Union - Shiva and Shakti - The Nagalinga Blossom

The Nagalinga flower, which is the blossom of the Cannonball tree is considered dear to Shiva. In this painting the Nagalinga blossom covers the Meru in a representation of the union of Shiva and Shakti - Matter and Energy - from where all Life emerges.

The Meru is the three-dimensional extrapolation of the SriChakram which again, is a geometric diagram - Yantra - and worshipped by devotees of Shiva and Parvati.  The mystical sacred geometric diagram consists of interlocking triangles with a center point known as the Bindu. When the flat diagram of triangles is represented in three dimensions, the Bindu forms the top of a pyramid structure which is the Meru. The triangles represent both the Cosmos and the human body.

Gouache and Acrylic on watercolor paper. 12x12

#Sacred Geometry #Indian MiniaturePainting #IndianArt #SriChakram #Meru #Nagalingamflower #Cannonballtree #self-taught

Vanamali....with Andal nestled on His lap.

Original Art by Harini Narayan - Gouache and acrylic on water colour paper. 11x14"
#Indian miniature #Pichchvai #sacredgeomtery #Vishnu #Vanamali #Andal #East Indian Bracelet Parrakeet
See below for Andal's story.

Andal's story

The story of Andal is a beautiful account of the highest form of love and devotion to the chosen form of the Supreme God. Andal was the only female saint among 12 saints known as Alwars in the SriVaishnava tradition who worshipped Vishnu as the Supreme God. She is believed to have composed poetry out of love for Kannan, (another name for Krishna) a form of Vishnu approximately in the 7th or 8th century AD. Her compositions are believed to capture the highest philosophical ideas which form the essence of the Vedas. Her celebrated composition, the Tiruppavai, is sung early in the morning in the month of Margazhi, where young girls pray for a good and noble husband like Vishnu!

Vishnuchittar, also known as Periyazhvar, was an ardent devotee of Lord Vishnu, who tended to his garden and offered garlands made out of the flowers from his garden to the temple in Srirangam. One day, he heard the cries of an infant coming from his garden and found a beautiful baby girl under a bush. He named her Kodai and cared for her as his child. She was brought up hearing stories about the handsome and noble Vishnu in his many forms and believed from a young age that she will one day marry him. She saw her father make garlands to be sent to the temple, and tried out the garland herself before it is sent to the temple. This happened several days without her father's knowledge. One day, however, the temple priest called Vishnuchittar and showed him the garland which bore signs of already having been used. There was a strand of human hair found on the garland. Vishnuchittar was saddened when he realized that his dear daughter Kodai had tried on the garland first, even though this was forbidden. He returned to his home and chastised her. He then made a fresh garland to send to the temple. That night he had a dream where Lord Vishnu himself appeared and asked Vishnuchittar why he gave him a fresh garland when he was used to having the garland worn by Kodai. Vishnu said that he missed the fragrance of Kodai in the garland! Vishnuchittar was amazed and realized that Vishnu had indeed also chosen Kodai as his consort. He is then instructed to make preparations for the wedding so that Vishnu can come and marry Kodai.

The auspicious day brought the most handsome Bridegroom to Vishnuchittar's home where the wedding was celebrated with all the necessary rituals. Vishnuchittar then realized that Kodai must leave with her husband to Srirangam, where Vishuu as Ranganatha reposes on his serpent bed. He bid his dearest daughter and Son-in-law a fond farewell and the procession left for Srirangam. When Lord Ranganatha arrived in Srirangam, he walked swiftly into the temple and entered the sanctum sanctorum where he reclines on Adisesha, the 1000-headed serpent. The shy bride Kodai followed behind her newly-wedded husband. When He entered the sanctum sanctorum, she hesitated. She was bashful to enter his bedroom! But she paused only for a minute, before she realized that she was, after all, His consort and was entitled to be at his side! She walked in behind her husband and disappeared into the sanctum. Young Kodai had merged with her Lord Ranganatha!

Kodai is forever revered as Andal and is considered an incarnation of Goddess Lakshmi and all  SriVaishnava temples have a sanctum dedicated to her. She is always represented with a parrot in her hand.

It is the presence of the parrot which inspired me to create this painting. Here, Vishnu is referred to as Vanamali - one who wears the garland made out of forest creepers - and is represented as a beautiful forest tree. Isn't He everywhere around us? Andal, is represented as a parrot and is shown nestled in His lap. The artist has chosen to depict Andal as an East Indian Bracelet Parrakeet.

Closer to home on the Silk Route......

I have just returned from one of the most memorable vacations in India...travelling from Delhi through Punjab and U.P to places that have, till now, been only names on maps. Our first stop was going to be the Golden Temple at Amritsar, but we made a detour through Patiala in search of Phulkaris......So this detour was only possible, because we were four girlfriends travelling in a car without our respective spouses.....because none of the men would have agreed to detours in search of embroidered fabric!!

While Phulkari textiles are available in the Patiala bazaar, we were in search of a particular store which came highly recommended to my friend, Raji. Zigzagging through the narrow bazaar streets finally led us to the said-store where we were welcomed like long-lost family....Every piece of hand-made phulkaris were displayed so that we could make our selection.

Phulkari is a style of folk embroidery that is typical to the Punjab region in India and Pakistan going back, probably to the mid-15th century. It is possible that this tradition also had its origins in Central Asia. Like other embroidery traditions along the Silk Route, Phulkaris were created by Hindu and Sikh women for their dowries and were intrinsic to their wedding preparations. Literally meaning, 'flower work', this embroidery was traditionally done on homespun cotton background (khadder) with silk floss yarn, called 'pat'. Current versions of phulkari can be found on georgette and crepe silk as well as the traditional cotton. The more dense embroidered pieces, used for special occasions and ceremonies are know as Bagh, while the more sparsely embroidered ones are the Phulkaris. The Baghs are distinguished by the fact that the base cloth is not visible due to the dense embroidery. 

Since the main stitch is the darning stitch, the motifs tend to be geometric or highly stylized. Most baghs are decorated with geometric shapes. Otherwise motifs tend to be drawn from everyday life with names like suraj mukhi (sunflower), lehariya (waves), ikka bagh (diamonds from playing cards), The more elaborate pieces may have 5 colours (panchranga) or 7 colours (satranga). 

Our trip yielded some beautiful pieces. I picked up two dupattas, one in cotton and the other in georgette.

While the first one is an authentic hand-made one, the second one is a machine-embroidered piece mimicking the hand-made embroidery. I also have a beautiful Kurti which came from my friend, Padmini Chandra's collection. This piece is embroidered on silk organza and is beautifully finished by Padmini.

Here are my Phulkaris.......

Hand-embroidered Phulkari on cotton homespun

Hand-embroidered Phulkari - detail

Hand-embroidered Phulkari Kurti on Silk Organza

Hand-embroidered Phulkari  on Silk Organza - detail

For further reading on these lovely textiles, please check out the following link

http://www.kunstpedia.com/articles/phulkari-and-bagh-embroideries-of-the-punjab.html

Sabyasachi Mukherjee and the saree....

The saree is my favorite garment of choice; whether it be a heavy Kanjeevaram, or a brocaded Benarasi Tanchoi or an embroidered French chiffon, I have always thought that there is no other garment that can equal the saree for its grace and elegance and yet be the sexiest garment ever! One need not look further than at Sabyasachi Mukherjee's designs for sarees to understand where I am coming from. In the past couple of years, movie stars like Vidya Balan and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan have discovered this amazing designer. Vidya Balan, especially has had a Sabyasachi makeover and is now popularly known as his muse. She has redefined what it means to dress like an Indian woman, completely feminine, extremely graceful and totally sensuous. Need I say more?

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Also love the new series on NDTV - Band, Baaja, Bride with Sabyasachi. He, along with Ambika Anand help brides with their makeovers. I especially loved the latest episode with the traditional Bengali bride. Here is the link to the show's website.
http://goodtimes.ndtv.com/bandbaajabride/default.aspx

On the old Silk Route, I found Suzanis.........

Image courtesy of the Madeline Weinrib Atelier


I stumbled upon Suzanis when I was browsing through World Imports one day. Although this blog originally started out as a place where I could write about Indian and South Asian Art, Design and Architeture, I digress this time, to write about an embroidery tradition which had its origin in Uzbekistan, along the old Silk Route. And when you see these embroidered beauties, you will see why I would have an affinity for these textiles.

Although Suzanis are associated primarily with Uzbekistan, they seem to have been found all along the ancient Silk Route, from Sindh through northern Afghanistan to Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and as far west as Turkey. Embroidery was a craft that brought women together for the practical purpose of creating bedspreads and other household linen for the dowry of young girls. This was true of most ancient cultures. In Uzbekistan, the work of such embroidery began when a daughter was born and continued until her dowry was complete. In certain affluent provinces, the dowry was expected to include at least ten suzanis of varying sizes to serve different functions. Some were used as bed coverings, some as room dividers, or as prayer rugs or wrapping cloths.

The base fabric is traditionally a silk-cotton blend with a silk warp and cotton weft. (See my earlier post on Mashroo). The embroidery technique, using silk thread is done with two main types of stitches: the Basma or Bukhara couching which is like a satin stitch and can cover large areas; and the chain stitch which is done with a hook called the tambour. The base fabric is first washed with a soft 'tea wash'. The pattern is drawn on the fabric and was usually worked in panels, which were then assembled. This allowed for a division of labour on each piece. The silk threads used for embroidery are dyed with vegetable dyes - pomegranate, indigo, madder and sumac - again very similar to the dyes used in other indigenous fabric traditions (see my post on Kalamkari). The result is a piece of art with the most glorious mellowing of colours over time.
For a detailed description on this process, check out http://www.marlamallett.com/suzanis.htm
There is an excellent collection of antique suzanis on this site.

Also check out http://www.oldworldimports.net for more samples of suzanis.
Image courtesy of www.anahitagallery.com

Pat Stanton on Stanistan Designs combines vintage suzanis with beautiful furniture frames and the results are absolutely delicious. Check out her website at www.stanistandesign.com.

South Indian Bronzes

Siva, as Nataraja, Lord of Dance, 12th century, Victoria and Albert Museum, London.

On a recent trip to London, I was fortunate to visit the Victoria and Albert Museum in Kensington. The original purpose of my visit to the Museum was to see the textile collection there, which is one of the most comprehensive collections in the world. (See my earlier post on the Calico Museum of Textiles which was started by the Sarabhai family with assistance from John Irwin) However, finding the exhibit on South Indian bronzes was a special treat. Here was the irony…me, a woman of South Indian origin (with Thanjavur antecedents, to be specific) who lives in the United States coming to London to see an exhibition of Bronzes from Thanjavur!

The central piece of the collection at the V & A museum is a 12^th century Shiva as Nataraja, that most quintessential of South Indian Bronze icons. The great Chola king, Raja Raja Chola was a great devotee of Lord Shiva, and commissioned the utsava murthy of Shiva as Nataraja, famous in Chidambaram. Utsava Murthys were commissioned by the kings for the ceremonial temple processions that marked regular Temple activities. To quote Kausalya Santhanam in her article ‘Unbroken Tradition’ ”Siva as Nataraja, the King of Dance assumed such breathtaking perfection that the image danced its way into the hearts of devotees then and even western connoisseurs such as sculptor Rodin 1000 years later. Representing cosmic energy, encapsulating the motion, rest and rhythm of the universe, stamping out the evil demon of ignorance, matted locks flying, foot upraised and arm flung out, the image of Nataraja embodies the consummate skill of the stapathi(artisan-sculptor) and a millennia later is still the most favourite form for the craftsman.”

The Chola kings, who ruled from their majestic capital at Thanjavur were generous patrons of the arts and architecture and contributed greatly to the rich traditions of dance (bharata natyam), temple architecture and religious iconography. It is therefore no coincidence that the traditions of Bharata Natyam are closely woven with temple traditions and Shilpa Shastra (art of sculpture). In fact, Bharata Natyam and Shilpa Shastra speak a common language of mudras and talas.

The Talamana paddathi, in the Shilpa Shastra is the strict system of rules which govern the art of religious icons with scales for both absolute and relative measurements. The units of measurement are an angulam (quite literally, a finger width) and a tala, which is made up of 12 angulams. When an icon was commissioned, the tala was measured by the length of the palm (from the wrist to the tip of the middle finger) of the shilpi (artisan) or the yajamana - the one who commissioned the project. Where tala is rhythm in dance, it is a unit of measurement in the strict Shilpa Shastra. Mudras are hand gestures, common to both Bharata Natyam and Shilpa Shastra. The adornment, clothing, the number of arms and faces, the weapons, and the posture of the image are also prescribed in strict terms. There are also further rules for the proportionate measurements of the main deity if it is supposed to be a male, or a female in relation to other images in a grouping. For instance the dwarapalakas in the Brihadeeswara temple are themselves huge, but have to be so in order to be proportionate to the massive Siva Lingam in the sanctum sanctorum.

The ancient cire perdue or lost wax process of bronze casting has been handed down unchanged through the centuries. With no physical model serving as a reference, the sthapati carves a wax model of the image using the tala measurements marked out on a coconut frond. This model is then coated with a thick layer of river sand and clay. The stapathis claim that the alluvial sand and clay of the Cauvery River are ideally suited for this purpose. The model is then dried thoroughly and heated to melt the wax. Liquid metal is poured though an opening at the base of the model. Traditionally, Panchaloham, an alloy of copper, brass, lead, silver and gold was used to symbolize the five elements. Now it has been replaced with a combination of copper, tin, brass and lead. When the hot metal is poured into the mold, the wax melts and is displaced, giving the process its name. The model is then cooled and the mould is broken to reveal the image of the deity. If needed, the image is further refined and embellished by the stapathi.

The entire process is imbued with spirituality. The stapathi starts the process by meditating on the Dhyana Shloka for each deity, which enumerates the spiritual qualities of the deity. The Lakshanas describe the physical and facial characteristics. The icons are believed to be imbued with Prana, the sacred breath of life. The process culminates when the temple priests perform special ceremonies to finally invest the metal icon with divinity with the ‘opening of the eyes’ – an awakening of the senses, as it were. It is traditionally believed that Divinity increases in the idol as it is worshipped.

The art and science of these bronze sculptures reached the peak of perfection between the 10^th and 14th centuries in the Chola kingdom in Tamil Nadu. That the stapathi) could chisel metal with such elegant symmetry and grace over a thousand years ago is a testament to the high degree of refinement and sophistication that existed in the subcontinent in that period. One can still see this art form, practiced with little variation, in the town of Swamimalai, about 30 kms from Thanjavur, the old Chola capital.

The Cleveland Museum of Art still has an excellent website dedicated to the subject of bronzes, called the 'Sensuous and the Sacred - Chola Bronzes from South India. Click here to view this website for backgroundinformation and a demonstration on the art form.

Parvati - 12th century - Sarasvati Mahal Museum, Thanjavur

Somaskanda - Shiva, Uma and Skanda - 11th century, private collection.

Krishna subduing Kaliya, 16th century, Victoria and Albert Museum, London.

Varaha (Vishnu) and Bhudevi (Lakshmi), pre-17th century, Victoria and Albert Museum, London.

Sources:

Art and Science of Chola Bronzes by Sharada Srinivasa.

Hindu Onnet.com: Unbroken Tradition by Kausalya Santhanam

Preserving our Textile Traditions: The Calico Museum of Textiles

While I was writing my previous post, I started drifting back to the time when we had visited Ahmedabad in the early 80’s. The most vivid memory of the visit was a trip to see the Calico Museum of Textiles – My father had suggested that we take a trip to see the museum since we did not have much to do with ourselves during those holidays (needless to say it was before people got addicted to TV shows or video-games !!)
Gira Sarabhai, the daughter of philanthropist Ambalal Sarabhai, was a keen collector of fine old Indian textiles and had conceived establishing a Museum of Indian Textiles. In this endeavor, she collaborated with John Irwin, who was then keeper of the Indian Section of the prestigious Victoria and Albert Museum in London. It was appropriate that the museum, which was concerned with both the historical and technical study of Indian handicraft and industrial textiles, should be established in Ahmedabad, a town with a long history of fine woven, printed and embroidered textiles. By the early 50's however, the Museum started to concentrate its energy on the vast field of handicraft textiles.

The museum was like nothing I had expected. Set within the Sarabhai Retreat amid spacious lawns, the collection of old textiles was housed in two different structures: the Sarabhai-ni-Haveli, and another complex of buildings known as the Chauk. Dating back to 1930, the sprawling Haveli, with its inlaid-marble floors and spacious rooms situated within a picturesque garden, served for many years as the residence of the Sarabhai family. The Haveli now houses the vast collection of religious textiles and artifacts. The visitor is first greeted by a small reconstructed shrine to Shrinathji, before being guided to the gallery of Pichchwais and patachitras which record the stories of the Vallabh Sampradaya. The Haveli is also home to a comprehensive collection of miniatures, Jain artifacts and South Indian Bronzes. The Chauk, a complex of old buildings around a swimming pool has been transformed by facades of carved wood and mud construction to resemble typical traditional Gujarati houses. Kalamkaaris, Mughal court textiles, woven and brocaded fabrics, yarn resist-dyed textiles and tie-dyed textiles are all housed within the Chauk. Also displayed nearby are the larger pieces such as Mughal tents and carpets.

The museum is unique in the sense that it not only houses over 5 centuries of India’s rich textile heritage, it also does so in a setting that transports the visitor to another era. The design of the museum is itself beautiful as well as functional in the purpose that it serves. It is appropriate that these beautiful textiles are displayed in such an aesthetically pleasing setting. Much thought has gone into the preservation of these textiles which are therefore displayed in a strictly controlled environment. Light and humidity are carefully monitored as is the crowd at any given time. Not only is the museum important from the point of view of preserving the large collection of heritage textiles, it also serves as the leading source of reference material for surviving craftspeople. An ambitious Publications program was launched by the museum in its early days and has gained a world-wide reputation for its scholarly publications. Based on research by eminent Indian and International scholars, these publications have aimed at providing a focus and setting a standard for all who wish to see Indian textiles studied seriously from a historical as well as technical point of view.

To say that I was awestruck during my visit to the museum would be an understatement. Perhaps this was where my love of Indian textiles and design began.

Please visit the Calico Museum if you find yourselves in or around Ahmedabad.