Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Streets of Kumbakonam

For those unaware, Kumbakonam is a south-Indian town renowned for its temples. All pictures below are from my July 2009 trip.

A bike stand facing a shop

I've always wondered the effort that must go into painting these checked patterns on trees.

The chariot of one of the temples in town

The tradition of making idols from metals goes well back in history. This picture is of a shop that continues that tradition -- it's likely they use the lost wax method for some of their work.

2 comments:

Alex Engwete said...

Is the chariot made of wood?

Hari said...

Good question, Alex. I don't have an answer, since I did not observe closely enough. I am pretty sure, though, that it's not all wood, but a significant portion of the upper frame might be.