gods, goddesses, saints, and subjects from Hindu mythology are popular themes in Tanjore paintings. Tirupati paintings, in particular were produced in the famous temple town using different media and techniques, like painted terracotta reliefs, brass repousse works, paintings on paper and canvas, etc. The commonest examples were painted and gilded terracotta relief slabs of the deity, framed and packaged in neat wooden boxes which could be carried back as holy memorabilia and worshipped in the Puja room by the pilgrim-devotee. Paintings of the main deity, gilded and gem-set, in a manner similar to Tanjore paintings are also known. Tanjore paintings were also closely related to the crafts of painted and carved wood on the one hand and gilded, stone set jewellery work which flourished in Thanjavur. It is also pertinent to remember that Thanjavur art was functional, in that it was made for a specific purpose on a specific demand from a customer. And it is also in the same context that one understands the iconic style of Thanjavur paintings in contrast to say, the Pahari miniatures or even Surpur paintings. Tanjore and Mysore paintings Tanjore and Mysore paintings, both spring from the same source – Vijayanagara paintings to begin with and Nayaka paintings subsequently. The very same artists, Chitragars and Naidus migrated to various places including Thanjavur and Mysore. This is the reason for the remarkable degree of similarity between the two styles. However, there are many differences that can be made out by the discerning viewer. The differences are largely in the techniques used to create these artworks and in their distinct iconography. The techniques adopted by the Mysore artists are slightly different from those of the Tanjore School. While Tanjore School used white lime powder and powdered tamarind seeds with gum arabic on cloth stretched on wooden panels, Mysore artists used white lead powder (Makhisafeda) or Makhi Gamboge (yellow) drawn from the juice of the indigenous tree (Revana Chinni halu) on paper. The paper sometimes was pasted to a wooden board, but mostly was framed as it was. As against the high relief of the Tanjore 'Gesso' work used prominently across large areas of the painting, the Mysore school preferred low relief, in selected areas such as jewellery, clothing, and borders. The Mysore school used pure gold leaf in lesser quantity as against gold-coated silver leaf handled across larger areas in the painting by Tanjore artists. The