In South India a number of portrait scupltures are found. In the Varaha cave at Mahabalipuram are two sculptured royal male figure each with their two queens. Below each of the male figures there is an inscription. One reads ‘Sri Simha Vinna Pottratirajan’ and the other Sri Mahendra Pottratirajan’.
They have been identified in three different ways by scholars. The scuptures are typical of the excellence attained in the art of portraiture under the Pallavas. The Chola sculptors excelled their Pallava counterparts in portraiture as is testified to by the brilliant pieces of art at Srinivasanallur and Kumbakonam.
The portrait of Tirukkarrali-piccan in the temple of Tiruvaduturai which indicates “the realistic reproduction of the facial traits practised by the artists of the tenth century’, and the beautiful bronze stature in the Kalahasti temple representing Cholamadevi, the queen of Rajaraja I are respectively considered to be the earliest dated portrait and metal images of the Chola period. However this art was never seriously practised in South India.