{"id":484,"date":"2013-07-13T01:28:17","date_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:28:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/?p=484"},"modified":"2013-07-13T01:28:17","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T01:28:17","slug":"46-rupam-vol-17-the-hour-of-god-volume-17","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/01-works-of-sri-aurobindo\/01-sabcl\/17-the-hour-of-god-volume-17\/46-rupam-vol-17-the-hour-of-god-volume-17","title":{"rendered":"-46_Rupam.htm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
\n
\n

\nRupam*<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

\n <\/p>\n

\n                  
\nTHE<\/font><\/b> appearance of this superb quarterly admirable in its artistic get-up and
\nits fine reproductions of Indian sculpture and painting, admirable in the
\naccomplished excellence of its matter, – the name of the editor, Mr. O. C. Gangoly, the one man most especially fitted by his knowledge and capacity for
\nthis work, is of itself a sufficient guarantee of excellence, –
\nis a significant indication of the progress that is being made in the revival
\nof the aesthetic mind of India. Assailed and corrupted in a time of cultural
\ndecline and arrest of its creative and artistic faculty by an alien aesthesis
\nand ideals antithetic to its own spirit, it is returning to a right view and
\nunderstanding of its past greatness, and though much way has still to be made
\nbefore there can be any universal recovery of the artistic eye and taste, the
\nfirst steps have been taken with some rapidity and firmness and are all in the
\nright direction. This new and fine effort of the Indian Society of Oriental Arts
\nis likely to be of invaluable aid towards this reawakening; its magnificent
\nillustrations are in themselves a revelation of the old beauty and greatness
\nand, admirably selected and supported by illuminating articles,
\nought to be sufficient to open even the most blinded vision to the meaning
\nand value of our ancient painting and sculpture.
\n   
\nThe subjects of the four articles in this number are all of a considerable
\ninterest and touch points or raise and answer questions which have either a
\ncentral importance or a vital though second-plane prominence in Indian art, and
\neach article is a remarkably just, full, efficient and understanding
\ninterpretation of its subject. The frontispiece is a panel from a Pallava
\ntemple at Mahabalipuram intended to convey at once the essential character
\nand appeal of Indian sculpture by an example which offers no difficulty of
\nunderstanding or appreciation even to a non- Indian mind or to an uninstructed
\nknowledge, and it is accompanied by a brief but clear and sufficient article.
\nThis example . An illustrated quarterly journal of Oriental Art, chiefly
\nIndian, edited by O. C. Gangoly.<\/p>\n

\nPage-300<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

from one of the great styles and periods shows, as is justly said, and shows
\nvery perfectly, the Indian principle in the treatment of the human figure, the
\nsuppression of small particulars and trivial details in order to secure an
\nextreme simplicity of form and contour, – the best condition for accomplishing
\nthe principal. object of the Indian sculptor which was to fill the form with
\nthe utmost power of spiritual force and significance. The figure of this
\nprincely doorkeeper of the temple in its union of calm, grave, sweet and <\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>restful serenity\u00a0 <\/span>with a latent and restrained heroic energy in
\nits stillness, noted by the writer as the distinctive power of this creation,
\nis indeed equal, as he suggests, in its dignity and repose to any Greek statue,
\nbut in it carries in it a more profound and profound meaning: it is a prefect
\ninterpretation of the still and intense Godward feeling, seized in one deep
\nmood, in one fixed moment of it, which was the soul of the great ages of Indian
\nreligion. There is here a perfection of form with a perfection of significance.
\nThis restraint in power, this contained fullness opening an amplitude of
\ninfinite suggestion, is not rare or exceptional, it is a frequent greatness in
\nthe art of Indian. <\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>The second article on
\nGaruda in Bengal and Java by Akshaya Kumar Maitreya, besides its interesting
\nand discerning treatment of its subject, the inception and humanising of the
\nGaruda figure and the artistic use of the my thus, touches an issue which has not
\nyet, I think, received sufficient consideration, the place of the art of Gauda
\nin the development of the spirit of Indian sculpture. The putting side by side
\nof the two sculptures from Java and Varendra, on one side the heroic force,
\nmajesty, dignity and beauty of the ancient art in one of its finest
\ndevelopments, on the other the moved nobility, grace and loveliness and the
\nfervour of spiritual emotion and tenderness of a time when the antique Aryan
\nspirit was softening into the sweetness of the religions of Bhakti, makes of
\nitself an illuminating suggestion. This sculpture is eloquent of that
\ntransition and the art of Gauda with its lyrical sweetness of emotion and, at
\nits best, suggestive depths, begins the curve of the stream of spiritual
\nfeeling which came down through the Vaishnava art and poetry, found its most
\ngracious and lucid embodiment in the poets of Bengal, has now taken, enriched
\nby new elements, a large and living development <\/p>\n

\nPage \u2013 301<\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

in the lyrics of Tagore and the paintings of the Calcutta school and has yet a
\nvital part to play in the spiritual future of India.
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>Another article contains a full
\nand discriminating account, copiously illustrated by numerous figures, of the
\nhistory of the Kirtimukha, a standing feature in Indian architecture, and the
\ndevelopment of its use as a constant decorative element and in Java a prominent
\nstructural motive. The right understanding of these details is a necessary
\nequipment for the complete comprehension of the art of India. The writer
\nhandles his subject with a consummate mastery and includes in a small compass
\nall that is needed to give us a full idea about this "glory face".
\nThe\u00a0 <\/span>one thing not included in his
\nintention is its psychological significance, a question of great interest, for
\nit is an evolution as the writer indicates from an element common to the
\nancient. art of Asia and there were kindred things in Greece and mediaeval
\nEurope. It is the result, I would suggest, of an imagination or an experience
\nthat has entered into the subtle worlds and found there a side of things
\ndangerous and distorted and terrible that have yet to be compelled by the
\nadventure of the self-conquering spirit into an element of divine harmony and
\nsignificance.
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>The remaining article by Mr. E. Vredenburg on the continuity of
\npictorial tradition in the art of India treats a question of the most central
\nimportance and brings to it a fine aesthetic instinct even more necessary than
\nhistoric and archaeological accuracy of information in such a discussion, for
\none may have the latter and yet miss the truth for lack of a more essential
\nequipment of the art critic. Mr. Vredenburg enters a still much- needed protest
\nagainst the constant tendency to attribute a foreign origin to whatever
\nsurvives of Indian creation. The instances he gives are indeed evidences of an
\nextraordinary perversity of judgment, such as the well-known refusal to leave
\nthe credit of the Tajmahal to India, "the numerous attempts that have been
\nmade to ascribe the Ajanta paintings to the Greeks, Persians or Chinese",
\nand last but not least colossally absurd, "the truly astounding statement
\nthat the Kangra paintings are of European inspiration and that they were
\npainted for the English market"! Only yesterday while reading Mr.
\nJouveau-Dubreuil’s able histo-<\/p>\n

\nPage -302<\/font><\/p>\n

\n
\n<\/div>\n

rical monograph I found myself brought up short by
\nthe sweepingly positive but hardly judicial and certainly not judicious
\nstatement that "the Deccan like the North was inspired by the Greek and
\nRoman arts and the marbles of Amaravati can be compared to the sculptures of
\nGandhara". The plain fact is that whatever outside influences there mayor
\nmay not have been in India as elsewhere, even the earliest work shows a
\ncharacteristic Indian mentality and touch; and as for Gandharan art, it has the
\nair of an inefficient attempt of the Hellenistic mind to absorb this spirit
\nrather than an effort of India to imitate Greece. And in any case the great
\ncharacteristic work could no more have been the creation of a foreign mind or
\nof its influence than the sculptures of Phidias can be attributed to an
\nAssyrian, Egyptian or Chinese origin. A psychological insensibility to the
\nspiritual significance of Indian work is probably at the root of these errors
\nand, so long as that subsists, the most erudite knowledge will be no protection
\nagainst gross misunderstandings.
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>Mr. Vredenburg is chiefly
\nconcerned in this article with filling up the gap between the Ajanta frescoes
\nand the later art .of India. He is able to do this up to the eleventh or
\ntwelfth century: for the beautiful coloured reproductions of exquisite Buddhist
\nminiatures from an illuminated manuscript of that period which are the most
\nattractive feature of this number, evidence a complete continuity of the Ajanta
\nstyle. Most striking are the two enlargements which show at once and
\nconclusively that these miniatures are in their whole spirit, method and every
\ncharacteristic reductions of the old style of mural painting. He appeals also
\nto the typically Ajantesque character of the coloured panels of Man Singh’s
\npalace which date from the fifteenth or sixteenth century. It will be
\ninteresting\u00a0 <\/span>to follow the farther
\ndevelopment of this argument in the forthcoming number.
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>I could wish I had space
\nfor adequate comment on the many points of stimulating interest with which this
\nnumber abounds, but I have, I think, indicated enough to show that every lover
\nof Indian art and culture ought to possess "Rupam". He will find it
\none of the luxuries that are necessities.<\/p>\n

\nPage -303<\/font><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rupam*                      THE appearance of this superb quarterly admirable in its artistic get-up and its fine reproductions of Indian sculpture and painting, admirable in…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-484","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-17-the-hour-of-god-volume-17","wpcat-9-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/484","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=484"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/484\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=484"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=484"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worksofthemotherandsriaurobindo.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=484"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}