Kunjar - A Unique form of Art

This blog post is about a unique form of art called as 'Kunjar art form'. I am unable to get a clear period during which this art form started to take shape. It is suggested by some that it had its origin in Medieval India. Some literature also claims that it is influenced by Persian artists. 

This art form is identified by the name Kunjar - a Sanskrit word for The Elephant. This is because the

Elephant had a prominent place in every ancient Indian art form. 

This is a very unusual form of art and hence very rare to see! I have seen sculptures made of Kunjar art form in only two temples in South India and a painting in a fort in Orchha Madhya Pradesh! The reason is, to make a sculpture in Kunjar art form the sculptor should be extraordinarily skilled. It highlights the artist's skill of composition and assemblage, importantly within the parameters of a frame work. Animal frames were commonly used, elephant and horse being the most commonly used forms.

Kunjar or the elephant is the main composition of the art form. Elephant's shape is used as the shell within which figures of women are artistically intertwined and seated in a creative manner. The artist uses his creativity and employs various acrobatic postures of women to adjust them within the shell or the frame!  The composition typically followed a set pattern of nine women dressed ostentatiously and it is called Nava Nari Kunjar! When the number of women used is five it is called Pancha Nari Kunjar!

In place of women sculptors have also used birds and you can see one such sculpture from Vaishnava Nambi temple of Thirukurungudi Tamizh Nadu, India.