Chennai: The heritage town of Mamallapuram, located about 56 km from here, which pulsates with activity all through the year, will find itself scale new heights leveraging on the GI tag accorded to the stone sculptures.
The town is home of hundreds of traditional sculptures or sthapathis and has been steadily chiseling attractive images of the gods and goddesses in granite.
Though Tamil Nadu accounts for several centres producing stone sculptures, the Mamallapuram enjoys a top place in the world map as the sculptures made there are unique in every aspect, asserts R. Natesan, retired modeller, ASI. “The idols made here range from one-and-a-half feet to about 15 feet in height. The workmanship of the sculptures is inimitable and is appreciated by art lovers and foreigners alike,” Mr Natesan, who has exported some of his products to even Japan, says.
There are about 300 workshops with each employing about 10 to 30 traditional sculptors in Mamallapuram and a majority of them execute orders from abroad.
“Next to tourism, stone sculpting is the major activity in this town and many of our idols grace the temples or are part of a connoisseurs' exquisite collection,” says a sthapathi. “We strictly adhere to the Agama Sastras while carving the images,” he added. The other centre that could rival Mamallapuram is Mylaudy, an ancient village located about 9 km from Nagercoil, the district headquarters of Kanyakumari.
TN tops in GI tags:
Tamil Nadu is first among the states in India with regard to the number of GI tags for its products, while Uttar Pradesh comes second. Darjeeling Tea was the first Indian product to get a Geographic Indication in the early 2000s. Geographical Indications (GI) have become a matter of pride for the state, and the country as well.
The state has submitted 50 products of which 24 have been approved by the registry. The most famous among these is the Kanchipuram silk. Other textiles from Tamil Nadu to get the GI sign include Salem Silk, Kovai Cora Cotton and Arani silk. Coimbatore wet grinder, artisans of Vadasery in Nagercoil who make dazzling jewellery of a unique kind for temples, Tanjavur Dancing Doll are some of the products that have obtained the GI certificate .
