Description
Opaque watercolour painting on European paper of a Kavati-bearer and his wife. The couple are on their way to Palani: he is dressed in green, the colour worn by pilgrims visiting the sites sacred to Subrahmanya. The man, in trousers and a yellow sash worn across the chest and tied around the waist, and with a tall green and red cap, carries on his shoulder a wooden kavati decorated with peacock feathers. His forehead, throat, arms and chest are decorated with tripundras (three horizontal lines). His wife, dressed in an elaborately draped sari, carries a cloth bundle on her head, and a cloth bag hangs from her left shoulder. Both of them wear a number of earrings in the helix and lobes of their ears as well as necklaces and bracelets of various designs. The wooden ends of the kavati are carefully rendered: they bear carved images of Gaṇeśa and a goddess, probably Lakṣmī. Generally, however, kavatis bear the images of Gaṇeśa and Subrahmanya.
Image Licence
CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
Image Credit
© Trustees of the British Museum
Location
Palani, Tamil Nadu, India
Country
India
Medium
Watercolour
Tags
Category
People & Society
