PM To Gift Annam Lamp, Thanjavur Painting To Chinese President: Report

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to gift Nachiarkoil, a six-feet Annam lamp richly coated with gold and a three-feet high Thanjavur painting of dancing Saraswathi to Chinese President Xi Jinping at the second informal summit between the two leaders at Mamallapuram in Tamil Nadu.

The gifts reflect the tradition and culture of Tamil Nadu where the summit is being held.

The lamp has a round base decorated with beautiful patterns and has slender and intricately-designed ornamental stem with branches taking off at three levels. At the top of the stem is a bowl of five spouts for wicks to light the lamp. Above the lamp is the "Annam" -- a celestial bird that is mythologically reputed to be able to separate milk from water and figuratively good from the bad.

Made of bronze and resplendently gold-coated, the lamp stands six feet tall, weighs 108 kilograms and took 12 days to make.

The ornate and intricate Thanjavur painting of the Dancing Saraswathi is three-feet high, four feet wide, and took about 45 days to make. The painting is set in a wooden frame carved with beads, the traditional motif used for such frames. The central motif of the painting is the Dancing Hindu Goddess Saraswathi, considered the embodiment of knowledge, music, art, nature and wisdom.

The painting shows the Saraswathi playing the Veena, and dancing in celebration of eternal bliss. It also has the celestial bird "Annam" which is a symbol of purity, prosperity, divinity, and elegant beauty.

Thanjavur painting, also known as "Palagai Padam" (paintings of wood) is an ancient miniature form of painting that gets its name after the city of Thanjavur in Tamil Nadu. The art form dates back to the 16th and 18th centuries.