Procession with festival car

This painting shows a view of a temple car being drawn in procession outside the Vaisnavite temple of Ranganata at Srirangam, near Tiruchirapalli (Trichinoply). It was one of the most auspicious Vaisanava temples of south India.

The event is part of the celebration of the annual festival. Devotees install portable images of the presiding deity - Vishnu, and his consorts the goddesses Sri Devi and Bhu Devi - in a great chariot or temple car (‘ratha’) and draw them around the temple streets.

Here the gilt-bronze icons are clearly visible in the chariot, flanked by the priests who ride in the temple car and fan the gods with fly-whisk fans to keep them cool. The procession is lead by a standard bearer atop a richly caparisoned elephant. The standard bears the insignia of Garuda, Vishnu's celestial mount. In the background are the walls and gateways (‘gopura’) of the temple which normally houses these portable icons.

This painting is typical of those commissioned by members of the English East India Company and other European expatriates living in India in the early 19th century. Local artists responded to the demand, developing a naturalistic, descriptive style in keeping with the taste of their clients. Such paintings provide the best observed record of devotional and other aspects of Indian life in the period immediately preceding the advent of photography.

This painting, naturalistically observed, is typical of the paintings commissioned by members of the English East India Company and other European expatriates living in India in the early 19th century. Local artists responded to this demand, developing a functional, descriptive style in keeping with the taste of their clients. Such paintings provide the best observed record of devotional and other aspects of Indian life in the period immediately preceding the advent of photography.