Birth of Tanjore Painting

Tanjore Paintings show a very beautiful composition of elegance and hard work together. Often have I wondered about the history behind this wonderful art. Scanning on the net and discussing with some of my Indian culture loving friends, helped me in coming out with this article on the origin of the Tanjore Painting. I thought it would be better to document it here, then to search it again later.
 
Tanjore painting which are called Thanjavur Oviyam in Tamil and also known as palagai padam in local language, is a precious gem of the South Indian painting styles. It holds it's origin to the town of Thanjavur in Tamil Nadu. You might notice the similarity between the town name and the paintings name. Yes it is true that the actual name was Thanjavur, but was letter known as Tanjore.
 
This art has its roots dug deep into history, and is not a new one. It depicts the Indian culture and heritage and has evidences since 1600 AD. This period was of the Nayakas, who were ruling the town of Thanjavur at that time.
 
It was due to their support and encouragement for this painting and other forms of art like dance, music etc., that the culture and heritage of Thanjavur got so rich. One of the prominent emerging part of this encouragement was the Tanjore Paintings.

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