Shaiva Saint Appar, Holding a Spade

This 14th-century Chola bronze from Tamil Nadu depicts Appar (c. 570-650 CE), one of the sixty-three Nayanar saints of Tamil Shaivism. He holds his distinctive attribute: a spade (ulavarapadai). Appar earned this symbol by physically cleaning dilapidated Shiva temples with a farmer's hoe, restoring neglected shrines across South India. Born Marunikkiyar, he converted to Jainism and became head of a Jain monastery before returning to Shaivism after a painful illness.

He composed 4,900 devotional hymns to Shiva, of which 313 survive in the Tirumurai. This bronze was created as a processional sculpture, carried outside the temple during festivals celebrating the saint's birth and anniversaries. Chola bronzes were cast using the lost-wax technique in panchaloha (five-metal alloy: copper, zinc, tin, plus traces of gold and silver). Each mold produces only one piece, making every Chola bronze unique. It's at the Art Institute of Chicago.