Rain clouds were perched firmly atop the Podhigai hills and intermittently broke into a drizzle. Tamiraparani was in full spate. Nature in its full beauty and glory on that Sunday afternoon made Papanasam picture perfect. Inspiring enough it was for a group of art and visual communication students from Chennai, Kumbakonam and Pondicherry colleges who had come to document ancient art in temples though depiction of nature in ancient art is said to be rare. It was the idea and effort of G. Chandrasekaran, former principal of Government College of Arts and founder member of the Ainthinai Trust, which organised the camp, to give the young artists a perspective. He wanted them to study the temple sculptures and understand the concept behind every motif.
In the fun-filled exercise of learning about Tamil art, the students ended up identifying some rare sculptures at the Nambi Rayar Temple in Thirukurungudi near Kalakkad. Especially, the Krishna Leela bas-relief depicting clouds in the sky sent in a wave of excitement. “Deeper understanding of art is imperative,” said Chandrasekaran, “and it becomes easy when the artist effectively uses nature to communicate his point of view.”
An artist sees beauty everywhere and is able to detach himself from the surroundings to be one with the nature. Likewise, Chandrasekaran told the campers, our ancestors were clever in bringing people closer to nature.
“Once you establish a relationship, you will do less harm to nature. There are references in the Sangam literature about people who consider trees as their own family,” he added.
Whether they are the paintings at Chittannavasal, Kudumiyanmalai and Naarthamalai or the sculptures of Thirukkurungudi, Thiruvaliswaram and Idakkal, traditional art everywhere declares man’s relation to that time.
“When you are able to read what the artist intends to say, you can comprehend the significance and glory of art of that time,” explained Chandrasekaran.
“Tamil art tradition is far deeper than what we perceive it to be. We have lost ancient art books and now we are in the process of reclassifying our knowledge of art,” pointed out Thennan Maimman, a full-time research scholar from Tamil University, Thanjavur.
The team also visited the Shiva temple at Thiruvaliswaram, eight kilometres North West of industrial town Ambassamudram to study the Chola architecture. Significantly, the Cholas constructed this temple in the Pandia heartland. “To gain acceptance among the people, the Cholas suffixed their names with the title Pandian like Sundara Chola Pandian and Vikrama Chola Pandian,” informed E. Sankaranarayanan, epigraphist.
T. Muthulakshmi, Assistant Professor, M.D.T. Hindu College, Tirunelveli, found the camp very satisfying. “We saw live what we study in books,” she said. The participants also trekked to Agasthiyamalai, the abode of siddhars. Encompassing the Thirukurungudi forests, the hills provided an ideal ambience for young artists to explore their skill. They also sighted medicinal plant such as Decalepis arayalpathra commonly called as Amruthapala .
The camp also helped to create awareness on keeping the Tamirabharani River clean. The paintings done by the young artists during the camp were later put up outside the Papanasam Temple for people to see.
“We have lost the technical expertise our ancestors possessed. Modern day artists are only focussed on awards and acknowledgements. I wanted to show the young artists the more sophisticated and knowledgeable world of our ancestors,” said a happy says Chandrasekaran.
