An in depth read on history and evolution of Ukiyo-e Japanese Woodblock Printing art from 17th to late 19th century. Japanese Woodblock Prints are treasured as antiques by art collectors around the world.

Painting as an art has a rich history in India since it evolved and flourished from periods so early that it is hard to pin a time when India did not have painters. Painting is as old in India as its Shastra.

Vishnu is One who becomes Vishvam (perceptible and imperceptible Cosmos) and pervades it therefore, as concluded from the first two names in Vishnu Sahasranama (a chant of thousand names of Vishnu).

The theme of this article is the four emanations of Vishnu (Chatur Vyuham) and their iconography.

Nothing is ever created, declare the Vedas. Things and beings only manifest from the un-manifest and then return to it. This great truth is enshrined in the image of Vishnu, named Padmanabha.

Nataraja is synonymous to Indian art. Dancers worship him and artisans are never tired of carving him in stone or fashioning him in metal.

 His form fascinated Chola Kings of yore. Modern art collectors have spent millions in acquiring his timeworn antique statues.

No temple of Vishnu is complete without an image of Garuda. A devotee-servant of Vishnu, Garuda is the only deity as powerful as Hanuman, another devotee-servant of Vishnu as Rama.

“No I’m not talking about that Ram who is the son of Dasharatha of the clan of the Raghus.” Droned on a cosmopolitan “acharya” of yore in one of his taped lectures.

Did you know Brahma (officiating as priest at the event of the marriage of Shiva and Paarvati), invoked Ganesha, seeking his blessings for the divine couple entering married life?

When we think of art we simultaneously think of beauty and prosperity.

Just like beauty can degenerate into ugliness and prosperity to poverty, even art can come out looking deformed, opposed to what it could have been.

If cultures have perished with time then it was only because their Art, Cuisine, Tradition and Philosophy were either suppressed to extinction or over-written by another to the extent that they were digested.