A FRAGMENT FROM A COTTON PICHHWAI TEMPLE HANGING
Tamil Nadu, Southern India, 19th century

The fine white cotton ground painted in sepia, white wash, yellow and blue with a plethora of Hindu gods and semi-divine beings, divided into two horizontal bands, one with an enthroned Ganesha, the Remover of Obstacles, being attended and worshipped by four standing characters, the latter the cosmographic story of the Universe Creation with Vishnu Anantashayana sleeping on the Infinite Snake Shesha, Lord Brahma stemming from his navel on a lotus, two lines of explanatory text in Tamil script above each panel, bordered by a stylised fretwork band of S-shaped volutes, 27cm x 122cm.