Stone Carving

The sculptor selects a block, checks it for flaws by sound, and marks proportions based on traditional measurement systems. Rough shaping is done with heavy chisels, followed by progressively finer tools for detail work on features, jewellery and drapery. Finishing involves rubbing with abrasive stone and water.

A life-size granite figure can take several months. Granite is worked dry, and the characteristic ringing sound of chisels on stone is constant along the Mamallapuram workshop road.

The Pallava rock-cut caves, monolithic rathas and the Shore Temple at Mamallapuram, carved in the seventh and eighth centuries, are UNESCO World Heritage monuments and the reference point for the entire tradition. The Government College of Architecture and Sculpture at Mamallapuram trains sculptors in the same classical methods, and workshops there supply temples across India and abroad.

Mamallapuram, 55 kilometres south of Chennai on the East Coast Road, has dozens of open workshops alongside the monuments. Kanchipuram and Thanjavur have temple-supply sculptors, and the Brihadeeswarar Temple at Thanjavur and the monuments at Darasuram and Gangaikonda Cholapuram show the tradition at its height.