Krishna vishwaroopam vishnu
In most of the homes of the Hindus, various pictures of the deities would be there in their puja rooms or in their shelves. God’s pictures are a must to be kept in our homes, since it gives a feeling of physical presence of the deities in our homes. We can also decorate the pictures of the deities with flowers and flower garlands, and can apply the holy marks like Sandal paste, Kumkum and Vibudhi.
Picture worship of the deities was there since last century, and during that period, people used to worship the pictures drawn by Raja Ravi Varma, who was a famous artist in drawing beautiful pictures of the deities.
Still now the pictures drawn by famous artists like Silpi, ManianSelvam and Maruti decorates in the puja rooms of the people, and some of the pictures really look like the original photos. Drawing is also considered to be a famous art, since it gives cheerfulness and enthusiasm both to the artists as well as to the viewers. But drawing profession is not considered as a very famous profession similar to other profession like Accounts, Engineering and medicine, since drawing comes under the term “FINE ARTS”.
Ancient artists were highly rewarded and awarded in the court of the kings similar to the poets, and they were treated very honourably. Drawing the Deities pictures would give great interest to the artists, since it gives great spiritual satisfaction to them, but at the same time, it requires lot of patience, concentration and enthusiasm to draw the pictures of the deities. Some pictures would take even a week time to draw it properly, while some pictures would be completed within few hours.
Artists after getting prior permission from the temple authorities, would sit before the shrines of the deities present in the temples, and would make a rough sketch marks in pencil, and after doing that, they would sit peacefully in their homes, and would patiently draw the pictures with full of concentration, perfection and devotion.
“OM”
WRITTEN BY
R.HARISHANKAR