———- Forwarded message ———-
From: “Vijay”
Date: 30-Dec-2010 8:35 AM
Subject: hindu coimbatore coverage
To: “Satheesh kumar R” , “Arvind Venkatraman” , “ashok krishnaswamy” ,
“thyagarajan” , “siva sekaran” , “V, Dhivakar”
http://www.hindu.com/mp/2010/12/30/stories/2010123050480300.htm
* On a heritage trail *
Art and sculpture lover Vijay Kumar spoke of the rich mural traditions in
the temples of South India
Photo: K. Ananthan
* Highlighting art and sculptures Vijayakumar *
Art and heritage lovers in the city gathered recently at Sanmarga Sangam in
Devangapet, to reconnect with the heritage of Indian architecture. The
Vanavarayar Foundation presented a lecture on ‘Mural Traditions of India’ by
Vijay Kumar, the founder of http://www.poetryinstone.in. The room resonated with
people quoting from Tamil literature and discussing art and sculpture even
before the event started.
Simple truths
“Rekham prashansantyacharya,” (A beautiful artist is judged by simplicity)
said Vijay Kumar’s first slide and those two words set the tone for the
evening. The journey began with a walk through the Ajanta caves, with their
exquisite murals. He explained the intricacies of the motifs of birds, bees,
lotuses, etc. A beautiful Apsara appeared in a tattered mural, and Vijay
discussed the level of accuracy of the painting.
Speaking of the methods of painting, Vijay pointed out how a single stroke
and single line (e.g the eyebrow) could convey so many emotions.
Architectural marvels
One of the murals on the walls of the Ajanta caves tell the story of
Mahakapi Jataka, of the great monkey king and the monkey bridge (we are all
familiar with it, thanks to Amar Chitra Katha). After visiting the Ellora
caves we then travelled South, to an eighth century architectural marvel –
the Kanchi Kailasanathar Temple. We admired the brilliant symmetry of
Panamalai Talagireeshwarar and Vijay asked us not to miss the shy glance of
Parvathi.
The next halt was at Sittanavasal, a rock-cut temple, near Trichy. The
fresco-secco painting on the ceiling was projected and the pond scene was
the point of focus. There was cattle, an angry bird, an elephant and
flowers. We passed by the more contemporary paintings at Malaiyadapatti and
Narthamalai, near Pudukkottai. Vijay compared the paintings and turned the
spotlight on the differences between the Chola and the Pallava art. One
could tell by studying the way the faces and eyes of the subjects were
painted.
Vijay Kumar’s eyes lit up when he spoke about Rajarajeshwaram (The Big
Temple at Thanjavur). He quoted a line from Kalki’s epic novel ‘Ponniyin
Selvan’ and said, “We draw our energy from this temple.” Vijay showed slides
of the Periya kovil, from ‘Chozha kaala oviyangal’. They provided a glimpse
of the nine panels in the temple.
Beginning with the Dakshinamurthy panel, we strolled past the Sundarar
panel, Chidambaram Natarajar, the masterful Tripurantaka, Ravana Anugraha
Murthy and Kalyanasundarar.
With a passion to reconstruct and decipher India’s priceless murals, Vijay
Kumar highlighted the beauty of art and sculptures and raised awareness
among the crowd.
NITHYA SIVASHANKAR
http://www.poetryinstone.in
“*Here the language of stone surpasses the language of man*” – Nobel
laureate, Rabindranath Tagore
