With several Hindu temples having been destroyed during the war in Sri Lanka the demand for sculptures of Hindu Gods has increased. The experts of Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) evaluated about 101 statues of Hindu Gods, which were headed to Colombo next Wednesday. As per Antiquities Art Treasures Act 1972, artifacts for exports need to be certified as non-antique objects. “After the war ended, the demand for statues of Gods have increased in Sri Lanka as the destroyed temples are being revived now,” said K. Pradeep of Apex International, an export firm. His company supplies statues and artifacts to Sri Lanka every two months. The current consignment to Colombo predominantly consists of statues of Lords namely Shiva-lingam, Murugan, Vinayagar and Navagrahas.
Similarly, the Lord Ayyappan statue in Malaysia is waiting for its thiruvachi, which is an ornamental arch, kept at the back of the statue from India. The craftsmen at Padumalai in Madurai have also made 18 holy steps apart from Raja Gopuram and the Kalasams for this newly constructed temple.
“We have brought 54 items including statues, thiruvachis and steps meant for the Ayyappan temple in Malaysia to display in front of the expert committee of ASI to get non-antiquity certificate,” said Senthil Kumar, proprietor of Three Star International, a Chennai-based export firm. India, known for its rich culture and religion has always been a supplier of statues, artifacts and other heritage structures for various purposes across the world. While a few objects go directly to the individuals as collector’s items, many are ordered mainly for construction of temples, with few going to the shelves of art and crafts stores for sale.
Chokkalingam, who works as an instrumentalist at the Meenakshi Chokalingeshwar Temple in Malaysia was forced to make a second trip to India to complete the set of 63 Nayanmars as one of the statues that he carried during the previous trip was of a ‘thondar’ instead of a ‘nayanmar’.
“We made 63 nayanmar statues and sent them to Malaysia recently. But instead of sending the statue of ‘Isai Naniar’, who was the mother of one of the four saints, we packed ‘Paramane Paduvar’ statue. So now we have sent the Isai Naniar statue again to complete the set”, said K. Vaidyanathan, who runs the Vedam Karungal Sirpakudam in Mayiladuthurai. Catering mainly to temples, Mr Vaidyanathan gets the ‘karungal’ (blue metal stones) from Uthukuli in Tirupur district.
“The stones at Uthukuli are dug from under the ground and have moisture in them. They are excellent to carve”, he added. While sculpting of artifacts takes care of their livelihood, they also make idols of deceased people and political leaders to supplement their income. “I have five people to working under me and we get orders round the clock both from within India as well as abroad. Currently we are working on a ‘Muneeswaran’ statue that is bound for a temple in Mauritius”, Mr Vaidyanathan added. If the statues are mainly sourced for temples in South Asian countries, the Western world is also not behind in ordering artifacts from India. While an Avalotikeswara (Buddha) was custom ordered by a buyer in Switzerland from Chinar Crafts Tibetan Art Gallery, wooden idols of Lords namely Ganesha, Lakshmi, Saraswathi, Buddha, Vishnu and Krishna were being sent to US on individual orders.
“The westerners buy these items to display in their drawing rooms. For them the idols are more of art pieces rather than Gods. This time, we have got orders from US to make wooden idols with antique looks measuring about 10 feet in height”, said B. Subramaniam of Selva Exports, who custom makes these objects from Kallakurichi near Chinna Salem.