32 Santal Parganas People carved wooden panels of the wedding (litters) Palkee, and a stilistic comparation with some Tharu panels .Santal Tribe. Indian Tribal Art. Indian carved panels. ETHNOFLORENCE COLLECTION.

ETHNOFLORENCE

INDIAN AND HIMALAYAN

FOLK AND TRIBAL ARTS

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(I)

Santal Parganas People Carved Wooden Panels of the Wedding Litters

“… WHEN A SANTAL CRAFSMAN BEGINS HIS WORK ON THE LITTER, A PAIR OF PIGEONS IS SACRIFICED …..WHEN THE LITTER     IS COMPLETED     AND ITS      OWENER     TAKEN  POSSESSION   TWO MORE PIGEONS ARE PART OF ANOTHER SACRIFICE … THE ACTIVITY OF CARVING IS PART OF THE MARRIAGE    RITE,  AS    IS THE PROCESSION     OF      THE MARRIAGE LITTER…”

(Unknown India: Ritual Art in Tribe and Village, Stella Kramrisch, Philadelphia 1968)

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 Low relief narrative carvings, in an extremely frontal profile style, using the words of Ms Stella Kramrisch “…somehow paralleling Egyptian reliefs…”.

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The plastic solidity of this low relief carving raider remember me a poetry that the Italian sculpture Marino Marini wrote for his raiders:

 

” I cavalieri portano dentro di sé la pazienza stoica dell’uomo antico che vede sprofondare il suo mondo e tuttavia non si arrende”.

(Marino Marini 1944)

Marriage procession. 

An Exhition on the theme

” Palkee: Wedding Conveyances of North India”

 

at the Crocker Art Museum of Sacramento 

 

 

Photo Credit of Bob Brundage

( 216 O Street, Sacramento, CA 95814  USA )

 more information on

http://www.crockerartmuseum.org/exhibitions/exhib_pages/Palkee.htm .

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A  Similar Iconography in a fan from Southern Nepal

N1 Detail.

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I cavalieri rovesciati sono i Miracoli.

L’idea è che essi si distruggono, diventano elemento bruciato …

Il cavaliere non sta più bene sulla terra, vuol bucare la crosta terrestre, sforare nel cosmo.

Non gli è consentito stare tra gli uomini che tranquilli non sono più.

Il cavallo cede e il cavaliere si perde”

(Marino Marini)

Detail.

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Another part of the procession.

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Detail.

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Detail.

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Detail.

 

Procession.

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Monumental frontal view.

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An interesting collection of Santal Parganas scroll paintings is edited

by Hervé Pedriolle on http://santalparganas.blogspot.com/ .

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Detail.

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Detail.

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Detail.

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Detail.

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(II)

Scenes that describe some episodes of the Santal  Hul  

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Santal Hul. “Hul “is a Santali term, it means a movement for liberation and remember the Santal insurrection of the 1855 (read more on  “Santal Hul insurrection of Santal 1855-56: Expoits of Sidhu, Kanhu, Chand and Bhairab” by P. Sinha).

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N2 Santal Hul.

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Santal Hul

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Last updating of the page 4 24 2021