I was in my local Crosswords bookstore the other day when I came across this stunning handmade picture. Although it cost 2,800 rupees (it’s a large one), I couldn’t resist buying it. The Navaratri festival is here and it’s time to celebrate the Mother Goddess in all her incarnations. I also need to get in touch with my inner Goddess!
I know I’ve previously mentioned how much I love Indian handicrafts but pieces such as this really leave me marveling at the depth and beauty. The handiwork is just so intricate and precise, not to mention eye catching and colourful.
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. I must say that I Saudi is definitely safer than India for women but I wouldnt call it the... } – 
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This is brilliant Sharell. Just beautiful and mesmerizing! This is the best thing about Indian handicrafts…Made out of sheer hardwork and lotsa love!!
Happy pujas Sharell. Loved that awesome piece of art you got there.
Thank you both!
Oh, and here are some photos that I took of my local Durga Puja pandal in case anyone’s interested. It’s a replica of West Bengal’s Bishnupur Temple.
http://powai.info/2010/10/13/photos-of-2010-durga-puja-pandal-in-powai/
Happy Durga Puja everyone!
the work is really awesome.. and it is gr8, that u actually bought this picture.. very beautiful artwork..
and of course Happy Durga Puja to all..
The pciture is eye catching and beautiful. But, on a more controversial note. Would folks agree that most hindu go dieties are made as though they are of white race ? Its almost like its ingrained among indians/hindus to envision their golds as whites. How many indians do you see looking like goddess lakshmi, saraswati or for that matter the devas…with their white complexions, aquilines noses and all. Why cannot we have hindu gods more are like the average indian face ? I.e. dark, swarthy skin, thicker lips, upturned wider noses, etc. Even lord rama, who is supposed to be tall and dark, is depicted as blue!…I once asked my grandma why as kid…and she tells me “would it be wierd if the god is black”
.
@Botham
Good question! Growin’ up in India, I never ever thought about that, coz I grew up with their pics, hanging on walls and visitin’ ‘em everyday, in the prayer room and saying ‘Hello’. But last year, when I took some pics and showed it to my German colleague, he asked the same question…and I started wondering about that…Well, I haven’t researched much into that, but for now, I can point to Lord Krishna, who is not black/white/brown, but blue…As you said, I would also like to see the genuine representation of Gods/Goddess’.
Also, I would like to point out the fact that India has been invaded since hundreds of years and lots of temples were destroyed, many people were killed or strategically undermined, religions/people were/are mixed up, etc etc etc stuff..which resulted in huge loss of knowledge, influence, et al…I believe that the worst phase of India, was the last 3 or 4 hundred years and is SLOWLY gettin’ back to its glory days. Be it whatever, thanks for raising this question!
…Looking at that pic again, I can say that the Goddess has shades of brown and white, which ain’t that bad representation. Also, there are lots of temples, which have black statues of Gods/Goddess’. On the flip side, Black was always considered not so auspicious in India (at least since a couple of hundreds of years)…This is the main reason why no one cares for the crow. So, it doesn’t always apply for the skin color of humans, but for other things.
On a lighter note, I would say that the Gods/Goddess’ have been using skin whitening creams like Fair & Lovely/Handsome, which weren’t existing before. This may partly be the reason!
*No Offence Meant*
sooooo beatiful!! i want one
Why Blue? Only Vishnu and Vishnus avatars Rama and Krishna are depicted in Blue color (not black). The Vedopanishadic explanation is that vishnu is the sustainer of the creation or cosmos. The color of cosmos is blue, like sky. Brahman is The God for hindus (do not confuse with Bramha or Brahma of the trinity) who has no physical form or gender. As vishnu represents Brahman, the blue hue is given to the three of the above divine figures. In the Avatar movie, the Pandora characters are befittingly painted in blue. Paintings must always show Vishnu, Rama and Krishna in Blue. However, a lot of deities are sculpted in Black/white/other granite/marble stone as well. Its just that blue rock/wood is not widely available.
Yes above Durgas handicraft has lot of work put in it. About 10 yrs ago I was amazed to see the poopuhar (Tamil Nadu) wood carvings and paid a lot for half a dozen of those art pieces. Today I feel I should have bought a lot more of them.
one entire chapter (eleven) of Gita was dedicated to vishwa rupa (Universal form) of Krishna(AKA Vishnu). Why bring this up here? The cosmos or creation was dealt with by the Vedas as central theme of religion and the color of cosmos is blue.
hi.. that is a really cool picture. The type of art is called Tanjore Painting. It is quite famous all over. Tanjore is a district in the state of Tamilnadu. You should be proud now to own a piece for yourself.
Hi Banupriya, thank you so much for that information. I was wondering where the artwork came from….and now I know.
I have a friend from Tanjore too, so that’s even better! I hope to visit there one day as I’d like to see the temples.
@ Botham
@ Prashanth
As per my knowledge and all the books i read, the different God in our religion symbolises something and based on that is their skin color. Lord Visnu was Blue as it symbolises vastness and as described in Gita he has everything in him ( The Viswarupa). Krisna had the color of the cloud and Ram was green in color. Saraswati is white, Siva is snow and Devi Curga is Golden (the color of Fire) as she was formed by the power of all the deities. Lord Jagannath (Puri, Orissa) is black, his sister Subhadra is Yellow and His brother Balabhadra is white as they depict the color of three races in the world.
There are different sstories aassociated with different Gods and the reason behind their color. But as an artist everyone has the rights to experiment with colors.
Nice Picture Sharell and Happy Durga Puja.
@Sharell
Tanjore temple is one of the best temples that I’ve seen so far….and I rate it very high!
Well my friends, there is difference between fair complexion and white.. white are the people of Caucasian race..mostly europeans and their descendant in other countries like US, Can, SA, Aus, NZ etc..
Indian Goddess/God are never white.. They have fair complexion. They are also dark, as in Jagannath Puri, Maa Kaali, Lord Shiv, Lord Ram, Lord Krishna.. So, it is not wise to say that Indian God/Goddess are not like average Indians.. They are indeed.. If you see, women are always mostly fairer than men all over India.. And in north particularly in Punjab, HP, HR, DL women are mostly fair. Even in Bihar, UP, MP, GJ, RJ women have more fair complexion. In southern states also, it is very common to see fair women. So, it is not that fair is rare in India.. But we do not discriminate between Gods that this Lord is fairer. Each God has their own story and a complexion is just one of many properties, which we never care for Gods.
And of course, every Hindu would put the deities in highest stature, so of course they will picture them as beautiful, as they can.. And I see no harm in this..
Salesman sees white person. Salesman increases price by 40000%. Salesman offers 10% discount because “you are so nice”.
You happy; he happy. Happy world.
Fortunately for me, the price was already marked on the picture.
Otherwise, there’s no way I’d be happy with a 10% discount. It has to be at least 50-60% (of the white person price)!!
@Ganesh..
lol.. agree with that.. Sharell.. In India many things do not sell at the marked price.. but still, the painting is really beautiful..
Of course, it depends whether you’re in a fixed price department store (which I was) or a market somewhere.
i’m usually not aware of what festivals are gonig on so my sister was quite surprised that i knew it was navaratri and even more so that i heard it from a white girl.
Hi Sharell,
It is very beautiful..Indeed the Indian handicrafts are very intricate and eye catching!!
Have a lovely weekend:)
My Yatra Diary…
Most of the colors used(except the gold color) are predominantly the colors of the Indian National Flag.
waiting fr new post………..CWG?? The biggest jugad in the world. What u think??
Will try and write soon but need to be feeling in the right frame of mind. Definitely no Commonwealth Games though… want to leave it in the past where it is!
Thanks sharell, i hope and pray u will be in right frame of mind all the time, so that we have endless enjoymenty of u r writing.
CWG is past Olympics is future??
That is an extremely beautiful painting of Durga Mata and such a wonderful use of just Red, Green, White, Black and Gold colours.
I wonder whether the artist made more like this one?
It looks too perfect to be replicated exactly….
As for the CWG,
In the end, they found the culprit responsible….
They are arresting ‘Shera’ today…..
Hi Sharell,
I loved the dress you had on when you were looking for an apartment on HGTV. I would love to buy some of those beautiful dresses (please forgive me if they are called something else) to wear in the United States. Could you possibly give me the name and email address of someone to contact that could help me. I would greatly appreciate it. Thank you
Rhonda
P.S. love your articles!
Thanks Rhonda! The label is “Peppertree The Hip Store” (lucky I brought the dress with me to wear in Australia, so I could check). I did a Google search and there are a few listings, but it seems their website isn’t up and running at the moment. I did find a trade listing for them though: http://www.alibaba.com/member/in100299762.html
If you do a search, you’ll find plenty more. Hopefully, one will lead you to a good contact. Sorry I can’t help more than that. I got the dress around 8 months ago, so I hope they still have some in stock.
Visit us @ http://www.cghandicraft.com/
Chattisgarh is a State renowned for its tradition Bell Metal & Wrought Iron products. As you\’d travel through our pages, you\’d observe our richness in culture, forests and tradition. The people over here have been able to sense the very core of nature, converse with its majestic silence and learn from its ancient wisdom. They have learn to live in harmony with the nature which shows in their crafts and paintings. Their art and craft is simple in concept and yet sophisticated in practice.
The main objective of Chhattisgarh Handicraft Development Board is to achieve all round development in the field of Handicrafts and to revive the vanishing crafts with the help of training and to provide maximum employment opportunities to the traditional and non traditional craftsmen for the constant progress of the handicrafts. Handicrafts have always been an important and integral part of the Indian Culture and more so in the State of Chhattisgarh, where the handicrafts are not very different from the culture and tradition of the people. In order to effectively reach out to the markets outside, the Chattisgarh Handicrafts Development Board has come up with a series of emporiums by the name of “Shabari” all across the State.
Bastar’s Dhokhra work is certainly the most famous handicraft from this state and its fame has long reached the international stage. However, it will be wrong to think that there is nothing beyond Bastar Dhokhra work in Chhattisgarh. Bastar is only one of those regions where master craftsmen churn out exquisite handicrafts. There is stone, wood, terracotta, wrought iron, there are paintings and tattoo work, bamboo and sisal work there is so much that the mind boggles with sheer variety.
One of the most renowned forms of art in the state is Terracotta Pottery. The objects crafted through terracotta are attributed with meanings deeper than their physical forms.
Woodcraft is a kind of mass practiced craft. Woodcraft varies in style according to the region of production. Wood crafting is of three types: Wood burning, Wood carving and Woodworking
Wrought iron are used to mark dark raw forms of metal Artemas and figurines.
In short, we have an objective where we hope to function as a nodal agency of Chattisgarh towards the conservation and development of Handicrafts of Chattisgarh.
Contact us : -
Chhattisgarh Handicrafts Development Board
Chhattisgarh Haat Complex,
Pandri, Raipur 492001
Tel: +91 771 4207600
Email: cghandicrafts@gmail.com
Jai Mata Ki
Very Beautiful Picture of Maa Durga
Nice work Sharell!!
i like the Blog you have made on Hand made Goddess Durga!!! Durga Pooja is celebrated with great ambition all round India especially in West Bengal!! it also work as Home decor Item!! Even i have 3-4 Pictures of Durga n Krishna which i buy online from mallxs.