His hand has drawn hundreds of images of Lord Venkateswara so far, projecting him in new styles and manifestations every time.
Ahead of New Year’s Day, B. Anand, a Tirupati-based artist working with the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD), has released a set of images in which the Lord of Seven Hills has been drawn completely using English alphabets from A to Z. One in colour and the other in black and white, the images resemble any other portrait of the Lord in circulation, but a keen look reveals the alphabets in the limbs, garlands, crown, ornaments and so on.
“Saint poet Tallapaka Annamacharya praying to Lord Venkateswara is common, but I have added Prahlada on the other side, who rendered the ‘Indugaladandhu ledani sandehamu valadhu’. This is to show His omnipresence and omnipotence,” Mr. Anand tells The Hindu.
The lockdown perhaps gave a lot of free time for artists to explore the thoughts lingering in their minds. “I had thought of this concept for a long time, but found time only during the lockdown,” he adds.
Mr. Anand shot to prominence by drawing similar portraits using the Telugu alphabets, when the World Telugu Conference was conducted in Tirupati in 2012 just ahead of State bifurcation. He also did a similar effort with Tamil alphabets, though not quite familiar with the language.
