Kalamkari Temple Hangings

The V&A has the world’s most important collection of nineteenth-century temple hangings from South India, but only one of the smaller pieces has ever been published. For the first time these amazing objects are documented and made public here. The hangings are of two main types: large narrative pieces from Andhra Pradesh which tell stories from the Ramayana, the exploits of Krishna or tales connected with South Indian deities, and smaller pieces from Tamil Nadu. A single extraordinary Ramayana hanging from Sri Lanka is also included. All of the pieces are illustrated in their entirety, along with copious details that highlight the remarkable skill and regional styles of the narrative artists. Each is accompanied by a brief summary of its story, but the full ‘frame-by-frame’ narrative is described in a separate illustrated catalogue section. This will also provide translations of all the Telugu and Tamil inscriptions that accompany the narratives, translated especially for this book. As well as the description of the works themselves, there is a general introduction about how they were used and their regional stylistic variations and a chapter on technique and how they fit into the broader picture of Indian textiles, by V&A curator Rosemary Crill.