Untitled (A Karagam dancer)

Opaque watercolour painting on European paper of a Karagam dancer. The pujari (priest who performs the puja), with his hair tied in a kudumi (knot of hair) at the back of his head, dances while balancing on his head a karagam, an earthen pot filled with water. Its mouth is decorated with coconut, flowers, margosa leaves, etc. It is surmounted by a stick covered with flowers and margosa and plantain leaves, which represents Mariamman. He wears knee-length trousers with a sash at the waist and with a band tied across his chest, decorated with garlands. In his right hand he carries a stick and in his left a flower. Near him is a man in a short lower garment tied by a sash at the waist and wearing a turban, who provides the musical accompaniment on the damaru (hourglass shaped drum). Tripundras (three horizontal lines) adorn his forehead, chest and arms.
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