Andal Kalyanam – A Pencil Sketch !

I chose Andal Kalyanam as a subject for this sketch in an attempt to depict what I understood from Andal’s upadesam (teachings) through her Tiruppavai,  as she illuminates that the “parai” mentioned in Tiruppavai is both a means and the end, in context of complete Saranagathy. For me, as I put my pencil on a blank canvas and went about one stroke after another, outlining a form, re-defining it, through its evolution to the final sketch presented above, every stroke was both the means and the end to that momentary action.

Through my childhood, I grew up listening to and learning the Tiruppavai hymns. This scene of this divine union, (Pasuram 30) marriage of Andal (Godha) with Lord Renganatha, which according to the mythological stories happened in the temple of Srirangam, a town I am very familiar with, it being my grandparents’ home. I’ve been to this temple several times and so tried to capture in my mind how the scene described in the scriptures would have manifested.

As an artist, in my process, the sketch or a painting, starts in my mind, grows and evolves, well before I bring out my sketchpad or a canvas. This often takes days if not more. The process of putting the pencil or brush to paper is more of a translation of that layer of abstraction from my mind to the medium.
This sketch went through a few iterations in depiction over the week it took me to finish it. I found that if I walk away from it but contemplate it while going about my day, I get fresh ideas, thus the process in art is a means and the end.

I can see parallels very similarly in my scientific career, often when thinking about new paradigms, or new experimental results, interpreting the results often involves several different angles of thought, the writing of the scientific paper is only one aspect of this entire process of unraveling the science behind the results and discovering how Nature works.  

This is an ongoing study for me, both in understanding the depth of the beautiful literary and philosophical meanings in Tiruppavai, but also in exploring ways to translate the little that I understand in a visual language.