I grew up watching a Tanjore painting of Lord Ganesha hang in the prayer room of my grandparents’ home. It was gold and green and red, layered and intricate, and it caught the light in a way that made it look alive. As a child, I thought it was just the way certain paintings looked. I did not know it was a 400-year-old art form with its own language, its own ritual, its own process that took weeks to complete. When I bought my first Tanjore painting for my own home, I understood it differently. It was not just decor. It was an object with weight, history, and intention behind…