Tanjore Paintings: Through the Passage of Tanjore Paintings History
by
G. S Kiran
Tanjore paintings came into the limelight from a place called Thanjavur in southern state of India. That is why it is also called Thanjavur paintings. Tanjore paintings is a beautiful, ancient, and miniature type of painting. The origin of Tanjore painting dates back to the Nayak & the Maratha rule in the 16th century. Tanjore Paintings are known for their surface richness, vivid colours and compact composition and are well sought after.
The Maratha rule of Thanjavur spanned for over two centuries from the late 16th century. Maratha princes were the great admirers of the local traditional forms of paintings, There is no written record as to who was the first person to start this form of painting. There are evidences which support that the painting evolved with skills and talents of few communities which were not local of Thanjavur.
Making of Tanjore Paintings
The art of making Tanjore painting was practiced by two main communities namely – the Rajus in Thanjavur and Trichy, a city near to Thanjavur and Naidus in Madirai, a city ruled by Pandias. The artists, Rajus & Naidus, who are originally Telugu speaking people from “Rayalseema” region, moved to Tamil Nadu during the Nayaks rule of Madurai & Tanjore. The paintings were masterpiece and were rooted in tradition. Naturally the innovations were limited. However, the tradition of making of Tanjore painting remained as a distinct art of the region and stood out glittering identifying itself just not limited to canvass, brush and colours but beyond that. The richness of paintings showed the great exposition of use gold and precious stones.
The art was sacred to few master craftsmen who chose to be anonymous and humble.
Paintings were not limited only to canvass but even done on materials like wood, glass, mica, and exotic media such as ivory, murals and manuscripts
Tanjore Paintings Liaison with Literature
There are instances of Tanjore paintings finding place in the great literatures of the bygone era. The Sanskrit work of Prabotha Chandrodayam has a few pages of Tanjore painting. Marathi translations of Mahabharath & Bhagavatham, which are works of the painter Madhava swami and dates back to 1824 A.D shows and mentions about the Tanjore paintings. The profound depiction of Paintings of Gods & Goddesses on the wooden covers of every part of an edition of the Rig Veda published during King Sarfoji’s time witnessed the prime importance of Tanjore paintings.
Saraboji II the adopted son of Tuljaji, became the King of Thanjavur in 1798, who loved arts and crafts. He had a very special attention towards arts. So, he planned to have all the paintings done in the Tanjore Temple. One day when King Sarboji came to visit the temple and to see the paintings, he found Tanjore paintings to be the wonder and very special of all the works and enthusiastically he became one of the proponents who encouraged Tanjore paintings.
Learning Tanjore Paintings
Sadly, there is no school in India which teaches particular form of arts to carry on from one generation to other generation. The art profoundly remains the personal skilled property of the individual artist or sometimes becomes the knowledge of the family. Tanjore Paintings, however, is the heritage of few communities such as Rajus and Naidus even in the modern times. Apart from this, there are interested artists who have shown great inclination to learn this art and practice with their innovation and modern mix of thoughts and have taken Tanjore paintings to a wider audience. Today, Tanjore Paintings are not only the symbol of traditional paintings, but the blend of old and new thoughts to amalgamate and make Tanjore paintings richer even in the modern times.
Tanjore paintings are the divine forms of expression of love for God, truth, and beauty. Hundreds of devoted artists from Tamil Nadu have kept this beautiful form of art alive and have brought about new innovations to it. The brilliant pieces of paintings have become the part of the art gallery not only in India but in abroad too. However, the true inheritors of Tanjore paintings are mostly the artists who hail from the place of origin and practice this art.
About the Author:G.S.Kiran is an expert consultant for Tanjore Paintings Art from India, Please visit these sites for
Tanjore Paintings
,
Indian Handicrafts
. Your feedback and comments will be highly appreciated at gskiran@rocketmail.com
Article Source:
Tanjore Paintings: Through the Passage of Tanjore Paintings History
}