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  bahunam janmanam ante jnanavan mam prapadyate vasudevah sarvam iti sa mahatma su-durlabhah March 2020. Even as the first case of Covid-19 was finding its way to the front pages in India, we were travelling very close to where the first major outbreak was reported – Agra was not very far from Gwalior where we were. Our major focus of that photography tour was the Bateshwar group of temples. Since it had gained popularity with archaeologist Muhammad’s interviews and write-ups on its restoration, reconstruction efforts, and the striking, beautiful temple complex unlike any other in the country, photographers throng the site. As long as we were walking around the ruins my fellow travellers were fine. But our young driver was over enthusiastic about taking us to a very famous temple in the neighbourhood, where local pilgrims go in large numbers, the Shanichar temple near Morena. It is like many of the new temples in the North, no big plan, no architecture, no fineness. Our friends wer...

  Kanchipuram, Temples and Textile Motifs   Kanchipuram, as the name conjures up images of the towering temples and rustling silk, it is inevitable the connection between the two is made. Etched in stone and inscribed on slabs the stories of the temples, their makers, the donors makes it possible to discuss the evolution of the temple art and architecture, the festivals, rituals and the continuity of that over millennia. The underlying connection between the temples and the Kanchipuram silks in some ways is one – the divinity and the royalty. The vishwakarmas who built the large and small temples in the town, once a towering capital of the Pallavas, as well as the weavers who predominantly come from the Padma Saliyar, Pattu Saliyar, Devanga communities trace their evolution to divine command. Communities followed the principles that had a common basis. That the art is divine and they are ordained by the Gods to create, weave. The temples were made for the Gods and the robe...