The Bronze Rain Drums - A Work of Art
The
bronze drums are considered artistic masterpieces today. They represent distinct national features,
psychology, and the artistic tastes of the peoples of the past. The drums started as tribal drums
used in ritual, and during the bronze age the drums became part of the royal patronage, played for
the royals and signaling the call to war.
A strong desire to show the beliefs and legends of the people are displayed on the drum. This dominated the artistic creation of the drum and the need to cover the drum with pictorial depictions of these legends, rituals and beliefs of the people. Often the art included pictures of the warriors in their boats with their feather headdresses going to war. Often in the boats there was a drum shown at the back of the boat. This let anthropologists know the importance of the waterways to the people of Indo-China. They not only used the waterways for trade, but for movement in war.
The height, size and width of the drums became a sacred symbol from which people gained a sense of comfort and beauty. The form became a constant in what the people considered the value of aesthetic beauty. Even though the drums were heavy and bulky, but seems to create a sense of softness and delicacy to the drums.
The artistic expressions on the drum range from patterned lines to depictions of daily events, to the drawings of frogs, toads, and serpents. All were placed in multi-levels on the drums giving each layers of stories to tell.
During tribal times the drums depicted scenes of sorcery showing themes of sacrifice of animals and man. The drums were part of the religion often being the object that the sacrifices were made for.
The figures that appeared often on the drums were those of frogs and toads. Both had special meanings for being on the drums, coming from myths and legends. The toad represents the markings of the face of the moon. The toad is seen as evil because he hunts and eats at night. The breath of the toad is supposed to be poisonous vapor and if breathed on you could die.
The toad is thought to have exceptional powers and so they are often depicted with the sacred symbol of the drum.
The frog is seen as a clean, wholesome and innocent creature. In India the poet Vasishtha compares the croaking of frogs to the chanting of the Brahmans to Parjana for rain in the time of drought. The frog is seen as good and are shown on the drum because they are givers to the people.
Even with their bulk and heaviness, the drums create a sense of beauty and grace that passed to the people as a sense of being able to integrate sublimity with beauty, and strength with grace. They were sacred symbols to the people of ancient Indo-China, and the art work of the drums are one of the few clues scientists have today about the rituals and artistic creations of these people.
