(From Poems to Siva, Indira Vishvanathan Peterson)

One moves on from here to the main gallery space. Here, lit as if in rays of revelation, the bronzes are placed in careful conjunction and yet with enough space to move around and view them in a 3600 angle. For background there is white, slubbed cloth that throws off the effect of the gleam of patina on the metals of several centuries. Here there is a beautiful Devi- Matangi, a Kalyanasundara Shiva and Parvati, two pairs of Somaskandas - "one on a common plinth, representing Skanda are two tiny feet as the statue seems to have been lost and two very rare bronzes, one of Annapurna and the other of Mahesvari, both of which are described below.

The Annapurna in the Sarabhai collection is said to be one of the best representations of the goddess who is the bestower of food. This I discovered looking through Dr. C. Sivaramamurti's book. Her exceedingly large and full breasts and the holding of the ladle are clear signs of the iconography that establish her identity as the nourishing mother goddess. However, the catalogue gives us the clue that in her left hand she could probably have been holding a "jewelled vessel filled with honey and celestial foods," as prescribed in the Karana Agama. It also acknoweldges that seldom is the disposition of the hands and the fingers without a nervous grace in works of this kind. This very evident grace is further heightened by her damilla coiffure hairstyles, alluding to early Tamil iconsignage that is surprisingly very close to some of the hairstyles and kondais seen even today. Her full and high breasts are not so much a reference to sensuality but an allusion to the mother who feeds the entire world. The patterned clothing on her lower body and jewellery on her arms and feet makes it a figure of great artistry and detail.

Turning slowly is the other major piece of the gallery. It is that of Mahesvari. Probably part of a fabulous (if one is to go by this piece) set of saptamatrikas, she represents the feminine aspect of Shiva and is not to be mistaken for the consort Uma or Parvati. This can be identified by the synergy of the symbols on this bronze. There is the datura flower and the crescent moon in her hair, backed by a radiating halo. Also in her hands are the axe and the deer which are clearly symbols of Shiva. She sits with an extremely benign expression contrasting with the fury presence of the halo which reminds one of radiating energy, sun rays or some kind of fire generated through tapas. The dichotomy of this imagery and the almost palpable heat from the halo makes this a bronze to view and cherish in memory. Her full breasts are held tightly by a snake band further confirming the connection to Siva. The small girdle, skirt and jewellery complete the piece with the sitting posture and abhaya mudra exuding a sense of benevolence.

As Thomas Coburn says - in Devi Mahatmya - the Crystalliation of the Goddess Tradition - "Mahesvari sallied forth, mounted upon a bull, bearing the best of tridents, having great serpents for bracelets, adorned with the moon's crescent." He goes on to state Mahesvari, Paramesvari and Visvesvari are all said to her who is Isvari - she who is powerful, competent, sovreign, the queen. The Sakti of Siva. To see the bronze from all angles is to experience this energy.

Which brings us to the point of experience in the gallery. How does a small gallery in Ahmedabad, in an old house, allow you to experience pieces that are totally out of context to the reality of the rest of the museum? The answer lies in the homework done by those who have put together this space and the bronzes in them. Besides photographs allowing you to visualise the context these bronzes were used in, there are shlokas and Tevaram on tape to add to the auditory experience of imagination and in some cases, memory. This is clearly the sign of being able to enjoy the pieces much more than viewing them behind glass cases in many of our museums. Chariot textiles from the South, deepams and subsidiary objects all add to the experience of the imagined - rasa is invoked, conceived and experienced. This ability is rarely achieved in any other Indian Museum and credit must go to the team at the Sarabhai Foundation for having achieved this. As B. N. Goswamy says in his note on a photo essay by Dashrath Patel on experiencing the museum "The museum sets out to do something else, it taps into a rich Indian vein and embodies ways of seeing and of establishing relationship, that are most appropriately rooted in the culture from which the objects it houses come." Returning outside to a cloud filled sky, these are exactly the thoughts in my mind.

It is remarkable that the bronze image makers or shilpis were, in some intuitive way, able to create imagery from the essential strong form of the line of the these bronzes, that has stayed with us to cherish over a thousand years. To appreciate the essence of these pieces, there does need to be reference to context of myth and ritual and yet they transcend that when in museums they achieve that rare synaesthesia of becoming world art. Somewhere in the mind's eye of the shilpi and in the workings of their sastras, line evolved to the concretisation of these bronzes which give us till today a permanent neuro aesthetic experience not just for Indians with the rasa to appreciate, but for all humanity at large.

Peacocks call out to their mates. The clouds have turned dark. I leave in a thunder burst.