Friday, February 19, 2010

The Making Of A Temple - Jagannath Temple at Hyderabad



On my visit to Hyderabad in October 2007, I ended earlier than my scheduled time to meet Great Senior Artist Laxma Goud, I strolled to the nearby Kalinga Cultural Trust compound with my camera to shoot at the various stages of what goes on before a temple is being constructed


Around 600 tonnes of sand stones, brought from Khorda in Orissa, will be used for 'Shikhara' (tower)

More than 60 expert sculpture carvers of stone and cement were on the job from Orissa

Special sand stone blocks have been brought from Orissa for the artists to carve the idols of gods and goddesses for this temple

According to the artist, it would require them at least a week to carve out a single idol

These sculptures will be adorning the walls of the temple similar to the Jagannath temple from Puri

These sand stone blocks have also been brought from Orissa

The idols of Jagannath, Balabhadra & Subhadra, made of margosa (Neem) wood, would be specially brought from Orissa

The main temple being dedicated to the Jagannath and the other five smaller shrines would be of Ganesh, Hanuman, Navagraha, Shiva & Bhimala (Parvati)

Majority of the work were done by the carvers here in this location from the scratch to the finish

This is Varaha Avatara of Vishnu

The highlight of the temple is likely to be its 'shikhara' (temple tower), standing at an imposing 72 feet tall

Temple work commenced way back in 2006, the whole area is about 3000 square yards.

The author of the blog with the onlooking 'mestris' of the temple.

The door work is by the use of sand stone and the walls by the bricks and cement.

The ceiling looks this way when looked from bottom directly.


The roofs are done intricately with different motifs carved by the cement artists.


The shape and design is similar to the original Puri style of temple architecture.


The white building on the right is the Tilangana Bhavan

Lot of construction was going on simultaneously to the carving on the other side of the complex.


Some blogs have covered extensively on more details of this temple, please go through them for your interest - Link

The completed temple was inaugurated on the 18th of March 2009

Note: The last 2 new images are not mine but sourced from the net, hope the owners would kindly oblige

Sunday, January 31, 2010

7th Chitra Santhe - Karnataka Chitrakala Parishath

The entrance to the Karnataka Chitrakala Parishath was decked with a large mask and huge paintings on the pillars on either sides of the entry gate.

Traditional motifs filled the walls on the exteriors of the Chitrakala Parishath Admin Complex.


During the inauguration of the event time, there was performing art by state folk group.

Despite assurance from the Admin staff from the committee that hobbyists would be barred from participating in this event, I could locate an engineer by profession displaying his watercolors as part of the stall.


One of the widely missed individual "Michael Jackson" in one of the stalls for sale.


'Bottle Art' - bottles of all shapes and sizes were painted with beautiful old masters and their creations.


Scenes, Buddhas, and Ganeshas dominated majority of the stalls as usual.


Natural wood formations in different forms and semi-abstract forms made good curios.

During the closing time, a lot of people striked a deal to buy their dream artworks for a song.

Thursday, January 28, 2010

Flying Colours - Kite Flying Festival

Kite lovers filled the palace ground on the Republic Day to watch the flying colors, young and the old alike enjoyed the sky being lit up with various designs of innovative kites.


Kite clubs from Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Mangalore & Hyderabad participated in this event.

The Mangalore Team flew the largest kite in the shape of a Kathakali Dancer’s Face with the aid of 3 assistants.


Aircraft designs dominated few stalls








Bangalore Police Commissioner Mr Shankar Bidari was the CG