western india workshop (1 Ergebnisse)

Ca. 566 × 406 mm. Natural colour pigments on cotton. Stored in an archival portfolio. A visually compelling astrological yantra on cloth centring on Surya enthroned on his horse drawn chariot, within a circular mandala densely inscribed with horoscopic registers. - Executed in natural pigments on cotton, the composition radiates from a solar face ringed by mantric and calendrical text, with radial compartments likely indicating planetary positions, nakshatras and cyclical units; the chariot wheels carry further notational cells. The green robed, composed Surya and the heraldic chariot conform to Western Indian iconographic conventions, while the script blocks - probably in Devanagari or a closely related regional hand - integrate ritual language with computational tables. - Closely comparable in structure to Western Indian horoscope and yantra folios with chariot text layouts and to cosmographic diagrams preserved on paper and cloth, the present textile sits at the intersection of vernacular astrology, ritual iconography and visual cosmography. Parallels may be drawn with Gujarati horoscope scroll traditions and with Deccan cosmographies. - Seldom encountered in this medium format, the work encapsulates the practical alignment of solar veneration and time reckoning in pre modern Indian practice and offers a legible exemplar of the region's syncretic astrological picture language. - Folded; some fraying to edges and some holes in the textile, especially along the central vertical fold; a few traces of adhesive tape repairs.