Iconic similarity between ornate Hindu temple facades and wedding posters in Pondycherry

Here is a typical poster placed in front of a wedding hall announcing the wedding that is going to happen later in the day. The bigger the poster, the more prestige, and some of the posters are much larger than this one!

Nevermind that none of the people may be smiling, the bride might look terrified, and the colours are sometimes so off as to be garish, and the printing in general so pixilated that the poster is barely readable from closer than 10 feet.

Iconically, these large wedding posters seem similar to me of the ornately decorated temple facades, where many carved figures of gods and demons are placed in careful relationship to each other.

These photos are from Pondycherry, Tamil Nadu province, India.

To continue the assault on the senses, both the weddings and temples seem to both broadcast their prominence and also compete with each other through sound – the bigger and more blown out the speakers the more cacophonic the sound the better!

Leave a Comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.