I think

Thaaramangalam

Thaaramangalam is a little hamlet near Salem.  The peace of the hamlet hides a spectacular temple for Lord Siva - Kailasanathar. Said to be built by a chiefton called Kettaya Mudaliyar, the scultptures mark many of the features of those of the Nayakkar clan of the sixteenth century, such as presence of Vishnu-related characters in a Sivan temple, and in particular, the importance given to the God of love - Manmathan and his consort, Rathi.

If you know Tamil, read a  detailed description of the temple and its sculptures at dude's blog.   

 

 

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The sculptures are breathtaking.  The passion and sincerety that went into this art form is obvious from the beauty.  There are some really cute sculptures - there is one of Rama killing Vali - the figure of Rama is on a pillar, and that of Vali and Sugreeva on another.  The pillars are designed such that, you can see the VAli pillar from the Ramar side and not the other way round, as according to the story that Rama hid himself when he killed Vali.

There are more pictures in dude's post. 

 

 

 

Driving at dusk

Dusk upsets me.  Give me a bright day, I am happy. Give me a dark night, well, I am not exactly happy, but at least I don't palpitate.  Dawn is fine, in fact I love it, although it seems ages since I saw one.  Dusk however, makes me very uncomfortable.  When the sky is not totally dark, but the buildings silhoute against it, and the manmade lights are already on, I feel the urgent need to go into the house, switch on all the tube lights in the house and sit bathed in brightness.

Today on our way back from Landmark where the kiddo attended a quiz on Harry Potter (I'll write about it perhaps if I have more energy), it was dusk when we passed the erstwhile "downtown" of Chennai - Mount Road.  The pictures don't make dusk any less depressing than reality.

 

An ORANGE House !  I mean...excuse me?

Glass painting after a long time

I bought this design more than a year back and even did the stone paintings soon after. But then, life took over and I did not have the time, inclination or energy to sit and finish this painting. 

Yesterday, sudden inspiration struck and over a course of three hours, I finished the painting fully. It has to be framed next week.

I am thinking of gifting it to dude's grandmother when I meet her next month.

For the uninitated, the painting is of the presiding Deities of Tirupati - Srinivasar and Alarmelvalli thaayaar. 

Pop Quiz

Can you identify these personalities from the pencil sketches ?

PS: I wish schools would stop giving homework where the parent is supposed to run around on a Monday evening, in peak hour traffic to buy pictures of National leaders.  Some moms are just not THAT industrious and the kid has to make do with poor sketches !

PS2: All these characters are from India, so people not familiar with Indian history are excused.

Glass Painting

..to dude's colleague for his wedding anniversary....

It has been a while since I did any glass painting. Perhaps I should restart. I noticed that it gave me three whole hours of intense concentration, besides, of course, a back ache.  Perhaps it will postpone senility by a few minutes !