S   H   A   D   A   N   G   A

Plural cultures, Monolithic structures

Rereading of ancient Indian texts becomes increasingly relevant in the global cosmopolitan world where there is a trend towards celebrating the Derridian difference. There is, in a metaphysical sense, an India-Rush happening. Not only is tandoori chicken the ‘plat du jor’ and Bollwood finding a new high, but Indian philosophy, yoga and spirituality is the new, holistic alternative lifestyle. It is within this framework that the ancient canons of Indian Art find resonance in contemporary Indian art practice.

All visual arts are based primarily on visual facts and our response to them. Even non-objective art does not function outside the pale of our responses to the visual. Our response to visual facts is built upon certain natural susceptibilities or inherent predispositions and our sensation to shape, surface, configuration or space depend on them. These very characteristics determine the nature of the nature of the activities within a work of art, or its internal dynamics, and generate similar responses. These responses are certainly complex, involving sensations, interpretations and emotional discharge thrown into diverse circuits. What is important is that there is a correlation between our response to visual facts and our response to the visual arts. What distinguishes an effective work of art from a non-effective one is the presence or absence of this correspondence and the resultant feedback. An effective work of art can transform our vision of the world and reactivate it.

Art and aesthetics have an almost incestuous symbiotic relationship. The structure and the image was an inherent, yet dualistic part of ancient Indian art practice. Aesthetic enjoyment in Indian tradition was based on, and aimed at, an art experience, which took place in the ‘citta’ – the creative center where the appropriate shape or form of an image was determined. According to Chandogya Upananishad, hridaya aakash – the ideal space, is in the innermost core of one’s being. When unified with citta, ananada is produced and spiritual bliss becomes synonymous with aesthetic bliss. Both were attained by practicing absorption and inwardness. To achieve this effect artist rendered rhythmical flow of creative power into his work of art, for he had to see beyond the object with the eyes of Atman – the self. The ancient understood this link between art and aesthetics as ‘saundarya shastra’ the coherent world of vital images.

A distinct emphasis was placed on the artist as a subjective experience and on the viewer as the receiver of this experience. This two way process was considered essential to every art practice and to experience this rasa or emotion, the ancient deployed a system, which laid emphasis on the canons of art.

Artistic practice in India comes from a well-defined lineage, where all forms of art were linked and inter-related. It was, in fact, akin to a science where formulas, measurement, postures, feelings were all categorized, sub-categorised and critiqued in texts. These texts were the guidelines of creative practice, the bible of every artist. The canons and ideals of Indian art as dictated by texts such as the Visnudharmottaram describe the ‘six limbs’ inseparably connected with a chitra, or painted image, in the absence of which no chitra is perfect.

‘Shadanga’ or the six limbs of Indian art, lay prominence on the basic structure or language of a work of art, written in consonance with the liturgical texts. The principles underlying a work of art intended to propel the spectator towards the celebrations of life, through the rasa or emotional experience. The six limbs, that Vatsayana’s Kamsutra speaks of are considered to be like the two arms, two legs and torso treating each aspect of painting as part of a human body, complete when all aspects are present and incomplete when one is missing, thus substantiating its relevance and importance to the work of art. The six limbs enumerated are rupa-bheda, pramanani, bhava-yojana, lavanya-yojanam, sadrisyam and varnika-bhanga. These limbs translate into drawing, proportion, arrangement of line, mass, design, harmony and perspective. Emotion or aesthetic feeling can also be expressed through form. Of the six categories, as many as four deal with the external qualities of painting and can be measured objectively. The other two, bhava (emotion) and lavanya (grace) are subjective qualities, which are added by the artists intuitive skill.

P  L   A   T  E  S

SATISH GUJRAL	PARESH MAITY
A.RAMACHANDRAN	JAYASRI BURMAN
SAKTI BURMAN	NEERAJ GOSWAMI
HAKU SHAH	SIDDHARTH
BADRI NARAYAN	CHHOTU LAL
LAXMA GOUD	GANESH PYNE
DIPAK BANERJEE	MANISH PUSHKALE
JANGARH SINGH SHYAM	K.S.RADHAKRISHNAN
AJIT KUMAR DAS	NEELKANT CHOUDHARY
JOGEN CHOWDHURY	ATUL SINHA