CLOY · THE ARCHIVES

THE RAMAPPA SERIES

SCULPTURE · MOVEMENT · THE MADANIKA CHRONICLES

"Carved from black basalt with impossible precision, they are not decorative. They are alive. Expressions of grace, strength, and a quiet beauty that does not announce itself — it waits to be found."

The Living Stone of Palampet

The Ramappa Temple stands in Palampet, Telangana. Built in 1213 CE under the Kakatiya dynasty, it is one of the finest surviving examples of medieval Indian temple architecture — so remarkable that UNESCO declared it a World Heritage Site in 2021.

The temple is named after its chief sculptor, Ramappa, making it one of the only temples in India named after the craftsman who built it rather than the deity it was built for.

What Lives on Its Walls

What makes Ramappa extraordinary is not just the temple. It is what lives on its walls. Carved into the brackets are figures called Madanikas — celestial women caught mid-movement, arms raised, bodies posed in dance and devotion.

Each figure carries a rhythm frozen in stone for eight hundred years. A quiet presence waiting across centuries for those who understand what it means to look closely.

THE RAMAPPA SERIES is CLOY’s attempt to bring these figures closer. Not to recreate them, but to reinterpret them in an abstract yet traditional way — to take the energy of the Madanika and discover what it feels like to wear her across five distinct silhouettes.

THE FIVE EDITIONS

01

NRITAYA

The Dance

The Madanika is always mid-movement. Nritaya captures that — not the performance, but the moment just before. The inhale before the dance begins.

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02

NIRJHARI

The Flame

Nirjhari speaks to something internal. The Madanika has been standing in stone for eight hundred years — she does not dim. This piece is about that kind of steadiness.

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03

LAYIKA

Grace That Blooms Quietly

The simplest piece in the collection. One side, one image, one feeling. Sometimes the quietest things carry the most weight. Layika does not explain itself.

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04

ANGIKA

The Soft Rise

Angika is about movement that does not force itself. The Madanika does not rush. She rises the way water rises — slowly, certainly, without asking permission.

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05

MANOHARI

The Quiet Rise

She mirrors a personal rise. Not sudden. Not dramatic. One step at a time. The lotus beneath her is not decoration — in Indian tradition, the lotus grows from mud and surfaces clean. That is Manohari.

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THE EDITIONS

EXPLORE THE COMPLETE ARCHIVE

Five tactile silhouettes capturing the timeless rhythm, sculptural grace, and sacred basalt energy of Ramappa. Browse all editions, fit details, and sizing in the official archive.

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