{"id":240,"date":"2014-09-17T23:24:40","date_gmt":"2014-09-17T17:54:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cynthiasiegel.net\/?p=240"},"modified":"2015-06-14T13:46:10","modified_gmt":"2015-06-14T08:16:10","slug":"vishwakarma-the-divine-architect","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/cynthiasiegel.net\/?p=240","title":{"rendered":"Vishwakarma, the Divine Architect"},"content":{"rendered":"

It’s September 17th as well as my fourth\u00a0visit to the Shovabazar — now Durga Puja is less than two weeks away! \u00a0Dilipda’s sculpture\u00a0has fully dried, been painted with a white undercoat, and now the application of color on the figures, as well as additional painted imagery, has begun.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_2086\"<\/p>\n

Heading out to other workshops of Kumartuli, I again saw images in every stage of creation, from straw and bamboo beginnings to the the finishing stages of paint, clothing, jewels, and other accessories.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_2107\"<\/a> \"IMG_2109\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"IMG_2130\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"IMG_2104\"\u00a0\"IMG_2116\"<\/a>\u00a0\"IMG_2111\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Today \u00a0is also\u00a0Vishwakarma Day. \u00a0Vishwakarma is the god of engineering and tools, \u00a0He’s also called the divine architect or divine carpenter, and his day of reverence\u00a0is observed in a number of Indian states, including West Bengal, by engineers, architects, mechanics, artisans, craftspeople, factory workers, etc. \u00a0 His devotees pray for success, increased productivity\u00a0and for the\u00a0smooth workings\u00a0of their machinery\/technical processes; many also worship the tools of their respective crafts.<\/p>\n

The Mahabharata, one of the two great Sanskrit epic poems of ancient India, describes Vishwakarma as wearing\u00a0a crown and loads of gold jewelry, and holding a water-pot, a book, a noose and craftsman’s tools in his four hands.<\/p>\n

As I moved through Kumartuli today, I saw many shrines with statues and pictures of Vishwakarma.\u00a0\u00a0A few examples follow.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_2105\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"IMG_2154\"<\/p>\n

\"IMG_2155\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I also enjoyed seeing the\u00a0shrine below, which was created by the engineers and mechanics working\u00a0at the United States Consulate.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_2156\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It’s September 17th as well as my fourth\u00a0visit to the Shovabazar — now Durga Puja is less than two weeks away! \u00a0Dilipda’s sculpture\u00a0has fully dried, been painted with a white undercoat, and now the application of color on the figures, as well as additional painted imagery, has begun. Heading out to other workshops of Kumartuli, … Continue reading Vishwakarma, the Divine Architect<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":258,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[14,20,26,22,21,17,100,44,13],"class_list":["post-240","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-httpwww-cynthiasiegel-com","tag-durga-puja","tag-fulbright-nehru","tag-idol-makers","tag-kumartuli","tag-sculpture","tag-unfired-clay-sculpture","tag-vishwakarma","tag-west-bengal"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/cynthiasiegel.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/cynthiasiegel.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/cynthiasiegel.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/cynthiasiegel.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/cynthiasiegel.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=240"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"http:\/\/cynthiasiegel.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":699,"href":"http:\/\/cynthiasiegel.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240\/revisions\/699"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/cynthiasiegel.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/258"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/cynthiasiegel.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=240"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/cynthiasiegel.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=240"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/cynthiasiegel.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=240"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}