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The Art Gallery at Diyodhaya has as its theme - Religious
harmony
and integration. The concept of this art gallery was formed in
1996, with the focus on creating awareness in the minds of people
about different religions.
The growth and evolution of man, culture, religion and spirituality,
over the many centuries, has been portrayed artistically in this
gallery. There are paintings, drawings, photographs, transparencies,
sculptures, terra cotta works and video tracks. There are various
exhibits on Creation, the Indus Valley Civilisation and major religions
like Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Christianity, Islam and Sikhism.
 Artists
featured include P K Ramachandran, his assistants V Ramanan,
Subbramanian, Mani, Babu and scriptwriters V K Dinesh, Dr.
M R P Guruswami and Dr. R M Thirunavukarasu.
Krishanaraj Vanavarayar, Chairman of the Divyodhaya Religious
and Charitable Trust termed it a ‘big idea in a small room’.
The creation of life as an expression of God’s beauty is portrayed
in one panel through the artistic representations of many forms
of life, like seeds, trees, plants and rivers. Then the Indus  Valley
civilisation, which is nearly 5,000 years old (to which the worship
of Shiva and Sakthi can be traced) is portrayed in
the next panel. Various religions like Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism,
Christianity, Islam and Sikhism are portrayed through individual
panels. At the end of these panels there is a painting of a prism
from which one single ray of light gets dispersed into seven colours,
with the message expressed in a vedic mantra ‘Ekam sat viprah
bahudha vadani’, (‘The truth is one, the wise ones call it by various
names’).
The message of harmony is depicted in a very creative manner by
showing people of different faiths playing various instruments in
an orchestra. Though the instruments they play are different, the
end result is harmonious. In the last series of panels various
personalities are profiled – Thiruvalluvar, St. Thomas the
apostle, St. Francis Xavier, Guru Gobind Singh, Raja Ram Mohan
Roy, Kuriakose Elias Chavara, Vallalar Ramalinga Swami, Sri Ramakrishna
Paramahamsa, Sree Narayana Guru, Rabindranath Tagore, Sarojini Naidu,
Pandit Nehru, Abdul Kalam, Dr. Radhakrishnan, Dr. Ambedkar, Vinoba
Bhave, Mother Teresa, Acharya Tulsi and Sri Aurobindo. The
last painting in the panel shows men making their way to heaven.
Address: Divyodhaya Art Gallery, 91, Geetha Hall Road,
Coimbatore – 641 018.
Phone: 300 966.
Author: Joseph Pradeep Raj
Photographs: Leslee Lazar
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