LAKSHMI NARASIMHA

One of the ten celebrated incarnation of Vishnu. Narasimha is widely worshipped deity in the northern as well as southern parts of India. However the ritual of worship in the celebrated temple at Jaganath Puri (Orisa) identifies the god here as Narasimha. The reason for this incarnation given in puranas is to save the world form the disastrous hold of the demon Hiranya Kasipu, son of Kasayapa – Prajapati and Atiti and more especially to protect Prehalada the deviote of this demon. Hiranya- Kasipas brother Hiranyakasha was killed by Vishnu in this Varaha incarnation and Hiranya kasipu had therefore nurtured hatred for Vishnu. When his son Prahalada grew up as a devotee of Vishnu. The demon naturally threatened his son and subjected him to all kind of trouble punishments. Hiranya Kasipa had preformed penance and obtained from Brahma the boon that he could not be killed by god, man or beast by any weapon known to man. During day or night in side the palace or out side it. So Vishnu had to appear as a man beast (Man – Lion means Narasimha) tears the demons entrails with his clans (which were not weapons) during dusk (which was not day or night) and seated upon the threshold of the palace (which was not in side or out side the palace). The legend further narrate that when Hiranya kasipa challenged his son Prahalad to show Vishnu, when the boy claimed to be every where in one of the pillars of the palace Vishnu revealed himself as the ferocious Man-Lion bursting out of that pillar
When Lakshmi is on the lap of Narasimha is known as Saumya Narasimha or Lakshmi Narasimha.

BHOOTAS

On the west cost of south India villagers worship a large number of spirits. They have corners for them in their houses and small shrines in the village. They make daily offering to the Bhootas and once in a year a festival lasting for one night will be conducted. The sprits will be in personated by certain people wearing gorgeous costumes, make up or mask and high crown or some thing like a hallo.

The areas where the festivals take place in south Kanara where Tulu and Kannada are spoken and further south, in the northern parts of Malabar where Malayalam is spoken. The impersonated spirits are called Bhuta or Daiva. Panchuruli, the pig sprit, the tiger and buffalo sprits as well as various serpent deities belong to the category.

Other Bhutas are Tutelary, Ullaldi, and daiva of Ullale. Malaraya the Butha of ghats. Koti and Chennaraya are two heroes of Tulu people, their were brothers. Bobbaraya and Ummalti are husband and wife. Berme in Tulu nadu is considered to be the chief Bhuta. Haiguli Bhuta of Marankatte in Coondapur, Ali Bhuta of south Kanara. A Bhutastana is there in Mekkekattu in Udippi taluk. There are about 150 wooden idols of various Bhutas in the Nadikeswara temple.

NANDI

Nandi (VRSHABHA) is the vehicle of Shiva is a marvels bull, white in colour, with black horns long ears, raised hung, deep red hooves and dark blue tail. Nandi is the door keeper of Shiva and said to be always stationed in front of Shiva.

NATARAJA

The name given to the dancing form of Shiva meaning the king of dancers. Nataraja thus is identified with the dancers of divine consciousness with in the subtle space of the human heart. Shiva danced to produce the pronominal scene that the dance of Shiva really takes place in the soul of devotee in order to remove his sins and break his fetters, Nataraja is said to symbolize the integration of masculine and feminine aspects of god head he is there fore described as Shiva – Shakti. In terms of five flod function of god head ( PANCHA – KRTYA ) the hand drum in the right hand ( DAMURU ) stand for creation the spreading locks of hair studded with stars stand for preservation, fire on the left palm dissolution, the normal left arm thrown across the chest indicates velling and the normal right hand in gesture of protection shows divine grace, the right leg slightly bent is planted firmly on the back of the draft demon ( APASMARA PURUSHA ) who lies with his belly on the ground but with his head held up. He carries a serpent in his left hand.

DEVI (kerala)

Devi is the mother goddess. The ornamental details in the figure clearly suggest the type as it occurs in late Chera period. This is obvious in the Kathakali pattern of dress and make up.

NATYA – GANAPATHI

One of the thirty two form of Ganapathi. Ganapathi dancing with abandon and excitement under the wish full filling tree (KALPA – VRKSHA) there are numerous icons of this description with different dance postures and caring different weapons. Ganapathi is undoubtedly the most widely worshiped god in India

SITTING PARVATHI

Legend describe the goddess as the daughter of the mountain Himalaya (hence the name Parathion) and the consort of Shiva. She is the mother of Ganapathi and Kartikeya and she is the sister of Vishnu.

DIPA – LAKSHMI

In the form of a lady standing and holding a bowl to contain oil and wick for the light. The lamps are usually made in metal. The motive lamps used on ceremonial occasions in the temples or house holds

THRIPURANTAKA

Shiva in the form of three eyed and four armed in the upper arm he carries the axe (PARASU) deer (MRGA) and in the normal hands bow and arrow to kill the three asuras in three puras.

ARDHA – NARISVARA

The half – feminine form of Shiva. The right half represents the male principle Shiva (PURUSHA) while the left half represent the female principle Gauri (PRAKRITE or SHAKTI)

MAKING THE METAL CAST FROM THE CLAY-MOULD

The composition of the metal used for casting is copper, brass and lead (the alloy is called Bronze) with some quantities of silver and load to make it panchadhatu (followed in olden days) Brass is added to reduce the melting temperature of the alloy and also to give a pleasing colour to the finished figure. Small quantity of lead is added just before casting to smoothen the pouring and make the alloy flexible and soft for easy working on it with chisel and hammer.

In normal practice 20 parts by weight of copper is mixed with 5 parts of brass and 1 of lead. These metals are locally available in the form of scraps such as old unserviceable utensils, cuttings, wires, etc., Melting of the alloy is done in ceramic crucibles which are available in the bazaar in any required size.

The furnace generally used for melting is pit type with lining of fire clay brick. A blower is connected to it at one end to blow air. The furnace can either be round or rectangular depending upong the convenience. The blower is either hand operated or power operated with electric motor attached. Coke is used for melting the metal. Tools used for lifting the crucible out of the furnace after melting are called “Tongs” and they have handles about 3 to 4 feet long.


Before actual casting the mould should be properly heated. For this a rough kiln is built around the mould and the fire is kept up by burning firewood and dung cakes till the whole mould becomes cherry red in colour. This hardens the mould and expels trace of moisture. The red hot mould is then buried in the earth upto the mouth of the orifice to keep it firm and upright in position while pouring molten metal into it. It also helps to prevent premature and sudden cooling of the molten metal after filling into the empty chamber caused by removal of wax from the clay mould.

For melting metal scraps are put into the crucible and melted to white heat in the coke furnace. The crucible with metal scraps properly weighed is kept on the follow of the furnace and covered with coke. The Blower is then operated sending air blast into the furnaces to keep the cook in flames. Metal scrap is added to the molten alloy in the crucible periodically until the required quantity of metal is melted.

When the metal is ready melted to proper termperature and the clay mould also heated to cherry red colour the pouring (Casting) is done. A circular ring or rags is invariably placed at the time of pouring around the orifice to prevent metal spilling, the metal is generally poured in then stream. After the mould is completely filled with molten metal the mould is allowed to cool gradually. The cast piece is then recovered by taking out the mould, cutting the binding strip or wire and breaking the clay layers. The stapathy then proceeds on his next work of chiseling and shaping.

For finishing hammers, chisels, files and seevuli are used extensively and for nakasi work finishing nails specially prepared by the stapathy himself are used. With these tools and instruments the stapathy displays his mastery in metal craft. The details of limbs, face, ornaments, dresses, etc., will come to light only when his skilled hands go into actual operation. The process of polishing after the finishing is quite laborious. It is achieved by rubbing fine grade emery paper over the entire surface making it very smooth. The image is cleaned in a solution of tamarind in water, polished and finally washed with soapnut by brushing briskly with the help of wire-brush. This gives a high polish to the metal surface. The polished figure is then oxidized b lack or brown according to the requirement to give attractive appearance.

PREPARING THE CLAY MOULD OUT OF THE WAX MODEL

After completing the wax model it is mounted on a wax base which is in turn attached to a wax rod in the shape of a funnel called the runner. This is to serve as the outlet for the moltern wax when the clay mould is heated for casting. The stapathy also attaches connects different portions of the image with wax rods to facilitate easy running of molten metal alloy in to all parts simulataniously. Such roads also serve as additional support to the image when cast in metal while the stapathy works on the cast model with hammer and chisel to give finishing touches. The wax model is coated with finely ground clay in semi-solid paste from mixed with charred husk and cowdung. The first coating is applied in a semi solution from and allowed to dry before second coat is applied. This process repeats several times till a fine layer of loom is spread out over the entire wax model surface. It is important that no portion of the wax model escapes coating of clay and preserves the details of the wax model worked by the stapathy. The clay should be of fine texture to preserve the intricate details of the modeling and strong enough to withstand the hot liquid metal when poured into it. For this clay collected form ant-hill is most ideal. The model is then encased in several layers of coarser clay material each successive layer be-coming coarser and bulkier. Finally a fine strip of steel or wire is tied round the entire clay mould taking care to preserve in tact the wax oxifice that should serve both as runner and vent while casting. When the clay mould is dry enough and strong to withstand subsequent operations the wax inside the mould is removed by heating the mould over a drafted ground furnace The wax melts and runs out which is then collected and weighed in order to ascertain the quantity of metal to be taken for casting.

MODELING THE IMAGE IN WAX

It is evident that no stapathy or image maker will have actually seen how the God or the Goddess he proposes to make looks like. He has only to acquire the form in his own imagination for which he has to meditate in mind get
The picture through “Dhyana slokas” which gives the physical attribution of the Deity he proposes to cast. Therefore every stapathy is supposed to have full grasp of these dhyana sloka besides neethisaram, amaram and shilpasaram. They will represent the murtis he proposes to make. There are as many as 114 specifications to be followed while making an idol. He should also know the propotions of the lengths of different parts of the body to the total height from general experience. The image is made using his imagination according to traditional practice followed by his forefathers passed from generation to generation. The material used is bee wax which is locally available.Pure wax being too flexible and semi-transparent it is made slightly hard by mixing with resin any equal proportion and melted with ground nut oil. The molten mixture is then filted and poured into cold water for hardening to use it for preparing the wax model.
The tool used for wax-modeling is sandal wood stick in varying size depending upon the requirement of rhe stapathy. Such a stick is called patula and it has broad middle section withtapering ends. The stapathy makes a rough outline of the parts of the body of the icon in wax by hand. Details are worked on the rough outline with the help of patulas. Since the wax gets hardened the stapathy has to make it flexible by exposing it near the glowing charcoal or flame frequently until the full model with all features like face, limb, torsox and ornamental details is ready. The wax modeling is very important since the quality of the final product entirely depends upon the wax model which in turn depends upon the efficiency and skill of the stapathy who can visualize the inner quality of the image. The greater the care and concentration he employs at the wax modeling stage greater the perfection in the final image with minimum time spend on remodeling the metal cast image with hammer and chisel.

TRADITIONAL PROCESS OF CASTING

The process adopted is “madhuchishtavidhana” or the lost-wax process (cire perdue) and all images required for worship are cast in solid methods known as Ghana as described in the Shilpasastra in the treatise “Manasara”. The figure is first fashioned in the hard wax and then covered with successive layers of clay till a thick solid coat is obtained. The entire clay is then heated in an oven so that the wax drains out in a liquid form. Into the hollow space thus created the molten metal is poured. After allowing it to cool, the outer shell is broken and the metal image taken out. Then chasing, chiseling and polishing done. While making larger models a central core of higher material was often used while preparing wax model. This remained in metal image helping reduction in weight. Each piece was cast individually and there was no question mass production. The whole process is described in detail as follows

BRIEF HISTORY OF THE CRAFT

The great day of metal casters came (after the decline of Buddhism) with the revival of devotion to Hindu gods Shiva and Vishnu, which reached a peak in the south under the ninth-century Chola dynasty. People wanted images of the Gods that could be carried in procession for which the stone images in the temples were too heavy, they wanted images to worship in private homes and give to existing shrines they made Bronze figures.
The Bronze figures are different styles. They are Chola, Pallava, Hoysala, Vijayanagara, Chera...