Animation Technique and Depiction of Death in Sculptural Art: Ramayana Story in Shri Ramaswamy Temple in Erstwhile Travancore, Kerala Preeta Nayar1 1. Kerala Council for Historical Research, Vyloppilly Samskrity Bhavan, Nalanda, Thiruvananthapuram 695 003, Kerala, India (Email:
[email protected]) Received: 10 August 2016; Revised: 19 September 2016; Accepted: 05 October 2016 Heritage: Journal of Multidisciplinary Studies in Archaeology 4 (2016): 18-25 Abstract: Artists have, on rare occasions, employed animation techniques in sculptural art to represent movement in time. Ramayana story narrated in wood in Shri Ramaswamy temple has used this technique while presenting the death of Tataka, Subahu, Maricha and Jatayu. Sculptors created twin images of the busts and heads of these characters and conjugated them on their main bodies to represent the sequence of their death. This technique helps sculptors to use minimum space with maximum effect and infuse life in to still images. Keywords: Animation Technique, Ramayana Story, Wood, Shri Ramaswamy Temple, Padmanabhapuram, Death, Movement in Time Introduction Animation creates an illusion of movement. It infuses life in to images and makes the lifeless vibrant. Andrew Leori-Gourhen, the famous French archaeologist and anthropologist, defines animation as the visual translation of an action by a figure in a meaningful attitude, a pose or a privileged moment (Leori-Gourhen 1992: 353; Luis & Fernandez 2009: 1305). Though very rarely, sculptors employ animation techniques in sculptural art to convey the motion in time. This technique has been employed while narrating certain anecdotes of death in the depiction of Ramayana story in wood in Shri Ramaswamy temple located at Padmanabhapuram in the erstwhile Travancore in Kerala (now in Kanyakumari district, Tamil Nadu).