Swamimalai is panchayat town in Kumbakonam City in the state of Tamil Nadu. Swamimalai is one of the Geographical Indications(GI) tagged locations, which was recognized by Geographical Indications Registry of the Government of India in the year 2009. It is famous for its artistic works such as bronze idols and statues manufacturing. Swamimalai has a very long and rich artistic history from the reign of Chola empire. During the construction of Brihadeeswarar temple, The King Raja Raja Chola I commissioned the group of Sculptors to cast statues for Brihadeeswarar temple. History says, sculptors who worked for Airadeeshwara temple, was settled in Swamimalai. Now, after several generations, the artists were continuing the sculpting with same quality.
Usually Scupltors refers Shipa Shastras, which is a manual for Sculpture and Hindu Iconography. It describes arts, crafts, and their design rules, principles and standards. It’s been prescribed for referring proportions of sculptured figure, composition, principles and meanings for other architectures.
The range of idols are from 6 feet to 12 feet. Based on the requirement, sculptors cast the idols.. The designs includes Hindu deities, and other icons such as animals, figures of males and females, etc., With the limited production to ensure the quality, the scupltors from swamimalai, are fulfulling the high-demanded export orders from the countries such as United State, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, South Africa, Switzerland, Malasia and Thailand, where most of the icons were installed in Hindu temples.
The King Raja Raja Chola I commissioned the group of Sculptors to cast statues for Brihadeeswarar temple.
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