Thaindian News

Panjal (Kerala), April 10 (IANS) Kerala-based artist and photographer Gireesan Bhattathiripad has been on an important mission, capturing the 4,000-year-old Vedic ritual of “Athirathram” in the state’s Panjal village.

Bhattathiripad has shot over 2,000 photographs of the sun worship ritual over the last six days and said by the end of the event he would be able to create a folio of 10,000 photographs, a statement by the Varthathe Trust, an consortium of Veda advocates and cultural activists organising the ritual, said Sunday.

“Athirathram” began in Panjal in Thrissur district April 4 and will conclude April 15.

Bhattathiripad has also been sketching the proceedings of the ritual from inside the sanctum or the “yagashala” for his personal collection which he wants put together as an artist’s chronicle of one of the most complex Vedic rites.

The ritual, being held after 35 years, is for world peace and natural harmony, the organisers said.

He is the lone artist and photographer who has been allowed into the sanctum - the holy hearth which is being stoked every day with chantings, offerings and Vedic rites.

Bhattathiripad primarily paints oil and acrylic on canvas and works for corporate and multinational buyers.

The artist also has to number the tiles used for sacrificial altar or “shianachithi” on sketch on the terracotta tiles.

The three leitmotifs that he has used for his sketches are those of a bull, which symbolises the carrier of Lord Siva, “vyaali” or the dragon face seen at the entrance of temples, and “Vikarni”, a mythical woman.