In Photos: How Thinai Vaasigal exhibition packs centuries under one roof in Tamil Nadu

A world that existed from the 3rd century BC to 3rd century AD, a world that stood witness to the 1968 massacre of Keezhvenmani, a world that dropped its jaw upon witnessing the discoveries of Keezhadi excavations in Tamil Nadu were all paced under one roof on March 8 and will stay so till April 10, representing a continuum in time, drawing attention to all that has changed and all that remains much the same despite the centuries that stand in between.

An artists’ collective from the reputed Egmore Fine Arts College has brought back more than 2,000-year-old Tamil Thinai landscape in the form of paintings, sculptures, dance and drama at the Thinai Vaasigal exhibition. More than 24 artists have displayed their artwork in Kochi, reigniting the ancient Tamil life where the land one stayed on defined how one behaved and the literature that shaped up.

The art work displayed at SV Arcade Gallery in Kochi is part of the movement to celebrate diversity as it was done in the Sangam era by Tamils. Today, Sangam is an academy of scholars, where ancient Tamil poems, filtered from 3rd century BC to 3rd century AD, find a place of prominence.