A Dazzling Sculpture

This is one of my latest art pieces, and one of my biggest treasures! On our anniversary, G and I had brunch in a French restaurant in Bellevue and were getting back to our car when something on display in this phenomenal art shop caught my eye and we walked across to take a closer look. It was a Japanese Hinamatsuri set. I had read about this years back when I was in grade school, in an encyclopaedia and had marvelled about how similar traditions exist independently in completely different parts of the world, because it is very similar to the Navaratri Kolu that is celebrated in South India.

Anyway, I have digressed. So we walked into this art shop not expecting to buy anything, but just then it happened... my eyes caught this piece that I just flipped over! To me the couple in the sculpture represent calmness, from the look of their eyes, power, as symbolized by the armoury in the king's possession and stability, because of the firm ground they stand on. The two of them have their own little space; the arch around them cleverly brings out this effect. But at the same time, their focus is outward, towards the world, or the community around, as represented by their open plams with which they bless.

From an aesthetic point of view, it is a picture of balance and harmony due to the perfectly compatible proportions of their bodies. The shapes of the bodies are meticulously sculpted, and so is the royal lady's hair left loose, and her gracefully draped saree and jewelery.

Now looking at it with awareness of who this couple are in mythology (Rama and Sita), they represent highly developed survival capabilities, having gone through hardships, physical and emotional, and not only having survived them, but emerged happy and victorious. They are probably past the stage of worry, anxiety and doubt, given the tranquility in their faces. Since I view them as mythological heroes, rather than as 'God', I find it moving, in a certain way, and relate to it.


And now going back to the doll festivals ( :-) ), here is a picture of Hinamatsuri:

Picture Courtesy: http://japanese.about.com/library/weekly/aa022501a.htm


And here is a picture of Kolu:


Picture Courtesy: http://web.mit.edu/hsc/www/Events/Events%20-%20Navarathri.html

Here's another picture of Kolu that has more 'padis' or steps:

Picture Courtesy: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Golu.jpg

Kind of quite similar huh?!

Digressing just a little bit again, I found it really interesting when I recently learnt in a Phonetics class that 'k' and 'g' sounds are interchangeable in Korean, and the Koreans kind of pronounce it as 'g' mostly. This is interesting because it is similar to Tamil, where க could represent क (k) or ग (g). (And, of course, த and ப are ambiguous as well, the former representing both त and द sounds, and the latter representing both प and ब sounds in Tamil. Dunno about Korean :-) )