Deepavali diyas get the eco-friendly touch

Mysuru: Over 5,000 eco-friendly artistically designed colourful earthen lamps from at least six different states from across the country have come alive with beautiful designs of more than 150 varieties at ‘Deepa Saundarya’, a rare 21-day expo organised on the occasion of Deepavali in Mysuru.

Ramsons Kala Prathishtaana which has organised the expo has brought in traditional earthen and metal lamps from Karnataka, West Bengal, Jaipur, Pondicherry and Varanasi involving over 100 artists.

It has the tiniest of lamps measuring one inch to biggest measuring one foot height lamp of Deepa Lakshmi, a metal lamp designed by Mayachar, a national award winner from Bengaluru. While there are several varieties of traditional lamps including deepalakshmi, hamsadeepa, kaalu deepa, vrikshadeepa, a variety of hanging lamps and magic lamps were the biggest hit.  

Lamps depicting the smallest fish to animals including ducks, peacocks to elephants to musical instruments including veena, to birds and flowers and even smiley lamps can all be found here.

In an era when earthen lamps are taking a back seat and traditional potters are switching over to other professions, the expo shows a way to move with changing times, by coming up with creative artistically designed colourful lamps.

K. R. Kumar, a scientist and an avid art lover who visited the expo on Monday, said,  “Even at expos of lamps in several countries I have visited, I have seen single variety being showcased, I have not seen expo with so many varieties at a single place, indeed it is worth to be named as a museum,” he said.

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