After the drama of the laundry and the awe of Gandhi, the Chhatrappati Shivaji Maharaj Vaastu Sanghralaya Museum, formerly known as Prince of Wales Museum was, well, nice.
An architectural marvel of its time, the pastiche of Gothic, Hindi an Muslim vernaculars was, well, Victorian. Here, the screen to keep birds from roosting inside, or chips of plaster from falling on the viewers, reveals itself in the afternoon light. The dark carved wooden frieze was lifted from a defunct Raja's home – it
could have been octagonal, or cleverly reworked at the vertexes. The first floor is dedicated to sculpture,
mostly stone carving, starting with smaller pieces from Elephanta (600 AD). I liked this lovely Buddha in marble, the provenance of which escaped me.
This contemporary Durga fashioned of strips of sola, a particular papery pith, by Shri Anata Malakar, gives the effect of carved ivory. It is patterned after twelfth century Karnataka temple sculptures. This sleeping Vishnu was one of Gail's favorites in this section.
Ever on the lookout for interesting vase forms or décor, Jim liked this one.
Another, which was hard to photograph because of the ubiquitous glass cases, used a tubular piercing that had quite a contemporary feel (though it was a Victorian mash of floral forms) with a technique he's planning to explore in the backyard workshop in TN. Gail spent more time in the upstairs gallery with a show of miniature painting and illumination.
She found a top border of a larger work depicting the 12 avatars of Vishnu, the first of which
is Matsya, the fish, which figured large in the flood stories she shared with the Kodaikanal area schools. The big find was this statue, very similar to the smaller bronze we had purchased at the foundry. She wasn't sure of the figure's story or name, just liked it. Here she found it is Krishna as a child, doing battle with several demons determined to extinguish the young avatar of Vishnu, particularly Aghasura, the snake of many heads. Young Mr. K not only vanquished all the demons, but had
a bit of fun doing so. Wandering in the general direction of our dinner spot for the evening, we chanced upon this synagog hidden in a warren of streets full of plumbing supply stores. We had sort of looked for it a couple of days before, but had missed it. I think the military guard was stationed permanently, but may have been in response to a recent threat. There is a dwindling Jewish population in India – this is one of the few synagogs going, and an historic one as well.
An architectural marvel of its time, the pastiche of Gothic, Hindi an Muslim vernaculars was, well, Victorian. Here, the screen to keep birds from roosting inside, or chips of plaster from falling on the viewers, reveals itself in the afternoon light. The dark carved wooden frieze was lifted from a defunct Raja's home – it could have been octagonal, or cleverly reworked at the vertexes. The first floor is dedicated to sculpture, 
mostly stone carving, starting with smaller pieces from Elephanta (600 AD). I liked this lovely Buddha in marble, the provenance of which escaped me. 
This contemporary Durga fashioned of strips of sola, a particular papery pith, by Shri Anata Malakar, gives the effect of carved ivory. It is patterned after twelfth century Karnataka temple sculptures. This sleeping Vishnu was one of Gail's favorites in this section. 
Another, which was hard to photograph because of the ubiquitous glass cases, used a tubular piercing that had quite a contemporary feel (though it was a Victorian mash of floral forms) with a technique he's planning to explore in the backyard workshop in TN. Gail spent more time in the upstairs gallery with a show of miniature painting and illumination. 
is Matsya, the fish, which figured large in the flood stories she shared with the Kodaikanal area schools. The big find was this statue, very similar to the smaller bronze we had purchased at the foundry. She wasn't sure of the figure's story or name, just liked it. Here she found it is Krishna as a child, doing battle with several demons determined to extinguish the young avatar of Vishnu, particularly Aghasura, the snake of many heads. Young Mr. K not only vanquished all the demons, but had 
a bit of fun doing so. Wandering in the general direction of our dinner spot for the evening, we chanced upon this synagog hidden in a warren of streets full of plumbing supply stores. We had sort of looked for it a couple of days before, but had missed it. I think the military guard was stationed permanently, but may have been in response to a recent threat. There is a dwindling Jewish population in India – this is one of the few synagogs going, and an historic one as well.
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