Monday 16 September 2013

mundane monday - # 24


yet another mundane monday post today after a long gap !

today's pic is that of two traditional indian soapstone lamps. these are simple, beautiful in black and the designs on each piece hand-carved.

From mundane monday


soapstone pots were once commonly used for cooking in india, being heavy, sturdy and heat resistant. soapstone is called maakkal (maa-kal, kal meaning stone) in tamil. its a naturally occurring stone, and easy to carve, due to which it has been put to many uses - from temple sculptures to cooking pots and other decorative accessories.

these soapstone/maakkal lamps are meant to be lit with oil and a wick, but i dont intend to light them anytime soon - i got these just to use as eye-candy :) - as decor around the house... they are quite heavy too for their size.
i also have a mortar & pestle in the kitchen made from soapstone.

read more about soapstone here . the hoysala temples of karnataka also use soapstone extensively in their architecture, and you can read more on it here

this is another pic of the lamps that i took -

From idle time output !




2 comments:

  1. would it have helped to have a reference object next to the pictures just to perceive the size of the lamps ?

    the jasmine by itself can help a bit...

    still.. a Reynolds pen or a penny perhaps ? (not so apt references... but you get the hang right!)

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    Replies
    1. i get what you are saying...

      to give a fair idea till such time i manage to come up with another pic (which could be a long time!), i'd say that they are about the size of an adult's palm, give or take...

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