Paintings of Ajanta: Ajanta’s Textile Heritage

Tamil Heritage Group
invite you and your friends
for the second part of a two-part serial talk on
Paintings of Ajanta:
Ajanta’s Textile Heritage
by Bhushavali Natarajan & S. Swaminathan
on 6-2-2010 (Saturday)
Time: 5-30 PM
Venue:
Vinobha Hall, Thakkar Bapa Vdyalaya Complex
58, Venkatanarayana Road, T. Nagar, Chennai – 600 017

About the talk:
The mural paintings of the Ajanta caves are unique. As for as the sculptures or temple architectures are concerned, more than one can compete with for the first position, but the paintings here have no parallels.
Covering a span of about eight centuries, one can see the beginning of the Ajanta art tradition that reaches maturity and becomes baroque before declining. This Buddhist art is the earliest in India and was also the inspiration for religious art in India and the entire south and south-east Asia.
Though religious in nature, the paintings here reflects the secular society too, which is their special feature. For example, the textiles that we find on the walls of Ajanta are truly amazing. We find that a host of very sophisticated techniques, like sectional warping, tie-dyed yarn, block printing, ikat – single & double, bandhani etc, have been in vogue as can be seen in the paintings and the tradition, which is at least fifteen centuries old and is still living.
We are celebrating this truly indigenous religious art and its textile heritage of Ajanta in two sessions. On the 2nd of January, 2010, Thiru Swaminathan gave an overview of the paintings of Ajanta, to provide a background. In this second session, he will be assisting Bhushavali, a textile designer, to showcase the textile heritage of the Ajanta paintings. In this second talk there would also be an exhibition of modern textile that is found in Ajanta to show the continuity of this heritage.
About the speakers:
S. Swaminathan taught Mechanical Engineering in IIT-Delhi and is a culture-enthusiast and, after retirement in 2000, concentrates in heritage-related activities.
Bhushavali Natarajan is a young textile designer working in Karur.

RSVP:
A. Annamalai: Gandhi Study Centre -
gandhicentre@gmail.com; 94441-83198
Badri Seshadri: Kizhakku-p-padippakam -
badri@nhm.in; 98840-66566
TK Ramachandran, IAS : TN Slum Clearance Board -
tkramachandranias@hotmail.com; 99406-41144
S. Kannan: 98414-47974)
S. Swaminathan: Marg Constructions -
sswami99@gmail.com; (Res)2467 1501; (Off 24347458)