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Exquisite embroidery: An array of dazzling attires made out of velvet.

The beautifully embellished ‘veshtis’ (upper garments), ‘kreedams’, saris and blouses are designed for and worn by the temple deities in Tamil Nadu and elsewhere on special occasions as prescribed by the ‘agama’ shastras.

Designed for both ‘sthirabara’, ‘achala’ or ‘moolavar’ icons and ‘utsava’ or ‘chala’ murtis when they go out in processions on elaborately bedecked ‘raths’ or ‘thers’, they embody the principles of ‘alankara.’

For B. Uday Shankar who has created and designed clothes for deities all over India, U.S. and Europe, it is a sublime experience, as he is carrying forward a family tradition which goes back atleast five generations.

Uday Shankar’s ancestors came to Thanjavur from a remote part of Maharashtra during the rule of the Maratha kings and brought with them the craft of ‘zardosi’ embroidery of the Mughals and a special way with pearls. Using these techniques, his forefathers made both durbar dresses for royalty and special attire for temple deities.

Today Uday’s is perhaps the only family in Tamil Nadu doing hand embroidery with zari, pearls and semi-precious gems on velvet for temple deities.

His whole family work at the craft. Says Uday, “I have made elaborately designed costumes for Venkateshwara, Vishnu and all his avatars with their consorts, … in the U.S…” He mentions particularly the dress he made for Lord Krishna at the temple in Nanjangod village, Karnataka. This dress is a work of art with gold work on red velvet and a dense scattering of tiny motifs, almost like a delicate piece of jewellery.

Many of his creations are rich yet muted, such as dresses spun out of antique gold, while many zari embroidered cloth pieces carry a North Indian, almost Islamic flavour.

Heavy embossed zari embroidery on velvet, inlaid with semi-precious stones, cutwork and exquisite pearl embroidery are Uday’s forte. The motifs are generally ‘manga harams’, creepers, lotus, saligramam and so on, which can be placed in any creative manner, though existing designs are normally followed with few innovations.

‘Kreedams,’ such as ‘vairamudi kreedam,’ are made for ‘garuda sevai’ and ‘Thanjavur pagai’ worn by the deity on the 8th day of the procession. All the work is done by hand. The Shankar family also do the decorations for `thers’ or temple raths and the `palaks’ or palkis. Colourful ‘tombais’ with cutwork patterning is another speciality of Uday Shankar’s.

He also designs ‘chhatris’ for the gods which are totally covered with rich zari embroidery and cutwork motifs.

And finally, there are velvet cloths featuring zari embroidered motifs which are used to screen the sanctum sanctorum.

Today this accountant turned craftsperson has diversified into making banners and backdrops for religious, corporate and cultural functions, music and dance sabhas, apart from creating dresses for traditional toys.

But clothing the gods continues to be both his passion and profession and he hopes his children will follow in his footsteps.

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