The horses of Aiyanar – Shonali Muthalaly , THE HINDU

Jean-Louis Cardin’s quest began with a photo of two blue horses. It was 2005, and the French architect-turned-amateur photographer was in a small temple in Saliyamangalam on a mission to learn more about India, and Hinduism. The next picture he took was in Narthamalai, one-and-a-half hours away, this time of an elephant with a swastika painted across its body.

This was the beginning of a remarkable body of work, currently on display at the École française d’Extrême-Orient in Puducherry. (Groves of Aiyanar was first displayed in the library of the École française d’Extrême-Orient at the Maison de l’Asie in Paris in 2018.)

Muni riding a Yali in the Pallavadi sacred grove in 2016

Now part of the Pondicherry Heritage Festival, the photos display the shrines of Aiyanar, a pre-Vedic deity, with his army of cows, elephants, and horses of terracotta. “From the day my quest for Aiyanar started, I realised that I was in the presence of a great tradition of artistic expression, which could compete with the productions of contemporary artists all over the world,” says Cardin.

His photographs, bright with colour and energy, display how remarkable the terracotta statues are, both aesthetically and technically. They are also unexpectedly grand: The horses of the Aranthangi, for example, are more than six metres tall, making them among the largest statues in the world sculpted as single pieces of terracotta.

A horse for Aiyanar in the kiln at Kasirajan’s house in Aranthangi in 2017

Cardin says he visited more than 120 shrines across Tamil Nadu for this project. “Some were very small and on the roadside. Some large and embedded in sacred woods. For this exhibition, I had to make a selection, which of course, cannot be entirely representative of the diverse heritage of Aiyanar.” Cardin’s concept note for the show states that families of potters have handed down the craft of making these statues. The same families are also guardians of the priesthood of Aiyanar.

Today, the potters are gradually dwindling, and the quality of the production seems to be on the decline, partly because concrete statues are both easier and cheaper to produce.

The groves too, once rich harbours for flora and fauna, are getting hemmed by the very settlements they were built to protect.

Aiyanar compound in Kannanthangudi in 2016

A large number of the objects in Cardin’s photos are now gone, including the statue on the exhibition’s announcement poster. Nevertheless, the Aiyanar festival continues to be an important event in village life. “In Aranthangi, I stayed 10 days to follow the creation of a large horse and the festival that followed. In Panjathi, more than 80 offerings of horses, cows and elephants are given to Aiyanar in his grove.”

Cardin is an architect with a Masters degree in History of Urban Planning. While running his own architectural practice for 46 years, working for both public projects and private clientèle, he also took photos of architecture along his travels, much of which was in Asian countries. “As a photographer, I have also made a study of apotropaic Drishti images, which is one of my favourite subjects,” he says, adding, “I also notice and photograph banners and torn posters that are scattered about the Indian landscape.”

An elephant with swastika in Narthamalai

He says his interest in India began in his teens, through Carnatic music. Now retired, he divides his time between Paris and Puducherry. “I feel half-Indian and half-French, like the migratory birds that follow the course of the sun to spend their winters here.”

This exhibition is on at École française d’Extrême-Orient, 19 Rue Dumas in Puducherry until February 28, between 9 am and 5 pm. Closed on Sundays.