Ornately chiselled artefacts that are on display at an exhibition at the Sri Venkateswara Institute of Traditional Sculpture and Architecture (SVITSA) are wowing visitors. They are further spellbound on knowing that the sculptures are created by the institute’s art students and not by master craftsmen.
Launched by the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) back in 1960 to take forward the ancient knowledge of temple sculpture by including the principles of Vasthu (civil engineering), the institute started offering certificate and diploma courses in 1985 in the departments of stone, cement (Sudha), wood, metal sculpture, traditional/kalamkari painting and temple architecture. With Devasthanam Educational Officer C. Govindarajan playing a key role in holding the expo, TTD Joint Executive Officer Sada Bhargavi hailed the students as the ‘torchbearers of Indian culture’ while inaugurating the event along with SVIMS Director B. Vengamma recently. The institute campus at Alipiri is abuzz with denizens as well as Tirumala-bound devotees.
The gallery by architecture students shows the portions of a temple such as Vimana (canopy), Prakaram (precincts) and Mukha mandapam (portico). The number of floors in a structure are shown as ‘Ekatala’, ‘Dwitala’ and so on. Similarly, the students from the faculties of stone, cement, metal and wood carving displayed the images of Venkateswara, Padmavati, Nataraja, Ganesha, Saraswati, Garuda, Hanuman, Bhairava, Durga and even Telugu Thalli in their respective mediums.
‘Nominal prices’
“The art pieces, wall panels and motifs are on sale for a nominal price, as a token of encouragement for the students,” says Principal K. Venkata Reddy.
Students of the metal department displayed their skill in brass and copperware, chiselling statues in the Pallava, Chola and Hoysala schools of art.
Under traditional painting, students displayed their skills in knife painting, dot painting (with black and colour refills) and wash painting (using tubes). The step-by-step narration of making cement idols using brick chips is attracting visitors. Kalamkari is made using natural dyes like Indigo (Neeli Chettu) for blue, Indian madder (Manjistha) for pink and Haritaki (Karakkaya) for yellow. The gallery shows how a thin bamboo is used as a stylus and burnt tamarind twig as the pencil. Dipping the canvas in buffalo milk mixed with Haritaki gives the typical pale background.
