkāl Ammaiyār identifies herself as a pēy (demon or ghoul), a member of Shiva’s troupe of ghouls that dance with him in the cremation ground. In the state of Tamil Nadu, Śaiva Siddhānta developed over many centuries to become the dominant philosophical, theological, and ritual system associated with the god Shiva. The tradition was systematized between the 12^th and 14^th centuries but draws its devotional perspectives from the stories and hymns of the Nāyaṉmār (“leaders,” singular nāyaṉār), the sixty-three devotees of Shiva who were canonized as saints in Cēkkiḻār’s 12^th-century hagiography, the Periya Purāṇam, and who continue to be venerated in the Tamil Śaiva tradition today; Kāraikkāl Ammaiyār is the only female poet among them. In Cēkkiḻār’s narrative, Kāraikkāl Ammaiyār is a beautiful, devoted wife and ardent Shiva devotee whose husband is frightened by the manifestations of Shiva’s grace she has earned and thus abandons her. Ammaiyār then asks Shiva to take away her earthly beauty and give her a demon form in which she can properly worship him.”

By Elaine Craddock

At Phnom Chisor, Shiva plays the monochord stick zither. He is accompanied on his left by Vishnu on the drum and Brahma on the small cymbals. The hairstyle and position of the drummer's arms are similar to those of Banteay Srei. On the other hand, the nature of the drum is not identifiable. The small cymbals and the string that unites the two elements are clearly visible. To the right of Shiva, as in Banteay Srei, there is again Kāraikkāl Ammaiyār. The character holds, in her right hand, what we identify as a flapper and in her open left hand, a cylindrical object. This instrument is similar to that of the Sambor Prei Kuk's high relief (2). The shape and holding of the object in the left hand are similar. This instrument and playing position are never represented outside the Shiva's Dances.

What would then be the real nature of this instrument? The part held in the left corolla-shaped hand of Kāraikkāl Ammaiyār could be a block of wood on which a small cymbal would be attached. As for the object held in the right hand, it could be a simple wooden stick.
On the Phnom Penh Museum's high relief (see above), Kāraikkāl Ammaiyār holds an object in her left hand while her right hand lies on the ground. This object is oblong in the near part of its head; its diameter narrows and hangs outside the hand. For now, its remains unidentified.

At Preah Vihear, Shiva dances on an elephant head surmounting Kâla. The god plays a monochord sitck zither. The particular position of his right hand clearly indicates the playing technique where it is appropriate to generate a ‘partial’ (sometimes improperly called ‘harmonic’) and not a note produced by the whole length of the  string. This playing technique is similar to that of contemporary ksae diev. To the left of the deity is a drummer. His instrument could be a goblet drum given its inclination which aims to let the shock wave escape through the open foot. In front of this drummer, Kāraikkāl Ammaiyār again. The sculpture is degraded but reveals however her emaciated body; her right hand is placed on the ground as in the sculpture of the National Museum of Cambodia, her left knee is raised. On the other hand, no instrument is discernible.

This beautiful engraving of a Shiva dancing probably dates from the period of the Shiva reaction following the reign of King Jayavarman VII. It is part of a similar set of engravings adorning a hall of the Preah Khan temple of Angkor. The god dances on a lotus flower, adorned with jewelry typical of Khmer royalty and as well as the clothes of sacred dancers. To his left stands Ganesha, his son who claps his hands.

This high relief, today at the Battambang Museum, could come from Wat Baset. Shiva dances on Kâla's head while playing a monochord stick zither. To the right of the deity, a woman hits a drum. This is an extremely rare event. The only drummers represented outside the Shiva's Dances play in military music ensembles and are, as such, always men. The few identified drummers who animate Shiva's Dance are those of Banteay Srei and Preah Vihar. The instrument shown here could be, as Preah Vihar, a goglet drum given its inclination. To the left of Shiva, Kāraikkāl Ammaiyār. The sculpture is, once again, too eroded to discern what she holds in her right hand.

The so-called “Preah Pithu” archaeological complex consists of a group of five monuments located northeast of the royal palace area, just north of the Prasat Suor Prat towers. From the start, they were designated by five letters T, U, V, X and Y due to the general uncertainty regarding their date of construction. The APSARA Authority, which recently installed information markers, gave them Khmer names.

The west lintel of the U Sanctuary of Preah Pithu's temple represents a Shiva dancing on a Kâla's head. He is surrounded by the two other great gods of the Trimurti: Brahma and Vishnu. The dance is animated by a harpist, below, to the left of Shiva. The instrument is an arched harp, the classical model of the properly Angkorian era . The chord plane is visible but not the strings themselves. A foot at the front of the instrument is also discernible. Ganesha, Shiva's elephant-headed son, faces the harpist. The position of his superimposed hands could suggest that he plays small cymbals, even if they are not represented. Brahma and Vishnu also have their hands superimposed, but the small cymbals are not represented either. In the ancient Khmer orchestra, there is still only one pair of small cymbals whose two interlocking elements represent the sun and the moon. Then, the two divinities may strike simply in their hands.
On the far left, Kāraikkāl Ammaiyār. She once again holds a unidentified object in her right hand.

In May 2020, during an umpteenth visit to the temples of Preah Pithu, we discovered, among the hundreds of blocks strewn around the T sanctuary, two elements in high relief which formerly constituted a pediment representing a dance of Shiva. Given the geographic position of the two blocks, it could be that of the west gate, east side, the natural orientation of Shiva. It is very likely that other elements are buried somewhere in this chaos.

The upper block shows Shiva's torso and three left arms. Above the divinity, on the right, an apsara.

The lower block represents, on the left, Brahma or Vishnu playing small cymbals; on the right, the lower part of Shiva's garment and his damaged left foot. Below, three characters including, in the center, Kāraikkāl Ammaiyār: his gaze is raised to Shiva and his mouth is open to sing the hymns; she is wearing a shiva chignon. To the left of the bun, there remains an element of pointed shape which could be the object which it usually holds and which is, among the Khmers, always of an improbable nature.

To determine which of Brahma or Vishnu plays cymbals, other blocks will have to be found.