Different Stuff: South India Tour Part 3 (final)

The furthest reach of the Tamil Nadu tour was Aiynnar Kovil. There is a temple filled with these horse statures that are about 50-150 years old. There are also figures as well, but not larger than life as are many of the horses. This temple is very small, the grounds are littered with these statues, many in pieces; a head here, legs and lower body there.... It is in the middle of nowhere, according to my urban sensibility and the driver who took me all over.  We had to ask a lot of shepherds and farmers to get directions. It was so worth it!

These statues are made by hand with clay coils in pieces: first the 4 legs and lower body, then then the upper body and lower neck, then the head and neck, the ears and tails are added at the end. All the pieces fit neatly together and can be fired together assembled. My friend Shirley Bhatnagar, (ceramic artist extrordinnaire) has watched them being made and really appreciated the simple elegance of the construction method.

There are also figures, here are a group of ladies. Also a lot of men as kings and some deities. The ladies sitting as a group, as if a hen party, intrigued me the most.

This is the pujari or temple overseer of the place. He had a lovely energy about him, calm and sanguine. He seemed to get a kick out of my enthusiasm about the  horses. His uncles and grandfather was part of the team that made these statues. This small desolate location has had movies shot here and the following day was a big mela (festival) expecting 100+ people. The pujari invited me to stay to be a party of the mela, but large devotional festivals don't really agree with me. It's just not my thing as a western big city dweller. Enthusiastic crowds are to be avoided whether it be for spiritual devotion, sports or shopping.

The area around the temple was desolate, dry farmland spotted with dry rice beds, goats and cows.
I am told after the rainy season it is green and lush. It is also a large quarry area for the granite that supplies many buildings and temples. Even in it's arid emptiness, I found the colours of brown and beige, punctuated with green trees and succulents very beautiful.

So before I left for the north, now reporting to you from Jaipur, I had to finish my own sculpture. At a much smaller scale, I made a Ganesh. Picture and story to come next.