This elegantly coloured statue, one of the finest examples of South Indian temple wood-carving rendered using Bangai wood, a regional specie of timber used for wood carving in South now for generations, represents the five-faced and ten-armed Gayatri, a goddess of Hindu pantheon in Shaivite line. One of the finest species of wood growing around a specific coastal region in Tamil Nadu near Chennai, neither too hard nor too soft, and hence ideal for carving, Bangai has been the medium of temple wood carving in entire South for long past. Endowed with natural ability to keep insects away and to resist against all climatic changes this naturally tempered timber is the chosen medium of art lovers world over.
