Image size: 119.0 x 87.7 cm
The Thanjavur or Tanjore school of painting dates back to the 17th century (Nayaka period). Tanjore paintings are panel paintings typically made using cloth, gold foil, natural pigment and semi-precious stones, executed on wooden planks. This lead to the paintings being locally known as palagai padam (plank paintings) due to the use of this technique. The popularity of Tanjore paintings sprung from the desire of patrons for portable sacred images for their homes. This is a large devotional Tanjore painting depicting the deity Siva and his family presiding over 63 devotees or poet-saints known as the Nayanars or Nayanmars. The painting is divided into seventy registers illustrating the poet-saints and their specific legends and instances of devotion.
