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Home > Temples of Kerala > Stucco Images Stucco ImagesStucco or clay or Venkali images are rare in Kerala. This technique is seldom used and those temples which follow this method are located at the borders of Kerala. To cite an example the Sree Ananthapadmanabhaswamy temple at Anthapura Gudda has some peculiarities. H. Sarkar states that the garbha-grha here has deva-koshtas on all three sides, each of them enshrining a seated figure of four-armed Vishnu. Hands are broken but it is certain that upper hands carry sankh and chakra. A conical prabha-vali runs around the Kireeta-mukuta. Unquestionably, these are stucco images but not of ordinary type, since lime has been applied over a wooden core (daaru-garbha) and then beautifully painted in polychrome. Moreover the images in the garbha-grha are also made of stucco, applied on wooden frame; here a seated Vishnu is flanked on either side by his consorts Sree-Devi and_Bhoo-Devi, apart from two other attendant figures. The image of Vishnu is that of Vaikuntanaatha because the dislodged serpent-hood above the God can be still seen to his left. These images seated in Yogaasaana on a padma-peetha are examples of excellent modelling and stylistically datable to the eleventh or twelfth century A.D". (Architecturnl Survey of Temples of Kerala, p. 117).
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