Posts Tagged ‘Painting’

Jan

A Cave, a lost painting and the birth star of Sri Raja Raja Chola - Thiru Nandikkarai

Fellow enthusiast Shankar had been pushing me to see a faint outline of a Ganesha for sometime now, but for some unexplainable reason, I never spent time to study it, despite him sending me some real high resolution images. Little did I realise then what it held in it and that it would choose its own time to reveal itself to us.

When Numismatist Sri Raman said that he had some photos that had come into a waste paper mart, which seemed to cover areas of my interest and if i would like to procure them, i hadn’t the faintest idea of what they would contain. Yet, he persisted and sent me a few scanned images. He had picked them wisely, one was an immaculate bronze and another the famed Tanjore big temple painting - but the images were atleast half a century old !!! I took the bait and asked him to get the entire lot.

When Arvind and me looked at the eclectic mix of fading monographs, one set struck our eyes. They were marked on reverse Thirunandikkarai and dated 1942.

My thoughts raced to Shankar and he obliged by sending his entire collection as the cave stood today ” Thiru Nandikkarai - a cave temple protected by ASI in Kanyakumari district, 10Kms from Thiruvattaru ( 40 Kms from nagerkoil)”

The insides of the cave ( as he had sent me earlier - you wouldn’t fault me for not going over it properly !)

The cave itself is attributed stylistically to 8th C CE ( you can see the provision of a channel for the daily ablution water to flow out of the sanctum which is considered a later feature)

But what i had missed earlier was the faint red outlines which Shankar had been pushing me to study.

It was when i say the half a century old photographs from the waste paper mart that i realised the folly.

A classy Ganapathy complete with his own dwarf attendant on the top ( reminded me of similar ones from the Kanchi Kailsantha temple !) - notice the bold strokes of the hands. Sadly much has been lost since the time the photos were taken.

This was not all, there were more in the collection. Let me draw your attention to the wall we saw earlier, slightly to the top center right.

Now to reference the photographs

Simply stunning yet sad at the continuing loss of our treasures.

There are two more sets in the collection, which we have not been able to spot in current day.

What are these depictions ?

Btw, the cave holds another very important historical information in its entrance.

There is some speculation on the Birthstar of the Great Raja Raja Chola - if he is born in Aippasi Sadayam or Chittirai Sadayam.

Dr. Kudavayil Balasubramaniam in his book on Tiruvarur Thyagaraja temple, quotes an inscription of Rajendra Chola that gives clarity on subject::

” Naam Pirantha Aadi thiruvathiriyum
Nam Ayyan Pirandharuliya AIPPASI SADHAYAMUM .. ”

The article by sir and the text of inscription

- says Rajendra I and gives a grant on the Natal Star of Rajendra I and his father Rajaraja I.

However, in this very cave in Thiru Nandikkarai there is an inscription of Sri Raja Raja himself,

TRAVANCORE STATE

Tirunandikkarai.
”
185. On the east wall of the rock-cut iva shrine. Belongs to
the eighteenth year of Rajaraja I and records grant to the temple
for the celebration of a festival in Aippasi, Satabhisha, the birth-
day of the king. See Trav. Arch. Ser. t Vol. I, pp. 291-2.”

Btw, we do not know which great soul these collection of old photographs are and how they ended up in a waste paper mart. There are no names on them and hence if someone could identify any, please let us know.

The Pride of Panamalai - recreated -part 2

Thanks for the overwhelming support for the first part of the post. Before we begin the second part, must thank Mr. K.Srinivas of The Chroma Academy, for enlightening us about the first person to have discovered this amazing fragment of Pallava art. He shared the relevant extracts from the book ‘Art I Adore’ by Shri Amal Ghose - ‘A book on art based on interviews with K. Ramamurty’

The account starts with an artist proudly showing off a receipt - a receipt for a fine fresco painting of the seventh century origin, copied by an unemployed artist, just four years after India achieved Independence. It read as below

” This is to certify that his Museum purchased from Shri K. Ramamurti, artist, a copy of the mural painting of the Pallava period from the temple at Panamalai. Mr. Ramamurti was the very first artist to copy this interesting mural. - Superintendent, Government Museum, Madras. ”

The account of how he found the amazing work is heart rendering. Mr Ramamurti chanced on a newspaper (The Hindu) article about a foreigner camping at Pondicherry Ashram throwing a hint that there were faint lines indicating a vanishing Fresco on the temple wall in a temple he visited in Panamalai hills.

He saw his chance to discover a piece of history and set himself on the task. He had to pawn his wife’s jewels to undertake the journey, but when he landed there - the priests and local had no knowledge of such a fresco. He did not deter and went ahead to search every inch of the temple, sleeping there itself. On the 15th day of his search, he found a faint line in one of the inner shrines. Was it indicative of a head? He painstakingly started removing the layers of plaster that had been put on the original painting to reveal the Umai of Panamalai.

He then remembered the wet process his Guru Deviprasad had taught him, for mastering the water color. Applying the same process slowly but accurately, he produced the marvelous Panamalai Parvati for proper preservation for Posterity’s immense happiness.

Many years later when he was asked if he remembered anything more about the discovery he says

” Nothing but the heavenly joy I tasted at those unforgettable moments of the discovery of the Panamalai fresco has remained fresh in my heart.’ He was Kora Ramamurti

I am not sure where the said reproduction exists in the Madras Museum. It would be great if we can find it. In order to truly appreciate the greatness of the artist - i take you closer to view how the artist has used the shades of green to provide the contour of the face and then the clear highlight to bring out the nose.

A big salute to the discoverer and a bigger salute to the master artist, we continue our own effort at recreating the masterpiece.

Smt Subhashini the artist, talks of the challenging task

Recreating Panamalai Umai was a wonderful experience. Starting with what was available and slowly discovering the lost pieces turned out to be an enjoyable process. Especially when you have Mr Vijay helping with required references and hi resolution images, everything falls in place perfectly.

When arrived at the first complete sketch of umai the amount of happiness we had can never be explained with words. But the best part of it was when I started painting. This time, I have used acrylic paint on canvas. Starting from the textured background and slowly revealing her layer by layer was like opening a very special gift wrapped in many layers.