Professor Raju Kalidoss completed his PhD on Temple Cars of medieval Tamilaham from Madurai University in 1981. In twenty years of his teaching experience, he has guided several PhD students, has been a professor at Freie University, Berlin, has presented papers in more than sixty national and international conferences and published papers in several journals. His published works are “sectarian Rivalry in Art and Literature, Cintaikkinya Cirpakkalai (co author), Temple Cars of medieval Tamilaham, Tamilar Varalarum Panpatum, History and Culture of Tamils.

Report
Prakriti Foundation celebrated International Museum Day on May 18 in partnership with the Government Museum, Chennai. We suggested to the museum that we would help conduct a children's workshop "know your museum" and have a talk on "Wooden carvings on Chariots of Tamil Nadu" by Dr.Raju Kalidoss, Professor and Head of Department of Sculpture and Art History, Tamil University, Thanjavur, whose doctoral research was on the subject.

A press release announcement about the workshop brought in a flood of enquiries. We had said thirty children would be registered on a firstcome first served basis. But fifty six children had to be taken in.

The workshop began with V.R.Devika's session on names and their meanings. It was no surprise to learn that many children had no idea what their name meant. The meaning of the name and its associations were discussed and then the word Museum was discussed. A handout wasgiven to the children in English and Tamil explaining the root of the word, the origin of Chennai and highlights of the Government Museum, Chennai. Did you know it was first housed in the college of St.Georges which was in the building that houses the offices of public instruction on College Road and in December 1854 was shifted to the Pantheon building which was used for parties and cocktails. It had live animals also. These were moved to the Madras Zoo.

Then the children were divided into five groups. Each group had to go to a specific exhibit in a gallery and find out the details with the five Ws and one H in mind. (What, When, Why, Where and How), make a drawing and come back and give a presentation to the children in other groups.

Children were very enthusiastic about it and gathered as much information as they could by talking to the concerned curator, some made drawings and some wandered off to see other exhibits and discussed among themselves. They came back and gave an account of what they had seen to the others. Other children pitched in with what they knew about that particular exhibit. The whale skeleton was of course the most talked about exhibit with every one talking excitedly about it. Then the children all went as one group and toured the museum galleries with V.R.Devika telling them stories all through. The participating children were given a certificate and a beautiful poster from the museum as a take away. There was overwhelming request for more such workshops.

Chariots On Fire - Dr. Raju Kalidos celebrates Temple Chariots on International MuseumDay
On May 18 at 7 pm there was an illustrated lecture on "Wooden carvings on temple chariots" by Dr.Raju Kalidoss. He presented an informal talk on his research on Temple chariots of Tamilnadu. He showed erotic sculptures found on the Theru and his remarks made people roar with laughter.
Here is Geeta Doctor's take on it.

"You know what would happen if you lined up all the temple cars inTamil Nadu starting from this Museum? They would stretch all the way toTiruchirapalli. "Dr. Raju Kalidos, the head of the Department of Sculpture and Art History at the Tamil University, Thanjavur, was speaking on the occasion of International Museum Day at the invitation of the Prakriti Foundation and the Government Museum. The stage at the Museum Theatre had been arranged to look like a setting for Masterpiece Theatre. At one side,a long floor rug, perhaps a kilim had been placed in front of an antique looking chair and desk, on which a table-lamp, microphone and glass of water served as accessories. Slightly off center, there was all the paraphernalia for a slide show, with overhead lights and an assistant who would dart forward to manually change the slides. A cane and wood chair of modern vintage had inexplicably wandered into the scene and while Dr. Kalidos was well into his talk, there were attempts being made by Ranvir Shah, chief patron of the Prakriti Foundation to act as a Dieu-ex-machina and have the chair removed.

Far from being fazed, Dr. Kalidos kept the temple chariots rolling. Therewas a disarming simplicity with which he traced his journey. "When I began, I did not know a thing about art," he told us, "But I was inspired by the temple chariots in my wife's town of Periyakulam, in the Madurai district, he told us, "which has some beautiful ones which I would look at while going on my evening walks." This curiosity led to his taking up the study of temple chariots or "Ter" as he called them, using the Tamil name for his doctoral thesis.There are more than 900 hundred massive wooden chariots in TamilNadu, alone he emphasized, but with at least 250 individual carved pieces on each one of them, the wealth of iconography is not just immense, but as varied in their expression as the imagination of the people who made them.They are walking temples. Or more exactly vehicles, through which the Gods and Goddesses can go on a walk about so that they can be seen by the commonfolk. In His book, "Temple Cars of Medieval Tamilaham" comments on the social aspects of the temple chariots, from the ability to inspire different forms of artistic expression from wood carvers, carpenters and weavers to their ability to forge a sense of communal pride, once a year, as everyone was invited to take part in theparade, so to speak. As if to illustrate his point, the moment Dr. Kalidos showed some of the carved images of intense erotic activity, that appear on thechariots, the audience sprang into life. "You will notice that this man has a particularly large organ" he said, pointing to an astonishingly vigorous sample, "At Madurai, there is one such example that is so long that it has to be supported on elephants, I refer to it, as Mahalingam!" By this time, part of the audience was rolling down the sides of the Museum Theatre, as they were treated to further examples of what would count as a Group Grope, Animal Husbandry in Medieval Tamilaham and other postures, that Dr. Kalidos seriously warned them would be injurious to their health if resorted to, without adequate practice. The sad thing, however, as he pointed out is that Temple Chariots have been neglected so badly that they are now being used as public conveniences. "Why does the Museum not have one of these Temple Chariots in their premises?" he asked.