Calendar

Indian popular religious prints have been published for nearly a century, first by German presses, later by Indian ones. The prints may take the form of calendars, posters, or simply images. The style of the representations is European. In the beginning they were Hindu images, but are now acquiring elements both of folk art and a romantic secularism. It is a living art currently influenced by the movie industry and non-Hindu religions. The images are a vehicle for advertising and are also used for religious purposes.

calendar art; popular religious art

Lance and attendant peacock are distinctive attributes of Murugan (Skanda, Kartikeya, Subrahmanya), second son of the major Hindu deity, Shiva, and his wife Parvati. Hand positions are significant. Hand on left held in traditional attitude of protection; hand on right in attitude of boon-conferring. Architectural forms in lower corners indicate temples of worship. Tamil language symbol lower left corner, indicative of holy sound. Symbol in lower right corner represents an auspicious sign relating to positions of planets. Repeating motif of three white horizontal bars indicates Murugan is a follower of Shiva.

Rectangular calendar print depicting a figure of young, long-haired, red-robed male, Murugan, holding a gold lance against his left shoulder. Three parallel white bars repeated on forehead, forearms, exposed shoulder on left, and lance head. He is adorned with gold jeweled earrings, bracelets, armlets and necklaces. At lower corners are Tamil symbols enclosed in circles with Tamil caption at centre base. Lower left and right corners each show a brown architectural form. At centre right is a blue peacock. Print's upper portion is framed in votive lights. 'S.K.T. Erode' is printed in upper right corner.