Home and Fragrances

Tanjore Painting: Art of the Gods When we think of Indian art, many of us immediately imagine resplendent depictions of the Hindu gods. We think of bright colors, beatific poses, and gold leaf. Whether we know it or not, what we are thinking of are Tanjore (Thanjavur) paintings. Also known as “religious paintings with a royal heritage,” this form of south Indian visual art began in the town of Tanjore in the 16th century. These oil paintings have been made by indigenous artists for generations, and it is kept alive by practitioners who faithfully replicate the old ways and the beloved style.

It is an undisputed fact that Tamil sculptors cast some of India’s most beautiful bronzes. One of the major South Indian dynasties, the Cholas who ruled over the Tamil-speaking land from the mid-ninth century to the thirteenth century contributed immensely to the art of sculpting in India. Chola sculptors created images in stone and metal of exceptional elegance and refinement. Icons of Hindu deities and saints, most of them laboriously carved from granite, were made to fill the deep plastered niches of Chola temple walls and gates. Bronze images, widely regarded as some of the world’s greatest metal sculptures, were also produced, especially in and around Tanjore. Many of these portable bronzes were carried in procession in elaborately carved wooden temple carts. A moment of genuine artistic coherence, the Chola period profoundly altered the course of South Indian art. Here, let us have a look at some of the most significant and exceptional Chola Bronze sculptures that have been preserved over time and are still available at museums. The images shown are not the original ones, but the imitations of these by talented artists from Swamimalai, Tamil Nadu.

"Difficult to reconcile to some seemingly exaggerated statements, which cannot be substantiated by any means of knowledge....Any sentence can convey its meaning in either of two ways....During a Vedic sacrifice, a particular space is marked out for its performance....Hence an outlet for the smoke should be constructed....Taken by itself this Arthavada statement holds no meaning....When it is said ‘feed all Brahmins’, it does not mean that we feed all Brahmins in the world....Vedic Karma leads to fruits only if it has been fully completed....One should collect water holding a piece of gold in one’s hand....Enlightening in its method and inspirational in its impact."

"One of the travelers was a sadhu (saint). His reaction was opposite to the general one....There is no difference between god and his devotees....In the Mahabharata, Queen Draupadi once asked Krishna why he came so late to prevent her disrobing?....Here we recall Krishna, even though he is the supreme lord of the universe, running helplessly scared of his mother....When Radha woke up she saw him lying near her. From his whole form radiated her name: "Radhe Radhe." She too then fainted in intense ecstasy.....Chanting thus, she would toss one grain of rice into a bowl, and only use rice from that container for her consumption. She truly embodied the ideal of the Gita, where god says: "Whatever you eat, O Arjuna, do it as an offering to me"...."

"Folk art is the creative expression of those who uninfluenced by princely ostentation and ecclesiastic conservatism, revealed in lines and forms what they had within and around... Its definitions vary from the art of tribes, primitive people, ethnic groups to an art by family tradition... folk art in its entirety celebrates joy, festivities, ceremonial occasions, and shuns sensuousness, voluptuous modeling, more vehemently nudeness and all forms of obscenity... A folk painting is composed of overlapping forms, irrational anatomy, irregular imagery, and random motifs but its polyphonic character has an amazing coherence and unity... In folk art, ritualism rarely reflects but it has always sustained in ritualism..."