Marriage hall turns into an art gallery during the Panguni festival

Every year, during the ten day Panguni festival, a marriage hall – Vysarpadi Vinayakar Mudaliar Charities or ‘Bommai Chathiram’ on South Mada Street, Mylapore turns into an art gallery displaying rare and priceless collection of paintings and dolls.

The practice was first started by Vysarpadi Vinayaka Mudaliar way back in the 19th century. The paintings and dolls, some of which are 150 years old, depict Hindu gods and goddesses and are part of his private collection. Mudaliar was an ardent follower of Hinduism and chose to exhibit his collection during the Panguni festival because of the huge crowd that visited the temple at this time.

The walls of this hall have paintings which tell stories about Kanchi Kamakshi, Chidambara Rahasiyam, Yama Dhandanai, Krishna Leela, incarnations of Lord Vishnu and so on.

The marriage hall, as per Mudaliar’s will, is also used for giving ‘annadanam’ during the Tamil month of Dwadasi.