Ther - South Indian Chariots


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Creator/Artist: Harish Kumar P

Category: Mobility Design

Document: Design Research

Batch: 2012-2014

Source: India,   IDC IIT Bombay

Period:  2009-2018

Medium: Report pdf

Supervisor: Prof. Kumaresan


Detailed Description

‘Ther’, the South Indian chariots, also called as temple cars. These vehicles are designed to carry the temple idols by deities around the temple. The temple car is taken out once in a year, that is popularly called as Ther Thiruvizha (temple car festival). Usually belonging to Hindu temples, these have a lot of social impact too. These are made up of materials ranging from wood, stone to more expensive materials like gold and silver. The process of making these also depends upon the place, the practices they follow and the type of craftsmen available in that location. These huge moving art pieces are made by people who are not from any engineering, design or art background, but learn from their ancestors who had been making such structures generations after generations. How could they build such a huge and heavy structure which could move through the streets without any mechanical failures, how does it stay steady even when it is turned by people who doesn’t know how reliable it is. How the whole Ther is made? And who all are involved in it? Who all are involved in building it? How it get its identity? , and more. The project is about finding out answers for these questions, to look into the future and see how these will be made and how people will perceive these colossal moving structures.