Animals in Indian Sculpture

When I stayed at Kovalam I was constantly walking back and forth through the little alley ways of shops and businesses, but it wasn't until one of my last days there that I ventured into one of the larger shops; outside was scattered with sculptures but I thought they were the same ones as those found in all of the other shops. I am so glad I went in eventually though because the man who ran it actually hand made all of the sculptures there, as his granddad, dad and brother had before him. 

Here is the craftsman standing next to one of his larger pieces. He told me that Ganesha (the elephant headed deity the statue is representing) is his favourite thing to sculpt - this may have to do with it potentially being his families chosen god to worship as I learnt that Indian Hindu families will choose a couple to focus their worship on. All of his crafted sculptures were either animal or god inspired, unlike western sculpture which focuses much more on the 'self' and of the human world. This shows how much impact animals have in cultures around the world - mostly the cultures that have not changed too much from their original faiths... it would be different here in England if we were still Pagan. 

Here he is showing me the half finished sculpture vs the finished (but unpolished) sculpture. I loved seeing this process as sculpture from rock is never something I have ever tried before! Once the piece is polished the pinky tones of the stone will really stand out and become much richer!

A sculpture half way through the making process. 

A corner of the shop was dedicated to all of the newspaper and magazine articles that the sculptor and his paternal line had been featured in. This was lovely to see especially because it was cherished paper cut outs; these were clearly very carefully kept and looked after because unlike in English businesses, if these were lost, he probably wouldn't be able to get hold of another copy - here we would just print it off again or something. This also showed me how throughout the generations, the craft and its focus on animals had barely changed. 

The shop was full of these mini little elephants, they take less than a day to make and I had to buy one (without the holes)! 

The craftsman used these books templates in order to ensure he got all of the gods and goddesses right. This is because of the heavy symbolism in every slight movement, gesture or accessory that they possess. A slight error in the sculpture will give the piece a whole other meaning. There is little room for creativity or freedom when creating the gods without altering their characteristics or who they represent.

The question is... are these representations of the animal postmodern? Do they show Homo sapien dominance over animals? 

Personally I think that the Hindu faith alone gives a lot of respect to animals, so seeing as this artwork is inspired by this, as well as the natural world of animals around India, I think it is one of the best reflections of the animal. They are the simple form of the animals, for example the elephants and hippos. However they are for sale so they are still appealing to Homo sapiens and their aesthetic pleasure rather than just the animal. I think these works are to remind their audience of either the animals, craft or animal gods of India. It is up to the audience to think about their relationship with animals, the artwork itself is not as cutting or shocking as postmodern pieces that directly challenge the ongoing discourse on the Homo sapien - animal relationship.