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| Home > Materials Of Sculpture > Wooden Sculptures
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| | Wooden Sculptures
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In today`s era, wood has become a valuable thing which is extremely expensive. But there were the days when wood was available in plenty & scarcity of wood was unknown phenomenon . With the help of wood, many temples & houses were built. Similarly, wheels and basic kind of furniture were also created from wood. Today wood is an essential part of our life. It provides us the pillars, the roof beam, the doorframes and the doors and windows and the list will be ongoing. The tradition of carved wooden frames is continued till today. Wood is an essential part of the architectural design of homes, palaces and temples, as well as other community places throughout history. Therefore, in the history of India, wooden sculptures play an important role.
Every region of India had developed its own style of wooden structures. This style is very unique to that place and marked with a distinct type of carving. Mostly, these styles were strongly influenced by local traditions and the materials that were locally available.
A material like wood provided a very excellent medium for artists in India to express their creativity. Wood carving is comparatively softer compared to stone carving. Sculptures of India have a vibrant history that marks for its uniqueness. Craftsmen have since year created many masterpieces in the wood.
From the southern parts of India, the wooden sculptures and toys are very much popular for their intricate carving works and meticulous finishing. In Indian wood sculpture, Idols of god, goddesses and demigods are the most preferred themes through this presentation. Apart from this, from the northern parts of India too a distinct style of sculpture is found though the furniture from these states that is prominent.
But for sculptures, Sandalwood, Rose wood and Softwood are commonly used by artists in making sculpture. Apart from the regular natural finish the sculptures also available in a variety of vibrant colours.
Throughout the history of Indian art, woodcarving seems the most luxurious kind of art. Wood sculpture was produced from many centuries` back. The well-known example of wooden sculpture can be said as carved on temples. The Hindu temples in ancient period were marvelously decorated with doors, ceilings and various fittings carved in teak and other kind of woods. This carving was marked with typical patterns of extreme richness and minute elaboration. Some of the architectural remains from Kashmir and Punjab are from the 3rd or 4th century, shows similarity with the patterns employed with a bold and decorative character that are strongly resembling the best Elizabethan design.
From the northwest coast, the temple of Somnath is also famous for its beautiful wooden skills. The doors of this temple were famed for their magnificence and were highly valued as sacred relics.
Almost all architecture including a door, column, gallery or even a whole house-front is covered with the most intricate design at Bhera in Shahpur. In wooden carving, if architectural details are seen, some methods & techniques are found in common. Only a simple enrichment carved around the framing or round designs were used on large extent to produce the artistic impact.
The treatment given to the circle in this sculpture is often exceedingly good and very common. The art of Indian woodcarving is much inspiring to many Westerners.
The foliage and flowers were carved to attractive look. In fact, foliage, fruit and flowers were some of the constantly adapted themes in decoration for frames of doors or windows.
 Among all the most important or perhaps the earliest example of this art are reliefs from the great stupa at Bharhut. It is in northern India & constructed dating back approximately in the middle of the 2nd century BC.
In this work a suggestive kind of a style is found imitating from the wooden sculpture. It can be characterized by designs that are essentially in cubical forms, flat planes marked in it that meet at sharp angles, and an elaborate and precisely detailed ornamentation of surfaces.
Most of the artistic part of sculpture is confined to the railing of the stupa. And the supporting posts are bearing large image of yaksas and yaksis , shown as providing the service to Buddha. Most of the others are decorated with medallions in the center and at the top and bottom crescent-shaped motifs or lunates are seen that is filled with lotus motifs.
On this stupa, figures are often carved parallel to each other in horizontal rows. All figures are like a series of continuous narration, in which happenings or small events succeeding in time are shown. Bharhut is an extremely important place because it seems to mark a new beginning after the dominating refined and naturalistic art of the Maurya Empire. One can see the sophistication, in spite of the archaic, hieratic manner that indicate a linkage with features of sculptural tradition, particularly in wood, preceded it.
A style that is closely connected with Bharhut style is also found at Sanchi.
Though the themes and motifs found at Bharhut occur here also, figures in narrative representations are found absent. In fact, the style is much identical in terms of designs & proportions. But as per the scale and richness of Bharhut the Sanchi is at the subordinate level.
Wood art from Indian States
In Assam, extensive area is occupied by forest with a variety of woods available in them, shows a rich tradition of woodcarving. Art sculptures are evidences of time so can be treated as reference material. Same is applied for the wooden sculpture of India. The sacred worship places of people in their house, known as namghars, were constructed from wood. Many carvings of animal figures referred in mythical context such as the half-man & half-eagle garuda, the vahana of Vishnu, and the loyal Hanuman the monkey-god, magar means crocodile, the vahana of Ganga, the simha or the lion, the vahana of Devi, were widely gained place in wooden sculpture. Besides these, in large numbers in the carvers created a simhasana, lion`s seat, on which the celestial images from sculpture, were seated.
In southern states of India like Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, the tradition of woodcarving finds its best expression in the form of rathas. Rathas are carved skillfully in wood. It is basically a chariot, used by temples for taking out the deities in procession on festive days. The large rathas are miniature temples on wheels. They carved panels on this rathas are depicting gods and goddesses, and mythological tales.
Many specialized techniques of carving in variety of ways on wood were seen in India. Among it sandalwood carving is considered as one of the most important. Originally, the deities-Shiva ( in the form of Nataraj), Vishnu, Devi, Ganesha, Kartikaya and others were created in sandalwood.
 Another interesting form, which is to be found in south Karnataka, is the life-size, woodcarving of Bhuta figures. These are made from single wood pieces and have a strong primitive character. Temples in the midst of the forest are surrounded by large pillar-like forms carved in wood represents many deities. It can be said that the Kerala style has possibly evolved out of this tradition. This tradition is still very popular as the Bhutha`s are considered as powerful representatives of the other world of the Bhutas and Pretas, who were under the control of Shiva. In the rural area, caste, class or religion makes no difference as far as Bhutas are concerned. Everyone propitiates the power of Bhutas.
Wood-carving which was originally used for decoration of homes and temples, exists even today to meet the requirements of the religious institutions, as well as to caster to the growing demand for wood-carved furniture and panels. Andhra Pradesh has a tradition of manufacturing woodcarving for religious centers. The Tirupathi dolls of red wood were made primarily for sale to pilgrims.
State of Kerala had also one of the richest traditions in woodcarving. Here the temples  with carved pilasters, pillars and beams are seen. Almost every house from this state has a carved family temple. These carved temples employs intricate patters for designs on the ceilings, pillars or in brackets. So, the carvings on temples had preserved the woodcarving style of sculpturing in Kerala. Unfortunately this tradition had died out as the wood-carvers from this place started working on sandalwood, as well as on rosewood for generating more decorative items & furniture.
At the upper side of India such as in Kashmir, a distinctive tradition of bearing the impress of Central Asian designs is found more prevailing. The wooden mosques and places of pilgrimage have helped in maintaining the rich woodcarving and woodturning tradition. The religious places are also lined with wood, & the ceilings of these monuments are worked in geometrical patterns, and latticework windows made up of pieces of wood locally known as pinjara, cage work. This structure resulted in making the intricate patterns that is known as the specialty of the area.
 In the state of Punjab, old havelis & palaces are bearing carved doors and windows. But today, wood carving tradition and very famous wood inlay technique is continued only in Hoshiarpur. The workers from Hoshiarpur specialize in inlaying intricate design that are primarily based on floral motifs. Certainly, this can be a result of a continuation of the Mughal tradition of decorative designs.
The wooden sculptures, which now exist, are very fine specimens of ancient woodcarving techniques. No doubt, the Indians are sculptors of proven merit & skills. The art with wood has significantly contributed in artistic history of India
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