The style of art called ‘Thanjavur paintings’, found in most South Indian homes, is extremely popular, but has hardly been well understood. This genre of art which is essentially religious broadly comprises two essential themes: the first being scenes from the epics and the puranas as depicted on the walls and pillars of temples, and secondly, images of deities consecrated inside temples, particularly of popular ones such as Srirangam and Tirumala. Portraits of kings, who were the patrons of these artists, as well as priests and ordinary individuals also find a place in these paintings.
This book highlights the rare collection of three hundred paintings which includes reverse-glass works and a few lithographs belonging to Kuldip Singh, an architect and town-planner, who began his journey as an art collector, 40 years ago in South India. The majority of the works in this book are from the 19th to the early 20th century.
Drawing from murals
Anna L. Dallapiccola mentions that the artists of the Thanjavur paintings used the important aspects of the murals of the 17th and 18th centuries, the Nayak era in Tamil Nadu which included ‘simple layout, imposing figures, clear outlines and, above all, a vibrant palette.’
Details that go into the making of a painting such as the surface on which they were painted consisting of numerous layers of paper or wasli, stuck on a wooden base, with one or two sheets of cloth pasted over the wasli and primed with a mixture of white lead, gum Arabic, copper-sulphate and kanji (rice gruel) are highlighted. The background colours traditionally used were rich tones such as deep green, deep blue or red, and also combinations of red and green or red and blue, with artists using colours of both vegetal and mineral origin: red ochre, yellow ochre, chrome yellow and indigo.
Factory-made pigments from Europe, from the end of the 19th century, were also later used, providing the artists with a larger variety of colours. The most eye-catching and prominent feature of these paintings were the relief decoration covered with gold-leaf or gilded paper.
The layout of these artistic creations were generally symmetric with the principal image in the centre and the goddesses and other religious figures near the main deity. Devotees, donors and others are sometimes depicted too.
Planets, geometric designs
There is a separate chapter on Yantras and Navagrahas. One of the two paintings of Yantras, which are geometrical diagrams having mystical powers, described in this book is an unusual and detailed painting of Ganesha seated in the middle of a hexagon, inscribed in an octagon, which again is inside a circle. At the angles of the two polygons are six, respectively eight, petals, each having an inscription, probably a syllable. The exterior of this circle has 50 smaller petals inscribed with syllables. The weapons or attributes of Ganesha which are the pasha (noose) and the ankusha (elephant goad) are painted in the four corners with mantras and snakes on either side of each set of these weapons. The syllable Om in a stylised form is seen in this painting as well.
A Navagraha painting of the ‘nine planets’ has each of the nine deities on golden thrones and holding the attributes traditionally assigned to them, seated in seated in the padmasana, ardha-padmasana or yoga postures and depicted with pentagon, square, circle and banner-shaped backgrounds.
The chapter on Mysuru Paintings highlights the distinctive style of this school of art which evolved over time from the cultural, religious, literary, political and economic traditions of Mysuru.
Many painters who fled from Vijayanagara, the illustrious Empire of medieval India when it was ravaged by war, came to the court of the Wodeyar kings in Mysuru. Raja Wodeyar (1578-1617), one of the prominent rulers of the Wodeyar dynasty, patronised these artists and was responsible for establishing a residential colony for them.
There are also a number of paintings of the Wodeyars, especially portraits of Krishnaraja Wodeyar III, better known as Mummadi (1799-1868), often shown in darbar, including the Dasara darbar.
Light and shade
Another important chapter focussing on the process of conserving and preserving these traditional paintings is by Kuldip Singh. The laboratory, the conservation protocol, examination of the paintings and conservation treatment have been given in detail.
The extensive research carried out on the materials of the paintings, including the examination of the paper supports with the help of transmitted light, raking light and ultraviolet light help determine the date of the paintings. The watermarks and countermarks on the papers also aid in ascertaining the date.
A step-by-step documentation of the cleaning of some of the paintings in this collection, along with photographs of these paintings before and after conservation will be useful to those who are interested in, or have such old paintings in their collection. This book with plenty of material on all aspects of Thanjavur paintings, with numerous excellent photographs of varied paintings will be of immense help in knowing about this continuing tradition to both the discerning collector and the layman.
Thanjavur’s Gilded Gods: South Indian Paintings in the Kuldip Singh Collection ; Anna L. Dallapiccola with Kuldip Singh and R.G. Singh, Marg Foundation, ₹2,800.
