The Four Stages of Life

June 12, 2013, 3:07 am

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Just as each caste had its particular duties to follow, there is also the dharma of the four ashramas (or stages) in each of our lives.

Brahmachari or Student

The first stage is that of the Brahmachari or the stage of life of the student which began, in the case of the first three classes which educated their children, with the Upanayana or the thread ceremony. In ancient times girls were also given this initiation, as can be seen from temple sculptures where women also wear the sacred thread, but this was given up later on.

The three threads remind a young man of the Pranava (OM, the symbol of the Absolute), Medha (intelligence) and Shraddha (diligence), the three essential guides for education. He is taught the powerful Gayatri Mantra for the worship of the Sun so that he may absorb its brilliance and effulgence. In olden days students lived with their teacher or Guru in a gurukula (or school) usually set in the midst of a forest. The rich and the poor boy, the prince and the pauper, lived and studied together. It was a life involving service to the Guru and his family, the practice of Yoga, the study of the scriptures, the arts and the sciences, and a life of simplicity, celibacy and spartan self-discipline.

On their departure after the training was over, the Guru exhorted his pupils to speak only the truth, to work without forgetting Dharma, to serve elders, to remember the teachings of the Vedas and to regard one's mother, father, teacher and guest as divine beings to be revered and honoured.

The beauty of the life of the student in the guru kula has few parallels and the fall in the quality of education in schools and colleges today can be traced to the inadequate emphasis placed by present-day society on the totality of education and the need for it to encompass all aspects of a student's life and not book study alone. Equally serious today is the neglect of the study of our past leading to rootlessness amongst the young.

Also, it is essential today that we reintroduce at least a symbolic thread ceremony for all classes and sects of Hindus, for boys and girls, and through it initiate the young into their quest for knowledge.

Grihastha or Householder

The second stage in one's life is that of the Grihastha or householder. This stage begins when the student returns from his studies, marries and takes on the duties of a householder.

The Hindu marriage is a sacred step in one's spiritual growth, and not a contract. Like Goddess Parvati, the wife is ardhangini, part of her husband. No religious ritual can be performed by a man without his wife. No man's or woman's life is believed to be complete without marriage.

Every step taken in the marriage ceremony is symbolic.

The wedding ceremony takes place in front of Agni, the god of Fire. Agni personifies the power and light of the Great God. On one side of the fire is a pot of water for purification, and on the other, a flat stone.

At the start of the marriage ceremony, the father of the bride gives away his daughter, symbolic of Goddess Lakshmi, to the groom, who is deemed to be Vishnu himself. The mantra that is chanted is the same that was first recited by King Janaka while giving his daughter, Seeta, in marriage to Rama:

"This Seeta, my daughter, will be your helpmate in discharging your religious obligations. Take her hand in yours and make her your own. She will be your alter ego, ever devoted to you. She is blessed and will be as inseparable from you as is your shadow".

Then comes the panigrahana ceremony. Holding the bride's hand in his, the groom says, "I hold your hand for happiness. May we both live to a ripe old age. You are the queen and shall rule over my home. You are the Sama Veda, I am the Rig Veda", (implying that they are part of one another). "I am heaven and you are the earth. Let us marry and be joined together." The couples go around the fire and water thrice, clock-wise, while the groom says these words.

They then touch each other's hearts while the groom says, "Your heart I take in mine. Whatever is in your heart shall be in mine whatever is in mine shall be in yours. Our hearts shall be one, our minds shall be one. May God make us one". The bride then mounts the stone, symbolic of the strength of their union.

The couple then take the saptapadi or seven steps together during which the groom prays, "With the first step for food and sustenance, with the second step for strength, with the third step for keeping ours vows and ideals, with the fourth step for a comfortable life, with the fifth step for the welfare of our cattle, with the sixth step for our life together through all the seasons, and with the seventh step for fulfilling our religious duties". Walking hand in hand, taking seven steps together is symbolic of their lives together as man and wife and, equally, as close friends.

The bride prays to Agni, the god of Fire, to witness the marriage, for the prosperity of her new home. Water is sipped by the couple to wash away impurities and to start a new life.

On the wedding night, the groom is shown Dhruva (the Pole Star), and asked to be as unmoving and constant in his love and devotion as the child Dhruva was to Vishnu (for which he was turned into the unmoving Pole Star after death). The bride is shown the stars, Vasishta and Arundati (part of the Great Bear constellation, known as the Sapta Rishis or seven sages in Indian astronomy), symbolic of a devoted couple who are never separated and are always seen together in the skies.

All other customs, such as tying the man galasutra or thali, putting sindoor on the parting, and exchanging garlands are purely local social customs and not instrinsic or essential to the marriage ceremony. The existence of agni (fire) and taking the seven steps are basic essentials of a Hindu wedding. The marriage ceremony, if performed with faith, is considered of great spiritual merit to the parents of the bride who give away their precious daughter.

The word `vivaha' meaning marriage also means that which sustains Dharma or righteousness. It is realised that to make a marriage successful is difficult and requires great sacrifices and adjustability which also help develop character. It is the householder who practises right conduct (Dharma), earns material wealth (Artha), permits himself a life of love and passion (Kama) with his wife and attains salvation (Moksha).

Therefore the second stage, the ashrama of the Grihastha, is considered the most important of the four. The householder is expected to earn a living with integrity and by honest means and to give away one-tenth of what he earns in charity.

He is expected to give happiness and joy to his wife by providing her with a good home. It is obligatory for him to look after his children, educate and marry them.

Charity is essential in a married couple's life. Food is to be given to crows and birds, to cattle and other animals everyday. Hospitality and providing for one's guests are the main duties of a married couple who should not eat their main meal for the day without feeding a guest, a visitor, a relative or a poor man.

The Grihastha's life is full of social and spiritual obligations which challenge his capabilities to the hilt and try him sorely. His trials and tribulations in this period, if faced without deviation from Dharma, enable him to evolve into a superior human being with harmony as the key-note of his success.

Vanaprastha

Once one's grown-up children are settled and they are able to run their own lives and look after their young children, it is time for middle-aged couple to enter the third stage and to become Vanaprasthas or, literally, those who retire to the forest. In modern parlance this means that the time has come to detach oneself from the jungle of wordly desires and attachments, concentrate on philosophical study and retire to the sylvan peace of contemplation, meditation and spiritual pursuits.

Unfortunately, in today's world, few give up their wordly desires at any stage of their lives, so even the third stage is rarely reached as most people are still involved in the rat-race of making money and acquiring more and more consumer goods, each bigger and better than one's neighbour's.

At no time in the history of our land has this acquisitiveness reached the stage we are in today. Acquiring money by any means, fair or foul, aspiring for high positions, using money to gain political power, judging a man by his financial status in life, are some of the depths to which the Vanaprastha of today has fallen. These in turn have led to a widespread fall in values away from the Hindu ideal where the one most revered was not the king (with the wealth of the nation at his command) not the shopkeeper or merchant, but the mendicant and Sanyasi, who begged for alms even to feed himself.

Sanyasi

Out of those few who reach the Vanaprastha ashrama, barely a handful reach the fourth stage of the Sanyasa ashrama. One whostakes to Sanyasa gives up all wants, has no needs, does not accept money, and renounces the world. He lives on alms or the fruits of the forest and spends his time in meditation. He is beyond the rules and regulations of ordinary living and is a jivanmukta, or one liberated from ordinary life. Unfortunately visitors to our country think that all orange clad men (called sadhus or peaceful men) are holy men or Sanyasis. A few are, but the majorities are the "drop-outs" of Hindu society, often preying on the gullible.

Writer – Shakunthala Jagannathan

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Rajput painting in rajasthan and central india

June 14, 2013, 2:16 am

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By the 15705 Akbar had succeeded in subduing nearly all the major Rajput kingdoms and in winning over their rulers by giving them command of his armies and marrying into their families: his chief queen and Jahangir's mother was a Rajput princess from Amber. Spending long periods at the imperial court, the rajas and their sons naturally began to imitate its customs and fashions. From around i600 sonic of them employed artists trained in the Mughal studio, who worked in a hybrid style of Hindu manuscript illustration which is usually called Popular Mughal. Later in the 17th century some of the rajas were able to employ more accomplished artists, skilled in the portrait styles of the Jahangir and Shah jahan periods. These and subsequent waves of Mughal influence had varying but sometimes profound effects on the local schools of Rajasthan and Central India, each of which assimilated the new conventions in differing degrees to their existing traditions, as represented for example by Bhairavi ragini.

The closest continuation of the pre-Mughal style appears in the boldly simplified designs and colour schemes used in the schools of Malwa and Bundclkhand. In a typical ragatnala picture, Bhairava raga is depicted in the form of Krishna conversing with a lady in a pavilion flanked by stylised flowering trees. The primitive expressive power of this style is scarcely affected by the Popular Mughal influence that was reaching the Rajasthani courts. It may be contrasted with a version of the same subject, in this case more correctly conceived: as Shiva (of whom Bhairava, 'the Terrible: is an epithet), who sits under a flayed elephant skin in a royal palace attended by maids. This picture belongs to a series painted at Chunar, near Bermes, in 1591 by artists trained iii Akbar's studio. Its judicious use of figural modelling and spatial recession as well as the decorative tile-work and arabesque borders of the painting are all Akbari features. The series must have belonged at an early date to the rulers of Bundi, whose imperial service brought them at one stage to Chunar, for its iconography established a norm for later Bundi ragamalas. At other courts manuscript illustration was similarlymodified by a more dilute Popular Mughal influence; (A version of Kakubha ragini, personified as a lovelorn lady whose charms pacify the wild blackbuck, is composed in an archaic series of registers and combines old-fashioned landscape conventions with elegantly attenuated figure drawing and a row of stylised Mughal flowers at the top.

During the second half of the 17^thcentury portraiture and genre scenes of the Mughal type were introduced at all the main courts, with varying degrees of adaptation to the Rajput vision. Jaswant Singh of Jodphur, who spent much of his life in the imperial service, chose to patronise work in a strongly Mughal style, as seen in an unfinished drawing of a durbar scene. However, in later painting at Jodphur, as elsewhere, this influence became muted and indigenous linear rhythms and colour schemes reasserted them-selves. Artists at the court of Kotah in particular brought a unique linear verve to animal subjects such as hunts and elephant fights. The tumultuous energy of the colliding beasts is evoked by fluid or densely swirling passages of line and dramatic distortions of anatomical form. This powerfully empathetic rendering can be contrasted with the flat decorativeness of the Jain painter's elephant, or with die rich colour effect and strictly naturalistic modelling of the Deccani and Mughal examples.

Even at the desert-locked court of Bikaner, where in the late 17th century migrant Muslim artist families had worked in a Mughal-derived style with some Deccani elements, Rajput conventions re-appeared within one or two generations. A picture of the autumn month of Karttik, from a Barahmasa series illustrating the activities of noble lovers during the twelve months of the year, displays a formalised composition, elongated figures and vague spatial relationships. A noble and lady stand before a pavilion with a bed-chamber; another bed is prepared on the roof. In the back-ground a couple play at chaupar, men bathe and women draw auspicious rangoli patterns on the ground:

A later and more lyrical fusion of the ardent sentiments of Hindu devotional poetry with the polished 18th century Mughal style occurred at Kishangarh, whose ruler, Savant Singh (1748-57), was himself air accomplished poet. The love sports of Krishna and Radha were depicted in palace and lakeside settings similar to those of Kishangarh, and may have been based on Savant Singh's love for a dancer at his court, with whom he eventually retired to the holy city of Brindabanput the perilously mannered sweetness of the Kishangarb style soon turned to a cloying sentimentality.

The Ranas of Mewar, who had long been regarded as the premier ruling family and the custodians of Rajput honour, had been the last to capitulate to the Mughals. During the 17^thcentury they continued their earlier traditions of manuscript illustration in a bright and forceful style modified by some Popular Mughal influence. But from the early i8th century the Udaipur artists' best work consisted of ambitious and original paintings of court life: portraits, durbars, processions, hunts, religious festivals and zenana scenes, often of unusually large size and full of anecdotal detail. Some of the better compositions made use of architectural settings adapted from the palace buildings at Udaipur. Individual portraits of the Mughal type, showing an isolated figure seated or standing in profile, were often wooden, but a curious study of an obese courtier in a striped pink pyjama has a keen satirical edge.

The dissolution of Mughal power in the 18th century was matched by a similar decline at the courts of Rajasthan. From the 1730s they were repeatedly overrun by the Marathas from the south, who brought about a political and economic chaos that lasted until the establishment of British suzerainty in 1818. Jaipur, which had been founded close to Amber by the distinguished astronomer Raja Sawai Jai Singh (1693-1743), is said to have reached depths of turpitude and intrigue exceptional even in an age of general decadence. But painting continued under its own inherent momentum. The Jaipur artists were much influenced by the hard contemporary style of Delhi and Lucknow. Even so, a hackneyed subject of a lady at her toilet could be transformed into a classically Rajput image by the accentuated outline drawing of the face and figure and the contrast of unmodelled flesh and background areas with the detail of jewellery, textile patterns and a flower gardefik A more ebullient late phase of Rajasthani painting occurred at Kotah under Rao Ram Singh (1827-65), who is seen passing in procession through a bazaar, entertained as he rides by a nautch girl supported on his elephant's tusks If this picture lacks the kinetic force of the earlier elephant fight, it still has much charm and panache. Already, however, a harsh synthetic green colour is in use. During the second half of the-19^th century traditional painting either succumbed or was radically changed by the impact of Western techniques and the sensational art of photography.

                 

Writer – Andrew Topsfield 

Hadoti School Painting

June 15, 2013, 4:31 am

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The role and influence of the rulers of the Chauhan dynasty were confined to the regions of Bundi, Kota and Jhalawar. Hence this area has been termed the Hadoti region. This area was a treasury of art. The oldest specimens of prehistoric rock paintings in Rajasthan are in the caves on the banks of the Chambal River near Kota. Its temple architecture and iconography were famous from ancient times. Many artistic temples located at Kansua, Badoli and Ramgarh testify to this fact.

Bundi Style

The style of painting that flourished wheh Bundi was ruled by Hada Rajputs is widely known as the Bundi style. The natural beauty of this place comprising mountains covered with luxuriant vegetation, lakes, streams and dense forests greatly influenced artists.

Historical Background

Till the middle of the 14^thcentury A.D. (Sanvant 1398), Bundi, founded by Rao Deva, was a leading Rajput state, but Bundi painting dated back to the time of Raja Surjan Singh (1594-1598). Having severed his relations with Mewar, he surrendered the fort of Ranthambor to Emperor Akbar and accepted the suzerainty of the Mughal Empire.' His grandson Rao Ratan Singh (1607-1631) received the title Sar-Buland Rai from Jehangir and established strong ties with the Mughals. Shatzusal, grandson of Rao Ratan Singh (1631-1658), patronised many artists in his state. His son Bhav Singh (1651-1681) was also a keen lover of art and encouraged his subjects to take keen interest in poetry, music and painting.

Poets like Mati Ram enjoyed the patronage of Bhav Singh, whose Lalit-Lallam and Ras Raj greatly impressed artists and lovers of art.' Bhav Singh and his son Anirudh Singh participated in wars in the south under the direction of the Mughals.

The southern style also influenced the Bundi style in the reign of Rao Budha Singh (1695-1731). In 1710 Rao Bhim Singh of Kota annexed Bundi, but with the help of the Mahrattas Rao Umaid Singh liberated it in 1748. As a result Bundi came under Mahratta influence. In the 19^th century Rajasthan came under British influence, and Bundi shared this experience.

Development

No definite dates are available regarding the origin of the Bundi style, but in the middle of the 18^thcentury facts about its historical background were known!' On the basis of available material, two paintings concerning the Rag-Mala theme acquire significant historical value. In the beginning of the 17^th century this style, a sub-branch of the Mewar school influenced by the Mughal style and endowed with original qualities, flourished under the patronage of art-loving kings.

Rao Chhattarsal constructed a Rang Mahal which was decorated withfrescoes. From the text Lalit-Lallam could be easily gathered facts about deeds of chivalry, art criticism and patronage of art of Bhav Singh.

Many paintings of Rag-Ragini, Nayika-Bhed, Krishna-Lila in his time now adorn private collections and museums. Traditions of drawings on the basis of Ras Raj were initiated in this period. Towards the end of this age, Lal Kavi compiled a decorative text for Rao Budha Singh (1695-1731) which praised his sharp intellect and criticism of art.

In the first part of the 18th century the Bundi style flourished. This age, from the point of the abundance of paintings and distinct characteristics, is a landmark in the development of Rajput painting. The simplicity of early Bundi paintings and the impact of Mewar started blooming into their true forms in this period. The Bundi style, based upon traditional poetry and endowed with rich colours and attractive forms, and physical structures reached its zenith.

In the middle of the 18th century the style took a new turn in the period of Raja Umaid Singh (1748-1771), in which the manifold diversities of nature and the physical beauty of nayak-nayilca, the firmness of brush and charm of conception are easily visible. Even though this style was greatly influenced by the Mughal style, it had its own independent attraction. The collection in the Prince of Wales Museum and the incomplete set of Rasikpriya in the National Museum belong to this period.

Poetry and art made further advance in the following years. Rao Raja Vishnu Singh (1773-1821) was, like his father, a great connoisseur of art. Thousands of verses based upon shringar and Bhakti he compiled himself are still available in manuscript. He painted many texts on the basis of the traditional shringar style. At the beginning of the 19th century the whole country came under the influence of the Company style the British introduced.

Bundi failed to counter this new cultural force. Raja Ram Singh (1821-1889) of Bundi was a keen lover of art. He commissioned many pictures and patronised artists on a large scale. Paintings of this period however exhibit the impact of the West. Because of this influence the Bundi style, like other styles of Rajasthani painting, began to deteriorate. From the time of Raja Ram Singh light colours, a narrow range of sentiment, lack of imagination and poor drawing began to appear. In the second half of the 19th century the famous Bundi style of painting lapsed into oblivion.

Salient Features

In the early Bundi style the shape of the limbs of nayak-nayika and the arrangement of colours resemble those of the Mewar school. Paintings of the 17th century were greatly influenced by the southern style in representing female faces, foliage of trees, starry skies.

In the Bundi style tall human figures with slim and graceful bodies are striking qualities. Women have deep red lips, small noses, round faces and small chins. Their small necks decorated with ornaments, embossed breasts tightly held up in brassieres, thin waists and felicity of expression are special characteristics of this style. Male figures wearing their turbans inclined downward, torsos covered with a long gown, dupatta round the waist and tight pyjama falling to the feet characterize the Bundi style. Men of fair complexion adorned with ornaments are easily noticeable.

Another special feature of the style is the application of seven colours in drawings of nature. These paintings show blue skies partly covered with clouds, peacocks, squirrels, parrots, heron, deer, monkeys, elephants, lions, bushy gardens and forests with a variety of flowers and trees laden with fruits, ponds covered with creepers, lotus blooms in which geese, vakul and fish are seen sporting. In short, the beauty of nature in all its diversity, vastness and colour is present in the Bundi style, and is not visible elsewhere except in the Kishangarh style.

The third highlight of the Bundi style is its drawing of architecture. Dome-shaped Rajasthani cenotaphs point skyward.

Subject

Ragragini, nayika-bhed, ritu-varnan, Barah-masa, Krishna-Lila, royal court, festivals, wars are the principal themes of the Bundi style. Because of the predominance of the Vallabha sect pictures of Krishna-Lila were mainly painted. They included Rasikpriya, Bihari Satsai, Ras Raj and other verses. Some of these texts had flowed from the brushes of artists who had not chosen any poetic texts but were based on their own poetry.

Kota Style

The Kota style came into the limelight in 1952 when Col. T.G. Gear Anderson presented his personal collection to the Victoria and Albert Museum and some of the paintings were in styles different from the Bundi style. For this reason the type of painting which flourished in Kota is termed the Kota style, which may also be considered a sub-branch of the Bundi style. But because of its originality and high artistic quality its separate identity should be recognised.

Development

Favourably impressed by Mad ho Singh Hada, son of Rao Ratan Singh of Bundi state, Emperor Shahjahan gifted him a few territories as a token of esteem. As a result an independent state of Kota came into being in 1631. But on the basis of available facts its establishment is considered more likely by the end of the 17^th century."

It is difficult to distinguish between the earlier paintings and those in the Bundi style. Credit for creating an independent Kota style goes to Raja Ram Singh (1696-1705). Many paintings of his period are available even today." They reveal that the impact of the Bundi style on the Kota style was considerable.

After Raja Ram Singh, Maharawal Bhim Singh (1703-1720) paid special regard to the Krishna-Bhakti tradition. He surrendered his palace and capital to Lord Krishna after having built a temple and changed his name to Krishan Dass and Kota's name to Nand Gram and Barsana of Shergarh.

Thus he made Kota Braj Bhoomi, and this new move greatly influenced the artistic world of Rajasthan. Paintings of his time depicting Krishna-Charitra are fairly easy to obtain. After Maharawal Bhim Singh, Arjun Singh (1720-1764) also preserved the traditional painting of Krishna-Charitra. Many paintings belonging to this time are available in the State Museum, Kota. A pictorial Bhagwad text compiled in 1760 is presumed to be in the Mewar style, but many scholars believe it belongs to the Kota-Bundi style pictorial texts. This text comprises 1190 pages and hundreds of small and big paintings.

For a new landmark in the Kota style of painting credit goes to art-loving Raja Umaid Singh (1771-1820). He also had a strong inclination for hunting. The dense forests of Kota abounded with many wild animals like lion, tiger, cheetah, pig, and deer. In the reign of Umaid Singh artists took a keen interest in depicting hunting themes, and the Kota style acquired a great reputation for painting such scenes.

In the darbar hall of the palace many frescoes are based on the Krishna-Lila epic,

Hadot-i-School and among hundreds of miniatures in the Great Palace many relate to Krishna-Charitra. Two pictorial texts belonging to the beginning of the 19th century depict the significance of the Pushti sect. One of them a text of entitled Valla-bhotsava-Chandrika decorated with beautiful pictures relating to Vallabhacharya and his seven sons, seven attributes, and various festivals in 12 months had been created." The other, Gita Panchmel, is a similar artistic text of six paintings concerning Radha-Krishna and their attributes. This tradition of the Kota style continued to be popular in the reign of Raja Ram Singh II (1822-1866), but the British influence heralded its downfall like that of others.

Salient Features

The Kota style has some characteristics-of-the Bundi style, but its own distinct features. Because of the influence of the Vallabha sect, male and female links are like those of go swamis and priests Stout bodies, shining faces, bulging eyes are special features of the Kota style. Application of green, red and golden colours in Kota style painting is very pleasing to see. Animals painted in this style include deer, tiger, lion and pig.

The style of painting relating to the Hadoti School belonged to Jhalawar and other important feudal states besides the Kota and Bundi styles. Ancient cave paintings have also been found in this region, and paintings in the Bundi style are found in art museums all over the world. Probably Bundi has earned the distinction of having produced the largest number of paintings in Rajasthan.

Writer - Jay Singh Neeraj

Painting of the Babur Nama

June 17, 2013, 2:12 am

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Humayun driven out of Delhi by the Afghan Sher Shah Sun i in 1540, spent fifteen years  in exile in Persia and Afghanistan. Shah Tahmasp of Persia gave him shelter and also promised military aid for recovery of his kingdom. During his exile Humayun spent some months at Tabriz and Kazwin. At the court of Shah Tahmasp at Tabriz he saw the paintings of the Persian artists Aga Mirak, Sultan Muhammad and Muzaffar Ali, pupils of the famous Bihzad. Later he met the painter Mir "Sayyid Ali, the illustrator of Nizami's Khamsdh. Thus he acquired taste for paintings and became a connoisseur of art. At his request Mir Sayyid Ali Tabrizi and Abdus Samad Shirazi joined him at Kabul in 1549. Abdus Samad was also a calligrapher. They gave lessons in painting to Humayun and his son Akbar. When Humayun regained his throne, both the artists accompanied him to India.

The birth of Mughal painting in India is due to the patronage of Akbar (1556-1605). He collected architects, painters and calligraphers at his new city of Fatehpur-Silcri. More than a hundred painters, both Hindus and Moslems, mostly from Kashmir, Punjab, Gwalior, Rajasthan and Gujarat worked under the Persian master artists, Abdus Samad and Mir Sayyid Ali. Inspired by Akbar, a cultural synthesis was promoted and the result was a new school of painting which is Indian in spirit and Persian in technique. Baber himself was a Barlas Turk and not a Mongol., However, his dynasty acquired the name of Mughal, and the paintings of the new school are called Mughal Painting. The term 'miniatures of the Baburid period' suggested by Hamid Suleiman is cumbrous, and is no improvement on the accepted term, which by common usage is now accepted by all scholars.

Akbar was very fond of the adventures of Harnza. Mir Hamza was the uncle of the Pro-phet, and his adventures are narrated in the book named after him. Mir Sayyid Ali painted anecdotes from the Hamzd Namd. These are large size paintings on cloth, in Persian Safavi style. Brilliant red, blue and green colours predominate in these paintings and blossoming plums and peaches and amber foliage of planes remind us of Persia.

It seems that stimulus for painting was provided by the illiteracy of Akbar. As he was unable to read, he felt the need of paintings as a visual aid. He was a broad-minded monarch who respected all religions. Anecdotes from the Hindu classics, the Ramayana, and the Mahabharata which were venerated by his Hindu subjects were painted by his artists. He was proud of his ancestry and wanted to visualize the exploits of his ancestors Timur and Babur as well as his own victories and achievements. This led to the painting projects like the Timur Nama, the Babur Nama and the Akbar Nama, all based on Persian texts.

An illustrated manuscript copy of the Akbar Nama is in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. It was prepared for the library of Akbar. It bears the signatures of Jahangir, and a seal of Aurangzeb. During the decline of the Mughal Empire the books in the royal library got dispersed, and the Akbar Nama fell into the hands of one Ahmad Ali Khan in 1793. It was purchased by Major General John Clark, the Commissioner of Oudh in 1896. It was acquired by the Victoria and Albert Museum from his widow. This manuscript contains 274 folios and 117 paintings. It was illustrated by fifty six artists whose names arranged alphabetically are given below:

Anant, Asi brother of Miskina, Babu Naqqash, Bandi, Banwali Kalan, Banwali Khurd, Basawan, Bhawani, Bhawani Kalan, Bhagwan, Bhura, Chitr Muni, Durga, Dharm Das, Dhanwan, Farrukh Beg, Husain Naqqa'sh, Ikhlas, Ibrahim Kahar, Jagan, Jagjiwan, Kaheman Sangtrash, Khem Karan, Kesu, Kesu Kalan, Kesu Khurd, Kanha, La!, Madhu Kalan, Mukund, Miskin, Mahesh, Madhu Khurd, Mansur, MO Muhammad, Manohar, Narayan, Nand or Nandi, son of Ram Das, Naman, Narsingh, Nanha, Nand Gwaliori, Paras, Param jeo Gujrati, Qutub Chela, Ram Das, Sanwala, Sarwan, Stir DAs, Shankar, Tulsi, Tulsi Kalan, Tiriya and Tara.

According to Ahmad Nabi Khan, who studied the Akbar Nama, it was a co-operative work, in which the work of drawing the outline was executed by distinguished artists, while portraiture was entrusted to some, and colouring to minor ones. Among the leading artists who drew the outlines are Basawan, Jagan, Kesu Kalan, Lal, Miskin, Tulsi Kalan, and a few others.

There are four illustrated manuscripts of the Baur Nama which are worthy of notice. Of these one is preserved in the British Museum (Or. 3714). It was gifted to the museum by G. G. Barnard on June 1, 1889. It has 529 folios out of which 118 are painted. This is the work of forty one artists. This illustrated manuscript has been recently studied by Hamid Suleiman and published by the Academy of Science of the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic. In this book 92 illustrations have been reproduced in colour. In this Babur Nama garden scene are excellent. The names of artists are as below:

Abdullah, Banwari Khurd, Banwari Kalan, Bhura, Bhawani, Dhannu, Dev Gujarati, Dhan Raj, Farrukh, Gobind, Jamshed, Jagnath, Khusro Quli, Khizr Khela, Ibrahim Kahar, Ibrahim Naqash, Khem, Kesu Gujarati, Mansur, Manohar, Mukesh, Mukhlas, Nand Gwaliori, Nama, Padarath, Prem Gujarati, Ram Das, Rasika, Ras, Shankar Gujrati, Shiv DAs, Sanwala, Sarwan, Shyam, Surjan, Stir Ds, Sur Gujarati, Triya, Talok, Tulsi Khurd and Tharial.

There is another illustrated manuscript of the Babur Nama in the State Museum of Eastern Cultures, Moscow, which has been studied by Tulayev, who reproduced 22 paintings from it in monochrome. It has 69 miniature paintings on 57 folios. It was originally presented to the Russian Ambassador Prince Dolgorukov by the mother of Nasaruddin, Shah of Persia. Stchoukine, the Russian collector of Oriental art received it as a gift from one Alexei Morozov. The Stchoukine collection ultimately came to the State Museum of Eastern Culture, Moscow. Its folios do not have the names of any artists. Its paintings, however, do not resemble those of the British Museum or the National Museum, Babur Nama. They are, however, of good quality and worthy of reproduction in colour.

The Victoria and Albert Museum, London, has 18 paintings of the Babur Nama. Out of these two show plants, birds and animals, seven battle scenes, and twelve various anecdotes like feasts and harem scenes, and one an ashram of Sadhus. Their style is different from that of other Babur Natneis, and Babur is depicted wearing a plumed helmet. A battle scene bears the names of artists Lal and Durga (tareih Lãl, amal Durga) and another of Mukand and Kheman (tiara Mukand, amal Kheman Sangtreish). A painting showing a camel and elephant fight bears the name of Chela, and another showing presentation of tribute has the name Yakub Kashmiri niimi Lal inscribed on it. The quality of paintings is poor as compared with the other Baur Nameis.

The Babur Nama of the National Museum (N. M. 50.326), New Delhi, which is the subject of this monograph has 378 folios. Out of these 122 folios are illustrated with 144 illustrations. Forty two illustrations depict flora and fauna, twenty seven historial episodes, twenty seven personal life of Babur, twenty five battle scenes, twelve domestic life, seven hunting scenes, and three show feasts. It was acquired by the National Museum from Agra College, Agra. The illustrated folios bear the names of forty nine artists, neatly written by the calligrapher. These are given below in alphabetical order:

Allah Quli, Anant, Asi, Asi Kahar, Bandi, Banwari Khurd, Bhag, Bhagwan, Bhawani, Bhura, Daulat, Dhannu, Dhan Raj, Dhaxm Das, Farrukh Chela, Fattu, Gobind, Husain Cheld, Ibrahim, Ibrahim Kahar, Jagnath, Jamal, Jamshed, Kesu Kahar, Khem, Khem Karan, Khizra, Lachhman, Lohka, Madho, Mahesh, Makra, Mansur, Miskin, Mohammad Kashmiri, Mohammad Pandit, Naman, Nand Gwaliori, Naqi, Narsi, Narsingh, Prem, Prem Gujrati, Sarwan, Shankar, Shiv Das, Sur Das, Timur (Ustad) and Tulsi.

Of these artists Mansur was the same who later on painted birds and animals for Jahangir. Daulat was an artist of high merit. The same may be said of Sur Das, Bhura, Jagnath, Dharm Das, Asi, Nand Gwaliori and Makra.

A comparison of the names of artists of the National Museum Babur Nama, British Museum Babur Nama, and Akbar Nama of the Victoria and Albert Museum reveals interesting facts. The Akbar Mimi' was painted by fifty three artists and the National Museum Babur Nama by forty nine artists. The following twenty artists are common to both these illustrated manuscripts.

Anant, As!, Band!, Banwari Khurd, Bliagwan, Bhawani, BhUra, Dharam DAs, Ibrahim Kahar, Madhti, Mahesh, Mansur, Miskin, Nama, Nand Gwaliori, Narsingh, Param Jeo Gujrati, Sarwan, Shankar, Sur Das and Tulsi.

The following twenty artists are common to the Babur Namas of the British Museum and the National Museum, New Delhi.

Banwari Khurd, Shard, Bhawani, Dhan Raj, Farrukh Beg, Gobind, Ibrahim Kahar, Jagnath, Jamshed Chela, Khem, Khizr Chela, Mahesh, Mansur, Nand Gwaliori, Nama, Shankar, Shiv Das, Sarwan, Stir and Tulsi.

The following ten artists are common to the Victoria and Albert Akbar Noma and the National Museum Baur Namd, viz. Asi, Banwari Khurd, Bhawani, Ibrahim Kahar, Mahesh, Mansur, Nama, Nand Gwaliori, Sur Das, and Tulsi.

There is no doubt that Victoria and Albert Akbar Nama- belongs to the royal library of Akbar. The presence of the signatures of Jahangir and seal of Aurangzeb on the binding confirm it. The analysis which I have given above also leads to the conclusion that the British Museum Babur Mind and the National Museum Babur Nama also came from the same source. The high quality of paintings of both these manuscripts further lends support to this conclusion. The same, however, cannot be said of Moscow and Victoria and Albert manuscripts. They were painted by different artists.

Rai Krishnadasa was the first scholar who studied the National Museum's Babur Mind in 1955, and also reproduced two paintings in colours in his Mughal Miniatures. Commenting on the Baur Noma he wrote as follows:

"The copy from which the two illustrations are reproduced is in the National Museum, New Delhi, and is the fifth important copy of the Babar Nama known to students of Mughal painting. This copy belonged to the Imperial Library as is attested by the signature of Shah khan and the names of the royal artists inscribed on the paintings. It is well known that Shah Jahan was in the habit of signing manuscripts in the Imperial Library. The date of the MSS can fortunately be ascertained. Folio 116 illustrating the twenty-fourth picture by Khem bears an inscription which states it was painted in the 42nd regnal year of Akbar, i.e. 1598 A.D."

Basil Gray was the next scholar who noticed this Babur Nama. He observed as follows: "Two other copies of the Babur Nama have survived from approximately this period. One, now in the National Museum of India, but formerly in Agra College is actually dated on one miniature 1597."

Careful examination of folio 116, a painting by Khem, shows the date, which has been partially mutilated in the process of binding. It is Ilahi '42', which is Akbar's era and gives an A.D. equivalent of 1598.

The illustrated Babur Namas are based on Persian translation of the Baur Nãmã in Turki. The translation in Persian was finished by Khan Khanan Abdul Rahim in 1589. It seems all these Babur Namas were illustrated between 1595 and 1605 during the life-time of Akbar.

A remarkable character of the Babur Nama paintings of the four series is their originality. As Barrett and Gray remark, 'there is little repetition in these several series and so much invention.'

The portraiture of the face of Wilbur is uniform throughout the series. It is likely that it is the work of one artist. It is possibly based on a portrait of Babur, which must have been painted during his life-time. He has the eyes of a dreamer, an aquiline nose and a pointed beard. The poet and man of action, Babur, are well portrayed.

Faces of men and women are usually shown three quarter or in profile.

Even when the artists are painting scenes from Farghana and Kabul, they depict the architecture of India. In the landscapes on the top of some paintings, palms and plantains of India are painted. Among the birds in these landscapes are moon-partridges and peacocks, which are admired by the poets of India. In the foreground of some of the paintings of birds and plants, lotuses with their leaves topsy-turvy and ducks playing among them are painted (Folio 277). These symbols of love acquired a poetic significance as in due course the Mughal painting evolved into Kangra style.

The treatment of mountains is characteristic of Mughal painting of the Akbar period. It is a direct borrowing from Persian painting. Rocks piled upon each other are more seen in arid Persia than in India.

The Babur Nama is also an illustrated social history of India. Soldiers and horses were clad in armour. Battles were fought with swords, bows and arrows. Drums were lustily beaten to infuse courage among the soldiers. We also see the first use of artillery. Rivers were crossed on bridges of boats and rafts. Camels and bullocks were commonly used for transport of goods. The dress of nobles was elaborate. In this Babur Nama we see the first record of a wooden Persian wheel with terracotta buckets (Folio 121) and of a hand-mill (Folio 70). The rulers were approached with respect and many paintings give us a glimpse of court etiquette and ceremonial. Some of the paintings are very expressive. We perceive adulation on the faces of the courtiers and determination and courage on the faces of soldiers. The figures are shown in movement, and their highly expressive gestures convey their feelings.

The section of the Babur Nama which deals with India is the first illustrated Natural History of India. Babur came from Central Asia and Afghanistan, which do not have that variety in fauna and flora as India. A keen observer and lover of nature who delighted in plants and gardens, he was amazed by what he saw in India. He is the first person to record the birds, beasts and plants of India. His description of plants, birds and animals are brief but pertinent. He could distinguish the different varieties of oranges in India. He saw the wild plantains, which can be seen even now near Mandu. Among the birds he noted peacocks, monal pheasants, herons, hoopoes, green pigeons, parrots, ducks, pelicans and storks of many varieties. Among the animals he mentions antelopes, thars, onagers, black buck, wolves, foxes, rhinoceros and nilgais. He noticed the affinity between the squirrel and mouse, which are both rodents. He also noticed the kinship between the rhinoceros and the horse, which are Peris-sodactyls. However, he mistook the flying fox as a bird. Considering the age in which he lived, he can rightly claim to be the first natural history scientist of India. His genes for love of plants and animals were inherited by his great grandson Jahangir, who was also a keen observer. Jahangir's favourite artist was Mansur, some of whose early paintings are seen in this Babur Nama.

Writer – M.S. Randawa

Religious Song Of Mirabai

June 18, 2013, 4:10 am

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Terrified am I at the sight of the dark clouds……..

Terrified am I at the sight of the dark clouds,

I am frightened seeing them.

How these black and yellow clouds rise

and rain!

Whithersoever I go, the place with water

is surrounded,‘ the earth is all turned green.

She, whose Lord dwells in, a foreign land,

stands, wet, waiting outside for ‘her

Dear One.

Miré’s Lord, is Hari, the. Indestructible,

with Whom she is in genuine love.

Rain the clouds in the month of Sravana…………….

Rain the clouds in the month of Sravana,

Ah! the clouds of Sravana, the heart-

captivating clouds

In Srfivana my heart heaves up,

As hears it the approach of Dear Hari.

Come the clouds gathering from all sides.

Shivers the lightning heralding the

approach of rain-bearing clouds.

In tiny drops falls the rain and blows the

fragrant breeze, cool and pleasant.

Mira’s Lord, Giradhara Négara,

The time is arrived for us to sing a

glorious welcome.

 

 

 

I hear the sound of the approach of Hari………….

I hear the sound of the approach of Hari.

The heights I climb, 0 friend,

When shall the Dear One arrive.

The frog, the peacock, Papaiya,

And the Cuckoo strike melodious notes.

On all sides Indra rises, and as it rains,

The lightning gives up her modesty.

The earth has assumed ever new fonns,

To meet Indra, its beloved.

Mira Lord is Hari, the enternal.

Pray meet her soon.

Writer – Bankey Behari

Kakatiya Emperor

July 29, 2013, 1:43 am

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The Kakatiyas of Warangal were originally feudatories of the Western Chalukya. Later they became independent rulers, but followed the art tradition of the late Western Chalukyas of Kalyani. Their great interest in art and their supreme devotion to Siva clearly explain the origin of their several temples dedicated to this deity all over their realm. The famous Kakatiya temples are from Warangal, Palampet, Anamkonda, Tripurantakam, Macherla and other places.

No less effective than Kakatiya sculpture is their painting. The entire surface of the mandapa and cell in the large temple on the hill at Tripurantakam is painted. This temple is among the most important Kakatiya monuments for a study of the painting of this period. Similarly, there are Kakatiya paintings in the temple at Pillalamarri.

A painting here represents the famous arnritamanthana scene, with the devas on one side and the asuras on the other, holding Vasuki, as a string wound round the mountain Mandara, that acted as the churristick, when the milky ocean was churned to obtain the elixir of life. This noble theme as an auspicious background for presenting the goddess of prosperity right on the door lintel appears as a favourite motif in the Gupta period at Udayagiri neat Bhilsa in the cave temple there. 

This is continued by the Western Chalukyas, as there is a frequent repetition of aniritantanthana at Badami. It is exattly in the same manner as in the Chalukya monuments that this arnritamanthana scene is represented in the late Chalukya as well as in the Kakatiya monuments. At Macherla, a sculptural rendering of this theme occurs in the local Kakatiya temple. The special importance of painting at Pillalamarri is that it is one of the rare Kakatiya paintings preserved and is also a representation in colour of this theme.

The vast treasure-house of Kakatiya painting at Tripurantakam still awaits detailed study as also do the other temples of the period.

Writer – C. Sivaramamurti 

Vedic Deities

July 30, 2013, 5:26 am

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Although at about the time of the successive waves of Aryan conquest the Indus Valley civilization retreated, with remnants only in villages by 1700 B.c., the changes that took place with the Aryan invasions should not be exaggerated. The transition may have been gradual rather than cataclysmic. Though it is true that the Aryans conquered with bronze weapons, bronze was known at Harappa, and the so-called copper-hoard culture in which copper tools were used existed in northern Indian village-based agricultural settlements in such areas as Madhya Pradesh from the second millennium B.C. Its connection with the Indus Valley civilisation and its successors is still unknown. It was the use of iron tools, however, that was decisive for the supremacy of the Aryans in northern India. Iron was introduced about 1370-1050 B.C. and it coincided with the Aryans' spread into the Jumna and Upper Ganges valleys. Their settlements there were to develop into cities by about Goo B.C. These cities were surrounded by massive fortifications and became the nucleus of empires centred in Magadha (modern Bihar).

At the time of their arrival in India, however, the Aryans had no know-ledge of city life; indeed their chief god, Indra, was vaunted as 'destroyer of cities'. They were a warrior people of relatively low culture who in previous migrations had spread from the west, probably the Urals, into the Central Asian steppes. They remained illiterate for several centuries after reaching India, and the lack of extant works of art (they used wood rather than stone) further impoverishes our record of them. But we know they were light-skinned, hard-drinking folk, whose mastery of horses and chariots and whose use of sword brought them swift victory over tilt Dravidians, whom they accordingly despised as `Dasyus', or dark. skinned.

The Aryans brought with them their own religion, which for sonte seven centuries dominated the nord. Indian scene. Aryan beliefs and mythology were far from static, however gradually adapting to Indian conditions, absorbing native cultural traditions, and ultimately evolving into Hinduism. Unlike the conquered Dravidians, the Aryans had never previously settled for long; their godt were connected less with the soil or which they lived than with the universal elements. Our direct knowledge of these gods stems from the Vedas, collections of hymns which seem to have been completed by about the tenth century B.C. By thittime, however, the Aryan pantheon had acquired considerably more sophistication, despite its retention of the earlier elements, and the accom panying mythology reflected moral preoccupations and a divine hierarchy.

Varuna

Relatively few Vedic hymns are addressed to Varuna, though he is the guardian of the cosmic law and the universal monarch, the object of greater veneration than the more ob. viously Aryan deities. Vanilla is the Prime Mover of the universe. He is pictured first as creating the universe. Standing in the air, he exercises his creative will, or maya, and using the sun as his instrument he measures out and so gives form to the three worlds: the heavens, the earth, and the air between them.

Vanilla's creative activity is also continuing: again by exercise of his maya, hecauses rain to fall and rivers to flow and thus sustains his creatures. His breath is the wind. In a sense he is embodied in his creation, or at least omnipresent in it, for he surveys it continuously with the sun as his eye, and he himself props up the heavens. Alternatively he is thought to be seated majestically in his thousand-columned, thousand-doored gold palace in the sky surrounded by his ever-watchful spies, one of whom is the sun itself which daily rises to Varuna's mansion at the zenith and reports on what it sees. Varuna's function is thus moral even more than it is creative: his maya is equally the principle of truth or justice and the god thus has the priest-like function of judging his creatures. He evaluates their actions against rta, laws unknowable to human beings. Varuna nevertheless punishes people who transgress these laws, and for this purpose he carries a rope with which to tie them up, symbolic of the sins with which they fetter themselves in their ignorance. Humans cannot know how they come to find them-selves guilty, for Varuna's ordinances are inscrutable; they have to fall back on fear, the hope of forgiveness, and extreme circumspection in all their dealings with the god.

Varuna kept his elevated position for a relatively short time; one by one the attributes for which the great 'universal encompasser' was revered passed to other gods. Two distinct stages of this development had already occurred by the close of the Vedic age. The first change was introduced when Varuna became one of what was perhaps the first of India's long series of divine triads. This triad was composed of Varuna, Mitra and Aryaman. Mitra was in most ways similar to Vanilla and like him could bind humans with their sins, petitions to the two gods being the sole hope of forgiveness; but Varuna's realm of jurisdiction was split, Mitra be-coming guardian of the day, while Varuna's part was reduced to the guardianship of the night. Aryaman's functions are ill-defined but he must also have been a god of the heavens for the triad was known as the Adityas, or Celestial Deities, who, like Varuna alone, were credited with being the source of all heavenly gifts, the regulators of sun and moon, winds and waters, and of the seasons. Mitra in particular was therefore considered as a corn god or fertility god.

The second change in Varuna's status came when the Adityas, until then known as the asuras (like the Iranian ahuras) were joined by three or by nine other gods, who ranked among the devas, of whom Indra was to be-come leader. (Another branch of the Aryans reached Iran about 1000 B.C., where their gods developed along different lines.) The changed member-ship of the group brought a change in function, and the Adityas became no more than minor gods representing the sun in its twelve annual phases. Meanwhile the idea of a divine triad was perpetuated with figures from the Aryan pantheon: Vayu (wind), Agni (fire) and Surya (the sun); or Indra, Agni and Surya.

Prithivi and Dyaus

Prithivi, the earth, and Dyaus, the sky or heaven, were symbolised as cow and bull. They were early deities, worshipped as fertility gods and thought to have engendered all the other gods and men. Their importance diminished, however, and though they survived into later pantheons their progeny was much reduced. Ushas, the dawn, was their daughter and Agni, fire, their son. But their greatest claim to fame is through Indra. Prithivi was the 'heroic female' and Dyaus the 'vigorous god' who were Indra's parents. At the time of lndra's birth from Prithivi's side the heavens, earth and mountains began to shake and all the gods were afraid. Prithivi herself was fearful and hid her son and gave him no attention. None of the gods would come to the infant's aid for they all felt, as was indeed the case, that this child was the herald of great changes in the divine order and possibly of their own doom. As we shall see, he lost no time in justifying their fears.

Indra

Indra is a storm god, wielder of the thunderbolt, Vajra, a weapon which he carries in his right hand. Like an Aryan warrior-king, he is fair complexioned with ruddy or golden skin and rides a horse, or alternatively rides in a golden chariot drawn by two tawny horses with flowing manes and tails. He has a violent nature, an insatiable thirst for soma, an intoxicating drink which gives him his strength, and is a firm defender of gods and humans against Vritra, a demon who typifies the harsh aspect of nature, especially drought. As bringer of rain to a parched Indian countryside Indra was the most frequently invoked of the Vedic gods and the deity on which most of the early myths centred. The stories about his birth and his exploits as an infant make this devotion clear and explain in mythological terms Indra's rivalry to Varuna (which may be understood in terms of rivalry between the Brahmin priest caste and the Kshatriya warrior caste), his gradual assumption of many of Varuna's functions and virtues, and his eventual ousting of Varuna as chief of the gods.

Prithivi's attempts to conceal the birth of her son were ill-fated, for immediately the golden child Indra began to display that energy and impulsiveness which characterise him.

At the time of his birth humans were imploring the gods to come to their aid against the demon Vritra who had imprisoned the cloud-cattle, thus reducing them to starvation through drought. Hearing people crying out, 'Who will come to our aid?', Indra seized from Tvashtri the soma which they were offering to the gods and drank a huge quantity of it, worth a hundred cows. This drink fortified him to such an extent that he filled the two worlds. Seizing the thunder-bolt that had belonged to his father,Indra set off in a chariot drawn two horses to do battle against Vein accompanied by attendants and followers. Vritra roared as Indra  proached, heaven shook and the god retreated. Prithivi grew fearful forint son; but Indra was inspired by the great draught of soma and by the hymns of the priests on earth and we strengthened by the sacrifices; aim all he possessed the thunderbolt Vajra. He stormed and took Vritrir ninety-nine fortresses and then Mai the demon himself. Though Vritu thought himself invulnerable, lark soon discovered his weak points and laid him low with the thunderbolt Therewith the cloud-cattle were released and torrents of water flowal down to earth. According to sort versions lndra repeats this heroic ac at the end of every summer drough and thus re-establishes his strength in the eyes of mortals and gods.

But Indra hardly paused to hear that praises of the priests and of hi fellow-gods. Scarcely born, he has seized the initiative as bringer of rain In this act he had supplanted Varunt though it must be admitted thatly required much more effort to supP water than did Varuna. One in terpretation of this shift of power rolates to rivalry between Brahmin priests and Kshatriya warriors. H3 next act was to turn on his lathe, (who is sometimes identified with Varuna). Seizing him by the ankle, he dashed him to the ground and killed him. His mother's plaints were of avail: Indra had achieved his victo with the aid of his father's weapon that in a sense his father performd the deed through him. But by Dyaus Indra set the seal on his inde pendence and full stature as a god his murder of his father establishen his succession to him, just as his de-feat of Vritra in part established he right of succession to Varuna's position of supremacy.

By his first heroic acts Indra became king of the three worlds. Haring acquired the air of life and that strength of soma, he gave them to others. He thus stands for the power of personal intervention, for the activity of the warrior, whereas Varune stands for the inevitability of the cosmic order. While Varuna's strength is based on law and magic power, the source of lndra's strength is quite clear: it depends on the might of the god, supported by the offerings of mortals. Humans cannot under-stand the ways of Varuna, but by transferring allegiance to Indra they can hope to affect or even to direct the flow of divine benefits.

lndra is tireless in his opposition to demons. He repeatedly subdues Vritra, under whose leadership the Danavas were able to upset the eternal equipoise established between gods and demons, devas and asuras, good and evil, light and dark, and forces the Danavas to retreat to the ocean darkness. He also defends people and animals against the machinations of other demons. As bringer of rain, Indra already had some claim to worship as god of fertility; the following myth explains how he definitively captured that function from the other gods. At one point during the long struggle with the gods, the demons, counting on the fact that the gods derived much of their strength from people's sacrifices, decided to debilitate the gods by using poison and magic spells to defile the plants used by humans and beasts. They were so successful that people ceased to eat and beasts stopped grazing, and famine brought them near death. But the gods were equal to this challenge; they offered sacrifices and succeeded in ridding the plants of the poison. A great ceremony was held to celebrate this victory, at which offerings were to be made of the first plants to grow after the poison had been dispersed. However, a dispute arose as to which of the gods should be the first to receive this offering. It was decided that the matter should be settled by running a race. Indra and Agni won the race, and ever after Indra was regarded as a source of fertility a role for which his parents, a bull and a cow, well fitted him.

Indra gradually took over some of Varuna's other functions, and his role as fertility god extended to a new role as creator god. Like other Indian conceptions of the creator, however, Indra did not form the universe from the void but rather rearranged it, after taking possession. Thus, like Varuna, he used the sun as his instrument and measured out space; the six broad spaces which he noted included every existing thing. He then proceeded to build the universe like a house: he set up four corner posts and between them built the walls of the world; he thatched the house with the cloudy sky. The house had two large doors: the eastern was opened wide every morning to admit the sun; the western briefly every evening so that lndra could fling the sun out into the surrounding darkness. These doors were also used by the gods when they came to partake of sacrifices and libations. Indra maintained his creation by 'propping up the heavens, by maintaining the two worlds and the atmosphere, and by holding up the earth and stretching it. He was also the source of the major rivers.

Fortified with soma, Indra has the energy to regulate the heavens and the days, the months and the seasons. His love for and dependence upon soma are increasingly dwelt upon in the Vedas, but it is not until much later that this is regarded in any way as a weakness. In the Vedic age Indra is unquestionably the greatest of the gods, even though he may not be the object of such awe or fear as Varuna inspired at the time of his former glory. In the latter part of the Vedic period Indra became a more dignified, less active sovereign. He is pictured reigning in his heaven, Swarga, flanked by his queen, Indrani, and his advisers, the Vasus. Though still accompanied by a hunting dog (the dog was later to become an unclean animal), he has given up his horses, and his mount is a great white elephant called Airavata, which has four tusks and whose huge snowy bulk is likened to Mount Kailasa, where Shiva's heaven was to be.

The Maruts The Maruts, the spirits of tempest and thunder, were the sons of Rudra, and the constant companions of Indra. They were handsome young men, vigorous and courageous, who, according to the Rig Veda, numbered either twenty-seven or one hundred and eighty. They wore golden helmets and golden breastplates and they draped bright skins on their shoulders; they loved to scrub each other clean and to adorn their arms and ankles with golden bracelets. When they rode forth they 'rode on the whirlwind and directed the storm', and were conveyed on a golden-wheeled chariot sparkling in the lightning and drawn by three fleet-footed deer. They were strongly armed with bows and arrows and axes, and especially with gleaming spears: With these weapons they shattered the cloud-cattle and cleft cloud-rocks, so that torrents of rain fell to earth and the eye of the sun was covered. Like Indra, their leader, the Maruts were alternately gay youths and fearsome warriors and they were valuable allies to Indra when he attacked the demon Vritra, frightening his followers with their warcries and adept at harrying the cloud-cattle. In the singular, Marut or Maruta refers to Vayu.

Vayu

Vayu is the god of air or wind, and is sometimes said to have been born from the breath of Purusha. Though infrequently invoked in the Vedas, he was an important early god, a member of one of the first triads together with Agni and Surya, being sup-planted in this triad by Indra after his rise. Despite lndra's ascendancy, Vayu maintained his individuality and survives to the present day. He is sometimes thought to be the father of the Maruts, and like them rides in a chariot drawn by deer. At other times he more closely resembles Indra, riding a chariot drawn by two red horses or, more often, riding with Indra as charioteer in a chariot made of gold which touches the sky and which is drawn by a thousand horses. Vayu's role is not only that of a nature deity: his breath gives life to all the gods and to humans. Vayu became the son-in-law of the artisan god Tvashtri.

Writer – Veronica Ions

Greek Girls Picking up Pebbles

August 3, 2013, 1:47 am

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Greece is always a mysterious country, with the original fairy tale of goddess and exotic beach, a lot of famous paintings were depicted the beautiful seascape scenery of Greece. Artisoo.com invites you to walk into the oil painting reproduction of Greek Girls Picking up Pebbles By Frederic Leighton. 

Frederic Leighton was always keen on classical mythology and the Bible-related content creation, his painting style was very elegant, vintage, and as gorgeous and stately as the ancient Greek sculpture.

In this painting, demeanor and posture of the image were accord with his style. The two women in the middle were in standing posture, while the other two in both sides bent over and picked up pebbles. There were patchwork distances between each other, which made the ratio between the characters becomes very intuitive. What’s more, their dresses flew with the wind, which looks very harmonious when against the beach, sea and sky. The main colors of this painting were red and gold, which gives a magnificent visual experience, and brings spiritual pleasure. This holy and noble women themed artwork reminds us think of the same female-classic theme, one is the Renaissance master Botticelli’s Spring, and the other is Italian famous painter Rubens’s Three Graces. Besides, the standing posture of the woman in red is similar to Venus in Botticelli’s The birth of Venus.

 

Greek Girls Picking up Pebbles presented to the audience dramatic scenes that based on the character modeling of Greek mythological, Leighton adopted a means of stage scenery to highlight the image of characters, so as to let the audience have the most profound impression. In this painting, the four women have been smeared the colors that reflected their psychological characteristics, which gave us a sense of sacredness. As we can see, Leighton is used form and color to create harmonious composition, and highlight the personality of characters.

Guest Author: Zachary is a salesman at Artisoo gallery, an online art gallery in China. They are totally focused on giving the widest product selection of oil paintings at the most competitive prices.

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Vijayanagara Empire

August 5, 2013, 2:15 am

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In the fourteenth century, the Vijayanagara empire was established and became the dominant power in the southern peninsula and the Vijayanagara style of architecture, sculpture and painting was a continuation of the earlier late Chola and Pandyan traditions, combining to some extent, in the Kanarese and Telugu districts, the Chalukya traditions that had been there before. One of the greatest rulers of this dynasty was Krishnadevaraya who was not only a great statesman, ruler and warrior but also a great scholar, painter and patron of fine arts. Large gopuras and mandapas mark this period. The mandapa in the temples of Virabhadra at Lepakshi, of Varadaraja at Kanchipuram, of Vithala at Hampi and of Jalakanthesvara at Vellore are all excellent examples.

The Vijayanagara empire represents the last great phase of Indian history and culture. Painting like every other art was encouraged during this period and there are innumerable temples all over South India representing this phase. In the Virupaksha temple at the capital of the empire, the ceiling of the large front mandapa has a magnificent series of paintings. Here is a great masterpiece representing Vidyaranya, the great spiritual master who was responsible for the establishment of the Vijayanagara empire by Harihara and Bukka. The long procession with Vidyaranya in a palanquin preceded and followed by a large retinue is one of the most impressive scenes of the fourteenth century, though the painting itself is of a some-what later date.

There are fragments of paintings at Anegundi near Hampi, in Tadpatri, Kanchipuram, Kalashasti, Tirupati, Tiruvannamalai, Chidambaram, Tiruvalur, Kumbakonam, Srirangam and other places.

At Lepakshi, there is one of the most remarkable paintings of the Vijayanagara period, a colossal one of Virabhadra painted on the ceiling of the mandapa, which is a common one for three shrines. The scenes depicted here are from the Malitthharata, the Ramayana and the Puranas. They are to be dated in the time of Achyutaraya, as they include the portraits of Virupanna and Viranna, who patronised the painters, being the makers of the temple itself. Lepakshi became a great centre of trade and pilgrim-age during their time and the chieftains lavishly spent their wealth on beautifying these shrines, giving special attention to that of Virabhadra, their patron-deity. The entire ceiling of the temple was once covered with a rich layer of paintings   now mostly damaged or lost. But enough remains to show what considerable mastery the painters had attained over brush and colour and how well their mind worked in creating panels of charming portraits, the stories of Sivalila, the coronation of Rama, Arjuna fighting Kirata, Krishna as Vatapatrasayi and so forth. Bhikshatana, Kalari, Gangadhara and Tripurantaka are most dramatic and original in concept.

On the ceiling of a small mandapa in the Varadaraja temple at Kanchipuram is a lovely late Vijayanagara painting illustrating in a simple but pleasing pattern the theme of Manmatha which has been a great favourite with Indian painters and sculptors.

At Somapalayam, there are paintings in the Vishnu temple representing Puranic episodes, closely resembling the creations of the painter at Lepakshi.

Writer – C. Shivaramamurti
 

The Kingdom of Lanka

August 5, 2013, 11:03 pm

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Hanuman Crouched Low on the slopes of Mount Mahendra, stretching out his tail and fixing his eyes on the horizon. He remembered his father the Wind god and prayed for his protection. Then he vowed, 'Either I shall find Sita or destroy Lanka,' and leaped into the sky.

As he launched himself the mountain shook, sending forth showers of fragrant flowers. Thousands of trees were uprooted and swept into the sky, falling like a carpet of stars into the sea. He flew through the air with his tail out behind him, shining like the sun as he passed in and out of clouds. His eyes blazed and the wind thundered past his ears while far below the sea tossed in his wake, churning up waves as high as mountains.

Wishing to help Hanuman, the Sea god sent the winged mountain Mainaka up from the seabed to give him a resting place. But as the mountain, with its gold-tipped peaks, rose before him, Hanuman simply thrust it aside with his chest. The gods were thrilled at his prowess and wanted to see more of his splendour, so they sent Surasa, mother of the Naga celestial snakes, to test him. She assumed a gigantic form and rose from the ocean in front of Hanuman, with her mouth outstretched to devour him. But Hanuman expanded his size, forcing her to open her mouth wider, then shrank to the size of a thumb to enter and leave her mouth in an instant, and continued on his way.

Next came the sea-demoness Simhika, who had not eaten for years. When she saw Hanuman flying above the sea, she used her magic powers to seize his shadow. Hanuman felt himself' held back by some unseen influence and looked down, seeing Simhika in the sea. He swept down towards her and she tried to swallow him, but he again shrank to nothing and flew into her mouth. Penetrating deep inside her, he burst  out through her heart and killed her instantly.

As he neared the island of Lanka, Hanuman saw forests and mountains stretched out below him, and in the distance Mount Trikuta, beside which stood the fabulous city of Lanka, looking like the capital of heaven. He returned to his normal size and touched down safely on the peak of Mount Trikuta. Not even short of breath, he set off through the lush jungle towards the city. Soon he arrived at the edge of the outer moat beneath towering walls and turrets of gold with pennants fluttering in the breeze. He made his way to the northern gate where he saw large numbers of guards and much coming and going. He lay hidden among the trees until darkness fell.

When all was dark he shrank to the size of a cat and sprang over the battlements. By the light of the full moon he followed the main highway into the city. Around him were mansions of' gold inlaid with diamonds and pearls. Deep rumblings, like the distant roar of' the ocean, came from the depths of the city, and here and there bells tinkled. Suddenly he was challenged by a hideous female figure.

'Who are you and what do you want?' she demanded.

'First tell me who you are,' Hanuman replied.

'My name is Lanka, the guardian spirit of this city, and I am aware of all that goes on here. No one can wander about this city without my sanction.'

'It is my wish to see around Lanka and I shall do as I please,' retorted Hanuman.

Not without overcoming me,' she cried, and struck Hanuman on the face. In retaliation he felled her to the ground with a slap.

'Spare me,' she begged. 'I was once told by Brahma that when a monkey enters Lanka and overpowers me, the defeat of' all the rakshasas who live here will soon follow. I give you permission to go wherever you please and assure you that you will accomplish your purpose, and in so doing bring about the destruction of Ravana.'

Hanuman continued on his way. Soon he heard laughter and music and saw on the streets people of all kinds. Some were ugly, others beautiful, some coarse, others refined. He saw scholars and priests, powerful warriors and drunken fools. Naked ascetics with shaven heads muttered malevolent spells and eyed him curiously as he passed, while monstrous demons with deformed features and misshapen bodies guarded doorways along the way, armed with swords, clubs and spears.

After passing many mansions and crossing wide avenues, Hanuman came to the outer gates of Ravana's palace, made of solid gold embellished with precious gems. Inside was a city within a city, filled with mansions of gold and silver, teeming with demons strutting here and there, challenging each other in proud tones, singing boisterously or lying in drunk-en stupor. He also saw noble beings, hand-some and graceful, dressed in finery and shining brightly.

Entering the inner palace, Hanuman passed armed guards mounted on chariots and throngs of courtiers in avenues vibrant with the sound of kettledrums and trumpets. He came upon rakshasa women, some bashful, some alluring all exceptionally beautiful. He looked at them all closely, hoping to find Sita, but saw her nowhere.

He ranged among the houses of Ravana's generals and ministers, and his brothers Kumbhakarna and Vibhisana. He passed Ravana's stables, which housed mighty war elephants and horses of many colours, and then he entered gardens and pleasure grounds resounding with the cries of peacocks and sparkling with heaps of gems.

Finally he reached Ravana's personal residence. Blazing with jewels, it was a palace. of such splendour it seemed as if heaven had come down to earth. In its inner courtyard was moored the fabulous Puspaka airplane, like a mountain, with domes clustered one above another. This was the airplane that Ravana had stolen from Kuvera, the treasurer of the gods, and was his proudest possession. It was built from gold, silver, coral and crystal; yet it hovered weightless above the ground. Hanuman slipped aboard, up stairways of' gems, through pillared halls laid with crystal and lit by emeralds and sapphires. Fountains played in lotus pools surrounded by groves of artificial trees and flowers. The Puspaka was capable of travelling at the speed of mind along cosmic pathways. It was imbued with a mind of' its own, which responded to the thoughts of its commander, who must have exceptional power in order to control it. Hanuman scoured all the chambers and hallways on its many levels, but did not find Sita.

From there he stole into Ravana's private apartments where he saw bevies of' gorgeous women deep in slumber, exhausted from their revelries, their limbs and coverings in disarray. With their heads pillowed on one another's breasts and arms, their garlands and necklaces scattered, and their breath perfumed by fragrant wines, they looked like swans floating on a sea of lotus flowers. Lamps burned dimly, held by sentinels of gold who watched silently over the fair assembly.

In the midst of this scene was a raised bedstead of ivory and gold beneath a white canopy where Ravana slept, fanned by female attendants. His powerful arms, encircled with gold bracelets and flashing with diamonds, revealed the scars of' many battles. Around his bed slept female musicians, still holding their musical instruments in sensuous embrace.

On a richly upholstered bed nearby lay a fair-complexioned woman more gorgeous than the others. At first Hanuman thought her to be Sita, but then he realized this could not be so; Sita would never surrender herself to be enjoyed by Ravana. This woman must be Ravana's queen, Mandodari, who had been given to him as a young girl by her father, the demon Maya. Since then Ravana had carried off thousands of other young girls from the homes of' gods and celestial beings, all of whom were allured by his power and sexual energy. Sita, however, was the one woman who would never submit to his will.

Continuing his search, Hanuman entered the dining hall, where meats such as peacock, rhinoceros and porcupine stood untouched or half-consumed on golden dishes. The floor was scattered with broken cups and bowls amid piles of disordered cushions, pools of juice and half-finished cups of wine.

Leaving the palaces, Hanuman scoured the open spaces surrounding them. He looked among the crowds at crossroads, in narrow lanes, in chasms and ravines, but not seeing Sita anywhere, he began to fear the worst. Perhaps she had fallen into the sea as she was carried to Lanka, or been set upon by the demon women in Ravana's employ, or had died from a broken heart in separation from her lord. In despondency Hanuman decided to hide somewhere and fast to death, his mission having failed.

Just then he came across a grove of ancient ashok trees that he had not noticed before, hidden beneath a wooded hilltop beside Ravana's palace. This was Ravana's private retreat and something told Hanuman it might be the place where he would find Sita. He prayed to Vishnu to give him success, and leaped over the boundary wall. Inside, the trees were thick with flowers and entwined with climbers. As the monkey jumped from one tree to another they scattered their blossoms, covering him with petals so that he looked like the spirit of' spring. Advancing deeper into the grove he found that the trees took on a silver hue, and their flowers became richer and more perfumed. Water tumbled down the hillside into a crystal-clear pool with a white sandy bed sparkling with gems and corals. Around the pool, marble steps descended from among trees of gold that chimed as if with tiny bells in the breeze. Hanuman climbed the tallest tree and peered out from its branches across the moonlit landscape. Nearby was a tree greater and more venerable that all the others. Beneath it he saw a woman seated on the ground dressed in torn unwashed clothes. She was pale and drawn and her face was bathed in tears, but her beauty shone like the moon through a veil of clouds.

Hanuman knew her to be the same woman he had seen carried over Rishyamukha Hill by Ravana, and he recognized the ornaments she wore as matching the ones cast down from the sky to the monkeys that day, and her yellow robe as matching the silk cloth in which they had been wrapped. She must be Sita.

Around her demonesses circled restlessly, hideous in appearance, carrying clubs or spikes. Some had only one eye and misshapen features, some were covered in hair, some were hump-backed or monstrous in size, with heads of goats, camel's feet or donkey's ears. In the midst of these monsters, Sita was weighed down by grief, like a boat sinking beneath its load.

How can such a blameless and exalted soul as Sita be afflicted with so much sorrow?' lamented Hanuman. 'Indeed it is hard to understand destiny. Yet I see she is forbearing as the earth from whom she was born. She does not see the monsters surrounding her, or this heavenly garden. She sees only Rama.

The Ring

As dawn approached Hanuman heard the distant sound of the sacred hymns of the Vedas being chanted in the city. At Ravana's bedside musicians serenaded him and slowly the great demon stirred, his head heavy with drink. His first thought was of Sita. Although he was powerful beyond measure, Ravana was the slave of passion, and at the moment all his passion was focused on Sita. Dressing and perfuming himself, he set off to the ashok grove followed by a procession of female attendants bearing torches in the early dawn light. As it passed through the glades echoing with birdsong, the procession looked like the progress of the god of love.

Hidden among the branches, Hanuman watched as Ravana approached. As soon as she saw him, Sita huddled up in modesty and shook with fear. Although she was distressed and forlorn, she could not hide her flawless beauty, which shone like the moon through the clouds. Hanuman was amazed to see the mighty Ravana actually prostrate himself full-length on the ground before her.

Have no fear, sweet lady, no other demons lurk here. It is only I, begging for your love,' came Ravana's love-stricken words. 'My soul is ravished by you. Please return my love. It is the habit of us demons to seduce other's wives by force, but I have restrained from this for ten months, waiting for you to willingly give yourself to me.

Your beauty holds me entranced. The creator, after fashioning you, must have retired, having surpassed all else. Though you are covered in torn cloth with your hair in a single plait, you make me forget even my consort Mandodari. My thousands of' other wives will wait upon you. Why do you think only of' Rama, a mere man? He is nothing compared to me. Untold wealth can be yours. Just be minel

Take your mind off me and be satisfied with your nettny wives, Sita responded fiercely. 'You should protect me, not seek to molest me. Your infatuation will destroy your kingdom and all who live in it. I belong to Rama as the sunshine belongs to the sun. You will never have me. Soon Rama will be here with arrows of fire to destroy you. You cannot flee he will find you wherever you are.

It seems, good lady, that the more I speak sweet words to you the more unkind you become. Very well, be warned; you have two months to surrender to me. If you refuse to share my bed after that time, you will be minced up and I will eat you for my breakfast!' These foul words upset many of Ravana's women, whom he had won from among gods or pious families. They tried to reassure Sita with secret glances. But she continued fearlessly.

You have no friends here, otherwise they would advise you that you bring upon yourself your own destruction by stealing another's wife, not to speak of the wife of' Rama. I wonder that your tongue has not fallen out, or your eyes been blinded. I am here for your destruction. Touch me at your peril.' Ravana's face twisted and he raised Ahand to strike Sita, but was restrained by his women, who dragged him away. Sport with us, lord, and havelinthing more to do with this Sita,' they implored. 'Do with her agsi-You will to force her to her senses,' he shouted at those around Sita. Angry and humiliated, he left4Now the demonesses came forward, first cajoling, then taunting, threatening Sita with their weapons.

Don't you know what you are turning down? You have been loyal to your husband, now do the sensible. Ravana has vanquished the entire universe. The thirty-three high gods and even Indra himself are under his sway, and now he wishes to give up his wife Mandodari in favour of you. You are mad to refuse.'

I would like to taste her liver,' snarled one, 'and her heart, too.' 'Why should we wait?' cried another. 'Divide her up now and cook her.' 'I will never be his wife,' Sita retorted. 'I am human, and he is a rakshasa and I will never have anything to do with the monster. You can eat me if you like, I don't care.

Shuddering with emotion she withdrew towards the tree in which Hanuman was concealed. 'I would not touch that despicable Ravana even with my left foot. Why can I not die now? Then I would be shamed no more.

If Rama would come, he would kill Ravana and destroy this entire city. Then it will be you who weep, your husbands dead. He will destroy you all.' an old rakshasa woman, named Trijata, awoke just then. Seeing that the other rakshasas were tormenting Sita, she stopped them.'

Eat one another if you like, but you will never eat her. I have had a dream,' she murmured, 'I saw Rama, dressed in shining white, riding with Sita on a great white elephant. Then I saw Ravana and his brothers, their heads shaven, riding south on mules, laughing hideously. Next I saw a powerful monkey set fire to the city or Lanka which fell crashing into the waves, while the women of the city laughed in madness.

My advice to you is stay away from her and leave this place if you can.

Her companions fell silent and sat down listlessly, not caring enough to argue. Sita crept further into the hollow of the tree beneath Hanuman. Fingering the cord tying her hair, she thought of suicide.

Hanuman desperately wanted to reassure Sita. But how could he do so without frightening her? She would think he was just another of Ravana's tricks. He decided to talk in Sanskrit, the human language spoken in Ayodhya. Softly, he spoke of Rama. 'There was once a mighty emperor in the line of Iksvaku called Dasaratha, who had a son named Rama,' he began, and went on to recite the tale of Rama's exploits up to the time that Sita was carried away.

In search of Sita, Rama and Lakshmana journeyed south where they met with Sugriva, lord of the monkeys. In alliance with him a great search for Sita was begun, bringing me to Lanka where I have at last found her. Even now, Rama is waiting for me to bring back news so that he can rescue her.

In rapture, Sita listened to this mysterious voice, thinking at first it was just a dream. She looked here and there until she caught sight of Hanuman in the tree above her. Was this an apparition? How could a monkey talk, and know all these details of her history?

Writer – Ranchor  Prime 

Gauri Ragini and Dhanasri Ragini

August 7, 2013, 2:52 am

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Gauri Ragini

The text above the painting identifies it as Gauri Ragini, a wife of Malkos Raga, and describes the dark complexion and beautiful face of the heroine. The text also gives the musical scale of the Ragini. Gauri Ragini is an evening melody of autumn. Its alternate names, Gaudi and Gaudika, suggest that it may have originated in Ganda (West Bengal). Representations of Gauri Ragini in the Rajasthani and, as shown here, Amber traditions typically portray a lady walking in the forest carrying two flower-wands and often accompanied by two peacocks.

This illustration of Gaud Ragini is from the earliest known Ragamala produced at Amber, the capital of the Amber/Jaipur court prior to the founding of Jaipur in 1727. Comparisons with two Amber Ragamalas attributed to about 17oo and with one dated 1709 (Ebeling 1973, pp. 185-87), point to a date of about 168o for this painting, a date first suggested for this series in Spink 1987. Characteristic of Amber/Jaipur painting are the distinctive vertical white swath where the diaphanous robe of the heroine is gathered in front, the personified sun in the sky, and the two Mughal-descended formalized flowering plants in the right middle ground of the painting.

Amber Ragamalas represent a distinct iconographical arrangement within the Rajasthani tradition. They combine the painters system and Hanuman's system with additional innovative variations in imagery (Ebeling 1973). Most Amber Ragamalas are inscribed, as is the present painting, with identifications and descriptive passages from a Hindi text by the poet Paida, which was based on the early seventeenth-century Sanskrit verses of Damodara Misra's Sangiladarpana (Ebeling 1973).

Dhanasri Ragini

This painting is identified in its upper border as Dhanasri Ragini, leaf number 12 (of the Ragamala). The ragini is a soft and sensual midday melody associated with early winter. In the Rajasthani tradition she is generally regarded as the wife of Dipak Raga and is shown as a lady painting a portrait of her absent lover while attended by maidservants. Occasionally she paints another image, such as the flower here, or writes a couplet. Some representations of Dhanasri Ragini also have a smaller-scale ancillary scene with the beloved lord approaching on horseback.

This illustration of Dhanasri Ragini exemplifies the superb Ragamalas produced by the workshops active in the principality of Sirohi during the late seventeenth century. Brilliant reds and yellows predominate. Figures are animated, and the architecture is detailed and luxurious. The painting appears to be from a set that has been published as dating from about 168o, The treatment of the figures and architecture, the palette and color scheme, and rven the compositional motifs and handwriting style are all identical. The only design difference between this painting and the published Desvarari Ragini belonging to this set is the reversal of the directional order oldie foreground motifs and interior wall colors, a feature that is presumably indicative of the original left-or right-side album page location. Moreover, the set of about 168o is recorded as including a Dhanasri Ragini, number precisely what is inscribed on this painting. Another Sirohi Ragamala set is also known, but it is attributed to a decade later, about 1690, and is coarser in draftsmanship and expression than the earlier set and the present work.

Writer – Janice Leoshko

Nayak Emperor

August 8, 2013, 2:57 am

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With the decline of the power of the Vijayanagara memperors after the battle of Tallikota, the feudatory rulers established themselves in independence with only a semblance of respect for the titular emperor. At Madurai, Tirumala Nayak is reputed for his great patronage of art, and the magnificent gopura and pudumandapa constructed by him are famous. Similarly, in Tanjavur and Kumbakonam, Raghunatha Nayak of Tanjavur was responsible for excellent monumental work. The temples of Minakshisundaresvara and Alagar at Madurai, those of Tenkasi, Sankaranarayanarkoil, Perur and other places are excellent examples of Nayak workmanship.

In the upper layer from the Brihadisvara temple at Tanjavur covering the Chola one, there is a wealth of Nayak painting particularly interesting from the point of view of the glimpse it gives of life in the period with all the elaboration of costume, ornamentation and other details, all easily gathered from this important and elaborate series.

At Tiruparuttikunram and at Kanchipuram, the Jain legends illustrating the lives of the Tirthankaras are portrayed with greater vigour and here also the life of the period is very clearly depicted.

At Tiruvalur, the lilas of Siva are represented on the ceiling of the mandapas in picturesque fashion with special stress on the monkey-faced mythical king Muchukunda of the royal Chola family; and, as legend would have it, it is he who brought the Sivalinga enshrined at Tiruvalur as also the Somaskanda. The latter is amongst the most famous early Chola bronzes.

In Tiruvannamalai, Tiruvottiyur, Tiruvalanjuli and other places, there are similar representations of legends of Siva and scenes from the Ramayana and the Mahabharata.

At Chidambaram in the large andapa of the shrine of Sivakamasundari, there is a magnificent series of paintings illustrating the story of Bhikshatana and Mohini, the legends of Salva saints and the glory of Siva's dance.

The Nayak period is also represented by several murals from Madurai here the sixty-four lilas of Siva are epicted in picturesque panels narrating the story graphically but many of them have been repainted and ruined.

There are labels in Tamil or Telugu describing the themes of these paintings. In this period, the nventionalization that set in during the Vijayanagara period is continued. This stylisation, as already observed in sculpture, like the pointed nose, fierce eyes, angular contours, limbs and so forth and peculiar arrangement of garments on the body with patterns characteristic of the period, are all observed in these paintings.

Writer - C. Sivaramamurti

Patrons, Artists And Themes of Kangra Paintings

August 8, 2013, 10:20 pm

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The principal centre of Pahari painting was the Kangra Valley where the artists worked under the patronage of the Hill Rajas of Guler, Kangra and Nurpur. From here the artists migrated to the neighbouring States of Mandl, Suket, Kulu, Tehri and Garhwal in the cast and Basohli and Chamba in the north. The art of these States was but an off-shoot of the art of Kangra and the most appropriate name for this version of Rajput art is the "Kangra Valley School of Painting".

Specimens of early paintings in the Basohli style can be found in all the Punjab Hill States. They are simple works, full of strength and primitive vitality. The pattern is rugged and domineering, and the lines and colours are bold and enduring. The hill painter selected themes which he could handle with masculine directness, without apology or prudery. He worked with fearless passion, imparting 10 his work energy and power which is in great contrast with the nervous grace of later creations. The artist attained a maximum of expression with the minimum of means. The vibrant colours of Basohli paintings are enchanting.

The main centres of Kangra painting were Guler, Basohli, Chamba, Nurpur, Bilaspur and Kangra. Guler, and Nurpur are near the plains and their Rajas came into early contact with the Mughal emperors.

Of the Hill States, Guler has the longest tradition in the art of painting. It has been established that during the rule of Dalip Singh (A.D. 1695-1743) artists were working at Haripur-Guler. Portraits of Dalip Singh exist and these can hardly be later than 1720. There are a number of portraits of his eldest son, Bishan Singh, which can be dated to about 1730. Bishan Singh died during the lifetime of his father and in 1743 his younger brother Govardhan Chand became the Raja of Guler. Govardhan Chand was a patron of art and a large number of his portraits which were formerly in the collection of Raja Baldev Singh are now in Chandigarh Museum. We reproduce a painting of Govardhan Chand listening to music, which was in the collection of Raja Baldev Singh and is now in Chandigarh Museum.

The Raja is seated on a terrace listening to the music of drums and pipes. Terraces of this nature can be seen in the Haripur-Guler Fort overlooking the Ranganga. It is a key painting which marks the transition of the Mughal into the Kangra style. Describing this painting, J. C. French observes: "The Raja is listening to music, and the air of gentle reverie is well expressed. The pose of the individual figures and the balance of the whole is admirable. In this respect it resembles the finest of the Mogul paintings, but it has a delicacy and a spirituality of feeling to which the Mogul art never attains. The coloring of Kangra pictures of this period is extraordinarily delicate. The Kangra artist had the colours of the dawn and the rainbow on his palette."The role of Guler in the evolution of the Kangra style is thus summed up by Dr. Archer:

"The State of Guler played a decisive part in the development of Pahari painting in the eighteenth century. Not only did it develop a local art of the greatest delicacy and charm, but the final version of this Guler style was taken to Kangra in about 1780, thus becoming the `Kangra' style itself. Guler is not merely one of thirty-eight small centres of Pahari art. It is the originator and breeder of the greatest style in all the Punjab hills." Subsequent research has fully confirmed Dr. Archer's thesis, and if any place can be called the birth place of Kangra painting, it is Guler.

Research which has been carried from 1952 onwards has proved that the paintings in early Guler style were by the artists Manaku and Nainsukh. The sons of these artists and the grandsons of Nainsukh worked at Guler, Basohli, Chamba and other places and are responsible for the finest paintings.

The greatest patron of painting in the Punjab hills was Maharaja Sansar Chand. He was born in 1765 at Bijapur, a village in Palampur tehsil. In 1786, he occupied the Kangra Fort and became the most powerful Raja of the Punjab hills. In 1794, he defeated Raja Raj Singh of Chamba and annexed a part of his territory. Later on, he defeated the Rajas of Sirmur, Mandl and Suket. Raja Prakash Chand of Guler became his vassal.

In 1809, Sansar Chand employed a European adventurer, 0' Brien, who established a factory of small arms and raised a disciplined force of 1400 men for him. In seelo Brien waving a fly-whisk over Sansar Chand. It is a very fine portrait by one of the Guler artists who had migrated to Tira-Sujanpur. The green background with dashes of red in the horizon is typical of the work of these artists. The character of Sansar Chand, proud and sensitive, is well brought out in this painting.

Kangra paintings under the patronage of Sansar Chand were painted at Alampur, Tira-Sujanpur and Nadaun, all on the banks of the Beas. Very little painting, if at all, was done at Kangra proper which remained under Mughal occupation till 1786 and Sikh occupation from A.D. 1810 to 1846.

Little has been written about Nurpur, an important centre of Kangra painting. Raja Bas Dev (A.D. 1580-1613) came in conflict with the Mughals during the reign of Akbar. Jagat Singh (A.D. 1619-1646), however, entered the service of Jahangir and must have come in contact with the work of Mughal painters. A portrait of Jagat Singh in Basohli style is in the collection of Chandigarh Museum, and there is every likelihood that this style may have originated as a parallel development at Nurpur apart from Basohli. Rajrup Singh (A.D. 1646-1661) was also in the employ of Aurangzeb. Some paintings ascribed to the reign of Prithvi Singh (A.D. 1735-1789) are extant. Most of them belong to the reign of Bir Singh (A.D. 1789-1846), a contemporary of Prakash Chand and Sansar Chand.

"Sensitive, reticent and tender, it perfectly reflects the self-control and sweet serenity of Indian life, and the definitely theocratic and aristocratic organisation of Indian society. It lands itself to the utterance of serene passion and the expression of unmixed emotions!" This description of Rajput painting by Coomaraswamy is particularly relevant to the art of the lovely valley of Kangra. The romance of the Epics and the Puranas were here given a new life in the voluptuous line and colour, the Krishna-Lila with all its exotic symbolism was reenacted by the painter's brush, the Shiva-Parvati lore was invested with fresh colour and the lyrics of Keshav Das were given a new expression.

The art of the Kangra Valley acquires deep meaning if viewed in its cultural perspective. The symbolism conveys to us a sense of reality. The style has a unique sense of freedom and is closely connected with the soil. There is no self-consciousness, no studied emotions, no attitudes. It is free from the stresses of exaggerated personality and deliberate individuation, and the painting is nothing but music in colour. The emotions it seeks to portray are registered with astonishing truth. The technique is "limited", and we find the painter employing set formulas in the portrayal of features, limbs and landscape. Yet the effect is beautiful, for the forms that evoke it are truly vital, transcending the limitations of mere technique. It is here that lies the greatness of Kangra art.

The flowing and graceful curves of Kangra art form rhymes and assonances. The eye moves with ease and comfort from one point to another enjoying delightful rhythms and harmonies and the restful beauty of the curve.

With a change in the taste of the patrons, and in keeping with the new trends of mysticism, lyricism was seen to enter Kangra painting. "The figures are now more animated, the line more nervous and fluent, the resurge of physical charm is deliberate, women are willowy and slender, their eyes very long and curved, and the deep-dyed fingers are delicate and tapering."' Kangra art was imbued with a subtle charm, and the delicate and refined pictures acquired an almost feminine grace for which they were to become so well known.

The inner vitality and natural charm of the style faded away in the early 19th century. There was an increasing tendency towards mere ornamentation. The energy of the artist was now directed towards superficial embellishment and fineness of detail. The art fell into decay and died, but the artist outlived it for a while. He was haunted by memories which he tried to paint, but the living presence that inspired him once was no more. The patronage of the court, too, had disappeared and though he painted, there was neither joy in his work nor life in his creation. There was an endless repetition of cliches.

The birth of Kangra art in the Valley about the middle of the 18th century, and its decline in the middle of the 19th century is a strange phenomenon in the history of Indian art. Its sudden decay is difficult to explain. The Valley is the same with its mountains and sparkling streams of water, but where are those men of genius? As one wanders through the ruins of Haripur, Sujanpur, and Nadaun, one cannot help being moved by the dead splendour of the palaces; their culture has disappeared never to return.

To turn to the technique of Kangra painting; its chief features are delicacy of line, brilliance of colour and minuteness of decorative detail. Like the art of Ajanta, Kangra art is essentially an art of line. As Coomaraswamy observes, "Vigorous archaic outline is the basis of its language." This amazing delicacy and fineness of the line was achieved by the use of fine brushes made from the hair of squirrels.

A preliminary sketch in light red colour was made with the brush on brown hand-made Sialkoti paper. This was primed with white and the surface made very smooth. The outlines were then redrawn in brown or black. Colour was now applied, first the background and then the figures. The outline was now redrawn and the picture finished. Very often the colouring was done by assistants after the master had completed the drawing.

The Kangra painters made use of pure colours, like yellow, red and blue, and these have retained their brilliance, even after two hundred years. Many unfinished sketches are to be had in which the names of colours to be employed are indicated on the sketch. Sketches were often preserved as heirlooms, and used for fresh commissions with a few modifications.

Kangra painting knows no perspective, but the wonderful glowing colours and delicate line-work more than compensate for this deficiency. The human figures, particularly of women, were mostly drawn from memory and this explains the similarity of the female faces with gazelle-like eyes, straight noses and rounded chins. Each artist evolved his own formula for the portrayal of faces, and though names of artists may not be written on paintings, it is possible at times to identify the work of individual artists. Almost all the faces are drawn in profile. Perhaps it was easier to do so, but it may be that the beautifully chiselled features of Kangra women are more effectively portrayed in this manner.

Kangra painting till recently was regarded as largely anonymous. Recent research has revealed the names of a number of artists. Manaku and Nainsukh were artists of outstanding ability. Kama, Nikka, Ranjha and Gaudhu, sons of Nainsukh, were also well-known artists. A few pictures from Guler are signed by Gursahaya. Khushala, Fattu and Purkhu are mentioned as artists in the employ of Sansar Chand. Purkhu specialised in delicate paintings in transparent tones and subdued colour. His son, Ramdayal, who is said to have inherited much of his father's talent, is also mentioned. Nikka worked at Chamba during the rule of Raja Raj Singh. His sons Chhajju and Harkhu worked for Raja Jeet Singh.

The central theme of Kangra painting is love, and its sentiments are expressed in a lyrical style full of rhythm, grace and beauty. As Coomaraswamy states, "What Chinese art achieved for landscape is here accomplished for human love." The recurring theme of Kangra painting, whether it portrays one of the six seasons or modes of music, Krishna and Radha or Shiva and Parvati, is the love of man for woman and of woman for man. To the Kangra painters the beauty of the female body comes first and all else is secondary. It is her charms that are reflected in the landscape of the Kangra Valley.

Dr. W. G. Archer has rendered great service to art criticism and appreciation by pointing out sexual symbols in Kangra painting. Whether the symbols were consciously used or were an expression of hidden urges of the subconscious mind is difficult to decide. Rajput society of the late 18th and early 19th centuries was puritanical in nature. There was considerable repression of normal emotions and it is possible that the aristocracy found a release for its repressed desires in paintings of an erotic character.

These love-pictures display considerable intensity of feeling and are works of real beauty. Life in the foot-hills of the Himalayas was full of danger and insecurity, and death lurked not only on the battle-field but also in the thick forests that covered the area. Women were greatly relieved when their husbands came home safely, and their meeting was all the more intense for its uncertainty.

We sec a deep love of nature in Kangra painting. The landscapes are characteristic of the lower Beas Valley. Low undulating hills crowned with umbrella-like pipal and banyan trees, mango groves, and the farmers' homesteads hidden in clumps of bamboo and plantain, fresh water streams brimming with the glacial waters of the Dhauladhar, rivulets meandering through wave-like terraced fields in which love-sick pairs of mints cranes wander all these are represented faithfully. This landscape is suffused with love, and the intensity of the artist's perception breaks through the world of appearances to touch the core of reality. As Okakura says: "Fragments of nature in her decorative aspects, clouds black with sleeping thunder, the mighty silence of pine forests, the immovable serenity of the snow and the ethereal purity of the lotus rising out of darkened waters, the breath of star-like plum flowers, the stains of heroic blood on the robes of maidenhood, the tears that may be shed in his old age by the hero, the mingled terror and pathos of war, and the waning light of some great splendor such are the moods and symbols into which the artistic consciousness sinks before it touches with revealing hands that mask under which the Universal hides. Art thus becomes the moment's repose of religion, or the instant when love steps half unconscious on her pilgrimage in search of the Infinite, lingering in gaze on the accomplished past and dimly seen future a dream of suggestion, nothing more fixed but a suggestion of the spirit, nothing less noble."

Writer -  M.S. Randhawa
 

Medieval Kerala`s

August 10, 2013, 3:35 am

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In the Chera country, there was great temple-building activity during the Vijayanagara period and the temple of Sthanunatha at Suchindram and the Padmanabhasvami shrine at Trivandrum have had a good deal of additions and embellishments during this period till practically the eighteenth century. The peculiar local type of plan and super-structure may be noticed at Tirunandikkarai and Trikotithanam where the single and double-roofed circular shrines, respectively, represent an individualistic pattern peculiar to Malabar. Though very little has yet been discovered to show the intermediate stages between the early Chera phase at Tirunandikkarai and the late period, there are yet lovely paintings at Tiruvanchikulam that suggest the march of Chera painting in the Kerala country towards the phase that corresponds to the Vijayanagara and the Nayak periods in the Tamil South.

The Chera school closely resembles the contemporary sculpture and wood carvings but, up to the early Vijayanagara period, little has been found to show the intermediate stages. With a distinctive type of anatomy of squat and robust type of figures, peculiar rich ornamentation recalling the Kathakati make-up, they present a subtle combination of the Kanarese and Dravida types easily seen in the peculiar elongate halo surrounding the crown as in Western Chalukya figures and other details. The nandidhvaja in one of the hands of the multi-armed Siva Nataraja on Apasmara at Ettumanur recalls both the Badami and Pattadaskal Natesas as well as the Nallur one. It is interesting to see how closely it resembles a similar painting from the Kailasa temple at Ellora. This huge painting that can vie with the earlier Chola Tripurantaka panel at Tanjavur and with the contemporary Vijayanagara Virabhadra at Lepakshi is a remarkable one located in the temple gopura and forms a fine introduction to the genius of the painter in Malabar at this period of history.

The paintings at Tiruvanchikulam, at Pallimanna, at Triprayer, in the Vadakkunatha temple at Trichur and in the Mattancheri palace constitute a rich heritage from the Cochin area, while those from Vaikom, Ettumanur, Chitaral, etc., having a culmination in the famous paintings from the Padmanabhapuram and Krishnapuram palaces, provide a picture of the painter's art in Travancore area. The mouth is rather wide and the eyes have side-long looks, the body-build is heavy and a smile is evident on the lips of all the figures of this school. Minute details of dress and habits can be studied here. The top-knot of the Nambudiris and the triple lamp so common in Malabar are all present. The scenes from the Ramayana, the Mahabharata and the Puranas, including iconographic themes chosen by the painters for portrayal, like the incident of Kumbhakarna gobbling the monkeys so tiny as to escape through his nostrils and ears, are examples of the painters' novel choice of comparatively insignificant but nevertheless interesting scenes.

Writer – C. Shivramamurti
 

Oil Painting Reproductions: The Smart Choice!

August 14, 2013, 3:11 am

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Are you currently an art enthusiast? Or do you typically like good art hanging on your walls? Or you will be an interior designer hunting for a couple of great pieces to hang on your client's new interiors? You may want several good paintings for your house or perhaps your office however, you aren't really exceptional a designer and also you have no idea anybody who paints too. Where are you able to obtain a great painting in an affordable rate? If you have answered yes to the of those questions or you desperately want good paintings, then Oil painting reproductions is one thing you should attempt.

Oil painting reproductions: Art simplified

Not every one of us is able to afford expensive bits of original oil paintings and artwork produced by rising artists or perhaps in the Old Masters. However, you might understand the beautiful works of masters like Reuben's, Michelangelo as well as Salvadore Dali. You would like one for your own personal home simply because these paintings are beautiful plus they give you happiness whenever you take a look at them. But Dali's hang in some galleries in beautiful cities around the globe. You can't visit all of them and searching at oil paintings in a tiny book is simply not enough. But oil painting reproductions are affordable, beautiful and permanent copies of those master artworks. All you need to do is make contact with a great artwork reproductions agency and they'll paint the reproduction for you personally in a nominal cost. You are able to choose size, framing, painting etc to meet your requirements as well as your requirements. For instance, this is the way a regular ordering process works.

Step 1- Choose the kind of painting that you would like.

Some customers will need Oil painting reproductions which are in the Old Masters. Because these are often popular selections, companies may have stock sets which are already painted and prepared on the market. You'll be able to obtain these quicker. However, if you wish to order rare oil painting reproductions and copies, then your painting company will need per week to color and process the painting. If changes are needed, this might harder. Some customers could also want portraits of households, children, pets, scenic vistas, etc. Usually of thumb, oil reproductions can be created associated with a source including photographs however the larger the image, more time necessary to prepare and paint the look. If you're not in a rush, allow the painter paint at his leisure to create higher quality oil reproductions.

Step 2- Pick the company which will offer you Oil painting reproductions

There are many companies online that deal just with oil reproductions. Aside from these web based specialty companies, you may also make contact with local specialty art training institutes. These training institutes will invariably have students who're prepared to paint copies and convey oil reproductions for purchasers at nominal fees. However, as these are made by students, there isn't any real guarantee about cost and quality.

Step 3- Choose framing, custom size, and pay it off

If you select oil reproductions, you're always offered the option of framing it based on the original. It is a much better idea to obtain the painting framed through the painter because he will stretch the canvas and refit it towards the frame. This really is a lot better than stretching the painted canvas onto an unsuitable frame. Oil reproductions companies can also get a wide range of frames and sizes to select from. By collecting the frame and also the painting, you'll have to pay at least 30% from the fee upfront. This fee might not range from the frame, shipping and packing and native transport costs.

Today oil paintingreproductions of Masterpiece have been carefully recreated by Artisoo artist detail-by-detail to near perfection as a complete canvas art reproduction. Why settle for a print when you can add sophistication to your rooms with a beautiful fine gallery reproduction oil painting? Why not grace your home with this reproduced masterpiece? It is sure to bring many admirers!

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Themes of Romance

August 17, 2013, 3:23 am

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Perhaps the most persistent theme in all of Indian art and literature is that of love, both secular and divine. Numerous texts and myriad images are devoted to it, including a number of the paintings in the Green collection. The divine lovers Radha and Krishna served as the primary literary and artistic impetus. Their popularity was such that the imagery of their romance was even borrowed for personifying the various types of lovers long codified in Indian literature. 

The symbolic role of love achieved its greatest prominence during the tenth through eighteenth centuries with the widespread efflorescence of the cult of bhakti, "literally 'participation' (of the soul in the divine)". Loving devotion to a personal deity, especially Krishna, was considered to be the ultimate form of religious pursuit and expression. Devotional poets and sectarian teachers appropriated the imagery of the married cowherdess Radha's pining for her divine paramour Krishna to express the yearning of the soul for godhead. The romance of the divine couple was described and depicted in a wide range of emotional situations and activities, including impassioned intercourse.

One of the earliest and most important of the literary works on love that is represented in the Green collection is the Gitagovinda (Song of the herdsman), the devotional text par excellence of the Krishna cult. Composed in Sanskrit by the poet Jayadeva, the lyric, erotic poem describes the initial passion of Radha and Krishna, their temporary estrangement because of Radha's jealousy over Krishna's sharing of his love with other cowherdesses, and their ecstatic reconciliation in Krishna's nocturnal bower of delight. Although ostensibly a secular work, the Gitagovinda must also be regarded as a religious text owing to its intensely devout character, its metaphorical devotional symbolism, and its extensive adoption by Krishna devotees. Indeed, the Gitagovinda is considered a classic example of the widespread coalescence of the sacred and the secular within traditional Indian culture.

Radha makes her debut as Krishna's chief consort in the Gitagovinda. Previously she was known only from sporadic literary and epigraphical references, beginning in the seventh century. Radha is absent from the major early texts in which the life of Krishna is related: the Bhagavatapurana, Harivamsa,and Vishnupurana. In these earlier texts, Krishna dallies with an anonymous group of cowherdesses (gopis) rather than a favorite lover. As a result of the exclusive emphasis accorded Radha in the Gitagovinda, her fame and popularity grew so powerful that one sect, the Radhavallabhis founded in the sixteenth century at Brindavan near Mathura, regarded her as supreme over Krishna and to be the cosmic source of his divine energy.

The devotional literature and poetry composed after the Gitagovinda continued to stress the theme of worldly love as a metaphor for the soul's search for divinity. The romance and imagery of Krishna and Radha remained paramount and, perhaps most significantly, became pictorially and textually interwoven with an established literary tradition that classified generic female lovers, translated as "heroines" or "ladies") and male lovers (nayakas, translated as "heroes" or "lords") by romantic situation and emotional charge. Ideal lovers had long been described in classical Sanskrit texts on dance and eroticism, but it was not until the late sixteenth century in the Rasikapriya (Connoisseurs' delights) of Kcsavadas (c. 1554-c. i600) that Radha and Krishna were explicitly identified as a nayika and a nayaka.

There are eight types of female lovers classified by Kesavadas in the Rasikapriya: she whose beloved is subject to her, she who is alone and yearning, she who waits by the bed, she who is separated from her beloved by a quarrel, she who is offended, she whose beloved has gone abroad, she who has made an appointment and is disappointed, she who goes out to meet her beloved. The poet further subdivides each category according to various physical differences, mental attitudes, and environmental situations. Kesavadas's correlation of Radha and Krishna with the tradition of ideal lovers was both innovative and inspired, and it certainly contributed to the immense popularity of the text.

Another key distinguishing characteristic of the Rasikapriya is that it was written in the vernacular Hindi rather than the Sanskrit of the courts, as was the Gitagovinda. Texts classifying lovers continued to be written in Sanskrit, but it was in Hindi that the romance of Radha and Krishna and their personifications as ideal lovers achieved the greatest appeal. Hindi devotional literature is exceedingly rich, and countless love poems were written after the Rasikapriya, such as the Satsai of Bihari Lal, that are equally passionate in their descriptions of the love of Radha and Krishna. The imagery of the divine lovers was also adopted and used symbolically in contexts as diverse as the Baramasa (The twelve months), a collection of poems celebrating the months of the year and the emotional states associated with each month or climatic season.

Numerous other lovers were also portrayed and glorified in the art and/or the oral and literary traditions of northern India. This was especially true in the Panjab, an area renowned for its association with lovers. Perhaps the best known such couple was Sohni and Mahinwal, two ill-fated lovers whose tragic tale captured the imagination of artists and poets throughout northern India in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Other celebrated lovers include Baz Bahadur and Rupmati, Dhola and Marti, Sassi and Punnu, Hir and Ranjha, and the Iranian lovers Layla and Majnun. Some may have been fictional, or at least had their romances considerably embellished. Others were historical figures who were portrayed in the celestial guise of Radha and Krishna, such as the eighteenth-century ruler of Kishangarh Savant Singh and his favorite mistress, Bani Thani.

Savant Singh was an enlightened ruler and a great devotee of Krishna. As well as being a renowned warrior in the grand Rajput tradition, he was a painter, musician, and accomplished poet. Besides his love of Krishna, Savant Singh was enamored of a beautiful courtesan and singer whose real name is unknown but who is popularly known in the court records and Savant Singh's poems as Bani Thani, "she who is smart and well-dressed." So great was Savant Singh's love of both Krishna and Bani Thani that in 1757 he abdicated his throne to move with his beloved to Brindavan, the pastoral home of Krishna, in order to devote himself to Krishna's worship and dwell in his lord's domain. Savant Singh and Bani Thani lived in idyllic bliss at Brindavan until his death in 1764 and hers the following year. The passionate love of Savant Singh for both Krishna and Bani Thani inspired the artists of Kishangarh to create a phenomenal series of paintings portraying the king and his consort as the divine couple Krishna and Radha.

Moreover, apart from representations of divine or ideal lovers, the theme of love is suggested implicitly in certain landscape painting conventions. Pairs of birds and animals are used as metaphors for loving couples or the act of love. The moon and secluded forest groves suggest sensual trysts in the night. Similarly, dramatic lightening and deep, rich colors, particularly brown or blue-black, are symbolic of ardent passion. These compositional elements all contribute to the emotional flavor (rasa) of the paintings (Goswamy 1986a). Like the legends of the lovers they portray, Indian paintings on the theme of romance are evocative and capable of producing the same intense emotional response as the inspired poetry they so eloquently illume.

Writer – Stephen Markel 

Preparations for War of Ramayana

August 18, 2013, 10:36 pm

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Hanuman, I cannot replay you,' said Rama, hugging him. 'I have nothing else to give than this embrace. Now we must consider how we are to cross the ocean, and this puzzles me.'

There is no place now for doubt or sorrow,' said Sugriva. 'We must build a bridge to Lanka, then Ravana stands no chance against us. fransform you grief into anger, Rama, and nothing will stand in your way. 

You are right, Sugriva,' agreed Rama. 'One way or another I will find a way across the sea, even if I have to dry it up. Tell me, Hanuman, of the fortifications of Lanka. How many gates are there and how strong is their garrison?

A high wall surrounds the city, though in places I have broken it down. It has four gates, each guarded by massive doors and catapults, and is surrounded by deep moats infested with alligators. The city is built on top of a steep mountain clothed in forests, and defended by millions of heavily armed warriors skilled in warfare.

Now the moon is in conjunction with Hasta,' said Rama. If our army departs this very day we will be sure of success.' He took command and through Sugriva issued orders to his generals. In excitement monkeys streamed out from the valleys and hills surrounding Kiskindha assembling before their leaders. Soon a huge army set off south, spreading out like a tide. Day and night they marched, feasting on wild fruits and honey as they went. Rama rode on Hanuman's back and Lakshmana on Angada's. After several days they had their first sight of the sea, its foam-flecked surface reaching to the horizon and seeming to join the sky in a single limitless expanse.

They camped on the beach and Rama sat with Lakshmana as the sun sank to the horizon. His thoughts turned to Sita. What would she be doing at this moment? Perhaps the same breeze that blew from the sea had touched her.

Sita is weak from fasting,' he said, and I fear that we may arrive too late. We must find a way to cross this ocean soon.' Lakshmana comforted Rama as the sun slid over the horizon.

Across the sea, Ravana sat late in his council chamber. Shifting uncomfortably, he reported to his ministers the extent of' the damage done by Hanuman and asked their advice in the light of' the reports coming in of a vast army of monkeys approaching the opposite shore. 'Rama will find a way to get across. How do you propose we defend ourselves?

Our armies stand at the ready,' one general boasted, 'so what have we to fear? We have crushed the whole universe, even the court of' Indra, king of heaven. What do we fear from mere humans and monkeys?

Hanuman caught us unawares,' said another. 'This time it will be different. I will kill Rama and Lakshmana, and all the monkeys, on my own. The rest of you can stay here drinking wine without worry.' They brandished their swords but Vibbisana, Ravana's younger brother, restrained them.

Rama is not so easily defeated,' he warned. It is dangerous to underestimate your enemy. Do you forget how he killed Khara? Advice that Sita be returned. That way we shall avert disaster.

Disgusted at his brother's words, Ravana dismissed everyone and retired to his palace. But the following morning Vibhisana again sought Ravana.

Brother, ever since you kidnapped Sita ill omens have been seen. Sacred fires are obscured by smoke, cows do not give milk, donkeys shed tears and crows cry from the roofs of the buildings. Everyone blames your sin of abducting Sita, but they dare not tell you. You must return her to Rama.

I am not afraid of Rama,' rejoined Ravana angrily, 'and I will never return Sita.' Ravana had become a slave to his infatuation for Sita. The people of Lanka, even those close to him openly disapproved of his behaviour, increasing his unease. Calling together his ministers and generals, he asked for their advice.

As you know, I have kidnapped Sita, wife of Rama, and am passionately in love with her, though she is not yet inclined to share my bed. Now Rama is on his way with a great army of monkeys. We fear no monkey or human, yet I need your advice. How can we avoid returning Sita?

First to speak was Kumbhakarna, the dangerous brother of Ravana, who slept six months at a time under the spell of Brahma, and had recently awoken.

This act of kidnapping Sita was unworthy of you. You should have consulted us first. Nevertheless, I shall atone for your mistake by killing all your enemies. So rest at ease You will not lose Sita.

Ravish her by force and have done with id' interjected another demon, impatient with Ravana's infatuation.

I cannot,' replied Ravana, 'because Brahma has cursed inc that if ever I molest a woman against her will my head will burst into a hundred pieces. In fear of this I will not violate Sita. No matter. I will destroy Rama as I destroy all who oppose me.

Vibhisana could no longer remain silent. 'Give up this folly. Sita is like a poisonous snake around your neck. Return her to Rama. Kumbhakarna cannot defeat Rama; he boasts because he has never actually faced him in battle, so he does not realize how powerful he is.

I have defeated Indra himself,' protested Indrajit, 'so why do you think I cannot defeat a mere prince of humans? You are a coward, frightening us for no good reason.

Child, you speak nonsense,' retorted Vibhisana. You are the enemy of your father because you counsel him to seek his own death, and yours too. No doubt death is what you both deserve, but you must give back Sita and let us live in peace.

These words made Ravana furious. 'I would rather live with a snake than a supposed friend devoted to my enemy,' he roared. 'Although you are my brother you cannot be trusted because you scheme for your own self-interest.' Vibhisana blazed with anger as he rose into the air and hovered above Ravana. I am your friend and servant, older brother, who does not wish to see you killed by Rama. However, you ignore my advice. Therefore protect yourself and your subjects as best you can. I am leaving you. I wish you well. So saying, Vibhisana flew from Lanka in the direction of Rama.  

Writer – Ranchor Prime

What to Do in Edmonton

August 23, 2013, 1:21 am

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Edmonton, the bustling capital of Alberta, offers a wide range of attractions to vacationers and locals alike. From the cosmopolitan world of West Edmonton Mall to the natural beauty of the North Saskatchewan River Valley, Edmonton has something for everyone. 

West Edmonton Mall

No trip to Edmonton is complete without a trip to West Edmonton Mall, the largest shopping complex in North America. In addition to world-class shopping and restaurants, the Mall contains movie theaters, a skating rink, a miniature golf course and Galaxy World, an indoor amusement park.

The Mall, or WEM as locals call it, also includes the World Waterpark, the second largest indoor water park in the world. The World Waterpark includes a wave pool, inflatable raft ride, multiple slides (including the 83-foot-high Cyclone and Twister), and a bungee jump. On a cold winter’s day the Waterpark is a real draw, whether you’ve been shoveling snow off your driveway or are taking a vacation from a your work at the holistic drug rehabilitation center.

Fort Edmonton

People associate the Old West with the United States, but Edmonton was once a frontier town too. Fort Edmonton recreates the city’s beginnings as a fur trading fort run by the Hudson Bay Company. The fort includes historical recreations, a steam-driven train and opportunities to explore life from the 1840s to the 1920s.

K-Days

Speaking of the city’s past, K-days are a ten-day festival and exhibition. Once called Klondike Days, the festival once had a gold rush feel. Today, K-days center around an extensive midway and exhibition at Northlands Coliseum. 

K-days run alongside a Taste of Edmonton, where the city’s best restaurants present samples of their best creations in Winston Churchill Square, next to the City Hall. Tickets are cheap, and offer an opportunity to eat gourmet food in a fair-like atmosphere.

Whyte Avenue and the Fringe

A stroll down Whyte Avenue is a window shopper’s dream, with niche shops, bookstores and cozy cafes. Catch a movie at the historic Princess Theatre or explore the weekly farmers’ market with its fresh food and artwork.

If you’re on Whyte Avenue in August, be sure to catch a show at the International Fringe Theater Festival. Performances are often edgy, imaginative and push the boundaries of theater to new levels. 

The River Valley

One of Edmonton’s most scenic attractions is the river valley, a stretch of uninterrupted park and woodland running through the city on both sides of the North Saskatchewan River. Formally known as the North Saskatchewan River Valley Parks System, the river valley includes 20 major parks and is the largest urban parkland in North America. 

The valley covers 18,000 acres, and offers golf courses, cross-country skiing and hiking trails, bike paths and skating facilities. The valley includes Fort Edmonton Park, the Edmonton Valley Zoo, the Muttart Conservatory and the John Janzen Nature Center. The Muttart Conservatory is a particularly well-known Edmonton landmark, made of four connected pyramid-shaped conservatories offering plants from across the world. 

The John Janzen Nature Center provides information on the many animals that make the river valley their home. Nature lovers may spot rabbits, beavers and skunks, as well as larger wildlife. Deer, porcupines and even bears inhabit the valley. In addition to tours and demonstrations, the Nature Center includes the Tegler Discovery Zone, where kids can experience life in recreations of local wildlife habitats.

Author Bio:

Orlando Bryant is a blogger and likes to share his travel experience and tips for travelers. In free time he likes to read books to know more about the places and their cultures.

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Themes of Romance

The Cultural Background

Pilgrimage

November 11, 2013, 9:19 pm

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ALTHOUGH pilgrimage figures importantly in the religions of India, it never had any canonical status in non-tantric traditions. In tantric literature and practice, however, both Hindu and Buddhist, pilgrimage and its corollaries especially circumambulatory rites which are central to the pilgrims progress have a much higher prestige, so much so that it might almost be called canonical, if that term could be properly applied to tantrism.

In making a survey of Indian centres of pilgrimage, one thing emerges most forcefully: at places which are not officially linked with the tantric tradition, tantric elements become evident at every step. And although we have to concentrate on shrines which are traditionally linked with tantric literature and precept, we have to bear in mind that local traditions in almost all shrines in India their number is legion have strong tantric elements, whether this is conscious to the priesthood and the laity visiting those shrines or not.

One tends to identify pilgrim centres as tantric which have the flavour of extreme, bizarre and esoteric austerity. But such painful prostrations, self-humiliations, and disciplines bordering on the masochistic as I described in another place1 are not necessarily tantric. And yet, such somewhat elusive elements as the sprinkling of wine on the prasada (food offerings distributed among the votaries) at jagannath, Puri, the shaving ritual for boys of certain castes at such widely disparate places as Jvalamukhi in the Panjab, and Palni in Madras State are definitely tantric in origin and connotation.

The local lore at the shrines of India is one of the most direct means of telling whether the place is fundamentally tantric or not. This takes us into the most important mythological complex connected with tantric shrines and tantric worship. The story of Daksa's sacrifice and of the subsequent events is pivotal to tantric sanctuary-topography, as is the mythology ascribed to each individual place of pilgrimage.

The most important myth of tantric relevance is, then, no doubt, the story of Daksa's sacrifice; it is told, in many minor and major variations, in all the Puranas, and in the Epic. It is imperative to pursue this particular myth in some detail; valuable information about its development has been furnished by D. C. Sircar. In the tantric tradition, a centre of pilgrimage is called a `pitha', a 'scat' of the goddess; tantric literature rarely uses the more general word `tirtha'; probably the distinction itself depends on the mythological relevance of the centre: shrines of the goddess are pithas, sanctuaries of gods, or mixed shrines (i.e. where a god and a goddess are worshipped), are called tirthas just as non-tantric worshippers would call them. Pitha' seems to be a purely tantric term in the first place, although it has gained currency in other, not necessarily religious, contexts in the last two centuries; thus, several colleges teaching classical subjects in the Indian tradition are called pithas, quite literally `seats of learning', as for instance the Kashi Vidya pitha, one of the best institutes of higher education at Banaras.

As Professor Sircar's treatment can hardly be improved upon, I shall reproduce it in portions, so far as it is relevant to our survey.

…The earliest form of the legend of Daksa-yajna-nasa is probably to be traced in the Mahabharata (XII, chapters 282-3; cf. Brahma Purana, ch. 39) and a slightly modified form of the same story is found in many of the Puranas (Matsya, ch. 12; Padma, Srstikhanda, ch. 5; Karma, I, ch. 15; Brahmanda, ch. 31, etc.) as well as in the Kumarasambhava (I, 2!) of Kalidasa who flourished in the fourth and fifth centuries and adorned the court of the Gupta Vikramadityas. According to this modified version of the legend, the mother-goddess, who was the wife of Siva, was in the form of Sati one of the daughters of Daksa Prajapati. Daksa was celebrating a great sacrifice to which neither Sati nor Siva was invited. Sati, however, went to her father's sacrifice uninvited, but was greatly insulted by Daksa. As a result of this ill-treatment, Sati is said to have died by yoga or of a broken heart, or, as Kalidasa says, she immolated herself and perished. . . . When the news of Sati's death reached her husband, Siva is said to have become furious and hastened to the scene with his numerous attendants. The sacrifice of Prajapati Daksa was completely destroyed. Siva, according to some of the sources, decapitated Daksa, who was afterwards restored to life and thenceforward acknowledged the superiority of Siva to all gods. . . .

In still later times, probably about the earlier part of the medieval period, a new legend was engrafted to the old story simply for the sake of explaining the origin of the Pithas. According to certain later Puranas and Tantras (Devibhagavata, VII, ch. 30; Kalika Purana, ch. 18 ; etc.), Siva became inconsolable at the death of his beloved Sati, and after the destruction of Daksa's sacrifice he wandered over the earth dancing madly with Sati's dead body on his shoulder (or, head). The gods now became anxious to free Siva from his infatuation and conspired to deprive him of his wife's dead body. Thereupon Brahma, Vishnu and Sani entered the dead body by yoga and disposed of it gradually. The places where pieces of Sati's dead body fell arc said to have become Pithas, i.e. holy scats or resorts of the mother-goddess, in all of which she is represented to be constantly living in some form together with Bhairava, i.e. a form of her husband Siva. According to a modified version of this story, it was Vishnu who, while following Siva, cut Sati's dead body on Siva's shoulder or head piece by piece. The story of the association of particular limbs of the mother-goddess with the Sakta tirthas, which may have some relation with the Tantric ritual called Vithanyasa,4 belongs, as already pointed out, to the latest stage in the development of an ancient talc. But the story may have some connection with Buddhist legends regarding the worship of Buddha's bodily relics and the construction of Stupas in order to enshrine them as well as with those concerning the various manifestations of Buddha in the Jambudvipa.

The tantric tradition of four pithas was not known to occidental scholars until recently. Monier Williams seems to have had a vague idea about four shrines dedicated to the goddess. He wrote: 'There are also four celebrated shrines of goddesses: Mahalaksmi at Kolapur, Bhavani near Sholapur, Renuka at Matapura, Yogesvari about 8o miles from Ahmednagar.'

Most of the early tantras, both Buddhist and Hindu, refer to four pit has. Sircar thinks that the conception of the four pithas may have been associated with the Buddhist tantric notion according to which the adept can rise to mahasukha ('the great bliss') through the esoteric practices involving sex.6 He quotes a Buddhist tantric text called Catuspithantantra (the tantra of the four pithas) and its commentaries, one of which was copied in A.D. 1145. This text speaks of four pithas as `atmapitha' (the 'shrine of the self' strange-sounding Buddhism indeed, but not infrequent in Sanskrit Buddhist terminology), para-pitha (the shrine of the supreme), yoga-pitha (which is self-explanatory), and guhya-pitha (the secret, esoteric shrine), and it deals with the various kinds of Vajrasattvas and their intercourse with the Yoginis, with Prajnaparamita and others. `This philosophical concept,' D. C. Sircar avers (p. 11), 'of the Catuspitha was either the cause or the effect of the early recognition of four holy places as pithas.' He adds in a footnote (ibid.), `it is difficult to determine what relation the Catuspitha could have with the Catuspitha Mountain near Jajpur in Orissa, and with other Sahajayana conceptions of "four", e.g. the Caturananda, the four-fold bliss'. The Hevajra Tantra, composed around ,10 690 A.D. enumerates the four pit has, and to my knowledge this is the earliest enumeration: (1) Jalandhara (definitely near the present .Jullundar, East Panjab); (2) Oddiyana (or Uddiyana), Urgyan in Tibetan, misspelt `Udyana', viz. 'garden' in the Bengali DohaKola (ed. Shahidullah) in the Swat Valley; (3) Purnagiri (the location is doubtful), and (4) Kamarapa (Kamrup in Assam at present the only pitha 'in action').

The same tradition is followed by the Kalika Purana (ch. 64, 43-5), which calls them (1) Odra, 'seat of the goddess Katyayani and the god jagannatha, (2) Jalasaila, seat of the goddess Candi and the god Mahadeva, (3) Puma or Purnasaila, seat of the goddess Purnesvari and the god Mahanatha, and finally (4) Kamarupa, seat of the deities Kamesvari and Kamesvara. These four 'pithas' are allocated to the four directions, but this is pure theory, and stands in accordance with the tradition to allocate every ritualistic locale to a direction of the compass, and hence to group them either in fours or in tens, sometimes in groups of eight (i.e. omitting the zenith and the nadir). In geographical reality, however, the distribution of the four main pithas is very irregular indeed: Oddiyana, in the Swat Valley, is the only far-western site Kamarupa and possibly Purnagiri are in the extreme east and Jalandhara again in the middle north-west (Panjab). None of the four pit has is situated in the south, in spite of the fact that the Kerala region has a strong Salta and tantric element in its culture; in some form or another Sakti is the tutelary deity of Kerala." I shall now present a token topography of tantric sanctuaries.

The canonical tantric text listing the `pithas' is the Pithanirnaya (description of tantric seats'), also called the Mahapithapurana; the latter name indicates that the work has a sort of mongrel position it is a tantra by virtue of its dealing with properly tantric material, and a purana by courtesy, as it were, probably because it can be said to describe its objects satisfying the `pancalaksana-s,' i.e. the five criteria of a purana. The text lists io8 pithas following the tradition of the sacred number 108, on which there has been much speculation; the author does not seem to have been worried about the lack of choice there are no repetitions of any place name, not even under the guise of a topographical synonym. Other tantric texts list pithas not mentioned in this text, but it can hardly be established with complete certainty whether or not a pitha mentioned in one text is or is not identical with one of the same name in another. Thus, the Kubjika Tantra lists a pitha `Mayavati,' and so does the Pithanirnaya; they may be identical, but their respective juxtaposition with other pithas of established location would indicate that they are not. Very often a general epithet is given to a proper name or a place name, and it is customary to use the epithet in lieu of the proper name, it being understood that the people who read the text are familiar with the nomenclature. But Mayavati, i.e. 'full of Maya' or 'like Maya'', (cosmic illusion or enticement) applies to at least three great shrines Banaras, Ayodhya, and Brindavan and once an epithet like this has been used for any location by a popular teacher or author, the epithet comes to stay.

It does not become directly clear from the texts why the four pithas (Oddiyana, Srihatta, Purnagiri, Jalandhara) were almost unanimously accepted as the most outstanding in all tantric tradition, Buddhist and Hindu alike. I would hazard the guess that the high esteem for these four places might have something to do with the mythological eminence of the sites: a pitha, by mythological definition, is a site where a limb of the goddess fell to earth when her body was being chopped up by the gods (after the Daksa episode); at these four pithas, however (though unfortunately not only at these four), the magically most potent limbs of Sati descended: her pudenda, her nipples, and her tongue.

The most important phenomenon of tantric pilgrimage, both as a concept and as a set of observances, is the hypostasization of pilgrim-sites and shrines: the geographical site is homologized with some entity in the esoteric discipline, usually with a region or an 'organ' in the mystical body of the tantric devotee. This sort of homologizing and hypostasy began early." It became ubiquitous in the tantric tradition. Centres of pilgrimage fell well into this pattern and Hindu and Buddhist literature abound in examples of such hypostasization. Professor Eliade, who was the first to formulate it, put it thus:

All 'contacts' with the Buddha are homologized; whether one assimilates the Awakened One's message that is, his 'theoretical body' (the dharma) or his 'physical body', present in the stupas, or his 'architectonic body' symbolized in temples, or his 'oral body' actualized by certain formulas each of those paths is valid, for each leads to transcending the plane of the profane. The 'philosophers' who 'relativized' and destroyed the immediate 'reality' of the world, no less than the mystics who sought to transcend it by a paradoxical leap beyond time and experience, contributed equally toward homologizing the most difficult paths (gnosis, asceticism, yoga) with the easiest (pilgrimages, prayers, mantras). For in the 'composite' and conditioned world, one thing is as good as another; the unconditioned, the Absolute, nirvana, is as distant from perfect wisdom and the strictest asceticism as it is from . . . homage to relics, etc. . . .

The Mantramahodadhi has a section entitled `the nyasa of the pit has (pitha-nyasa-kathanam). Literally, nyasa is the process of charging a part of the body, or any organ of another living body, with a specified power through touch. For instance, by placing the fire-mudra on the heart-region uttering the fire-mantra 'ram', the adept's heart is made into the cosmic fire; and by meditating on a specific pitha with the mantra of its presiding Sakti', the very region (for instance the heart, or the navel, or the throat) wherein the Sakti is thus visualized is hypostasized or trans-substantiated, into that pitha. The tantric formulation would be: Meditating on the pilgrim-centre through visualizing its presiding deity in the prescribed manner, the locus of concentration in the yogi's body is charged with the spiritual efficacy of that very place. With the Buddhist tantrics, the pattern is transparent even on a purely doctrinal basis for no `place of pilgrimage' exist in an ontological sense.

Going back for a moment to the Mantramahodadhi, the section says: `He should meditate on his body as the "pitha" by doing "nyasa" of the tutelary. Pitha-deity. He should make "nyasa" of the Namduka flower (Clerodendrum Syphonantum) in his base-centre (adhara); in the heart, there are all the pithas of the earth, the ocean, the jewel island, and of the snowy palace (i.e. the Himalayas), if he can pull up the Adhara-Sakti there:'

The Buddhist tantric Caryapadas, all of which are contained in the Tanjur and many of which are extant in their old Bengali originals, are replete with hypostases. An example: `The path along which the boat is to sail is the middle-most one in which both the right and left are combined, that is located between the Ganges and the Yamuna, and along this path which is beset with dangers the boat has to proceed against the current.' All this is Sandhabhasa (intentional language) and is easily understood once the terminology is known. The 'Ganges' and `Yamuna' are the left and the right ducts in the yogic body, the middle-most is the `avadhuti' or the central duct which has to be opened by the controls created through meditation.

The Hevajra Tantra gives a beautiful instance of hypostasis: Vajragarbha said: What, O Lord, are these places of meeting? The Lord replied: They are the pitha and the upapitha, the ksetra and upaksetra, the chandoha and the upachandoha . . . etc. These correspond with the twelve stages of a Bodhisattva. It is because of these that he receives the title of Lord of the ten stages and as Guardian Lord. Vajragarbha asked: What are these pithas? The Lord said: They are Jalandhara, Oddiyana, Purnagiri, Kamarupa.' He then lists a further 32 places.

A Doha by Saraha illustrates the hypostasis in a poetical manner:

'When the mind goes to rest, the bonds of the body are destroyed,

And when the one flavour of the Innate pours forth,

 There is neither outcaste nor Brahmin.

Here is the sacred Yamuna and here the River Ganges,

Here are Prayaga and Banaras, here are Sun and Moon.

Here I have visited in my wanderings shrines and such places of pilgrimage.

For I have not seen another shrine blissful like my own body.’

In a treatment of non-tantric pilgrimage, the circumambulation-pattern which now follows would perhaps not have to be included. However, in tantrism it is so much a part of the process of pilgrimage that it must form the concluding, if not the most important, section of this chapter.

We do not know if circumambulation was a custom in pre-Vedic India; aboriginal tribes all over India (especially the Santhals of Bihar) circumambulate their houses and shrines rather more frequently than the neighbouring caste-Hindu groups; but it is hard to say whether these autochthonous groups are preserving a pre-Aryan custom or whether they have simply taken it over from the Hindu ritual.

Tantric literature contains elaborate instruction about circum-ambulation, pradaksina ('walking clockwise'), and there is hardly a tantric text or manual lacking such instruction. Scanning the tables of contents of a dozen tantric texts at random, I found only one (the Mantramahodadhi, ed. Khemraj Srikrisnadass, Bombay) whose table of contents did not list pradaksina as a section though this popular manual does contain such instructions under different headings. I shall quote an example from the large Mantramaharnava'. The section is captioned 'pradaksina nirnaya', 'definition' or 'description of pradaksina', and it is listed among other nirnaya-s' preceding and following it, i.e. neither more nor less important than these: description of incense (gandha-nirnaya), of fruit and flowers to be offered (phala-puspanirnaya), of raiments to be worn (vastranirnaya), then comes our pradaksina-nirnaya, and others follow. These nirnayas usually stand at the beginning of the text. It says 'now then the description of pradaksina: according to the Lingarcanacandrika ("the moon-rays of Linga-worship" an extant but hitherto unpublished text) one pradaksina for (the goddess) Candi, seven for the Sun, three (are to be done) for Ganesa; four for Hari (Vishnu), for Siva half a pradaksina'. This may seem strange in a tantric work, Siva being the tutelary deity of all the tantras; however, the implication seems to be that because so many other bits of ritual arc performed for Siva and listed in other parts of the manual there was no need felt for more than the minimum pradaksina which is half a circum-ambulation. This also seems negatively implied by the great number of pradaksinas to the Sun, a Vedic deity not very close to the tantrics; apart from the water-oblation (tarpana) offered to the

Sun, there is only this sevenfold pradaksina mentioned in the manual. I surmise that the feeling of some tantrics has been that pradaksina was something essentially Vedic, and then the unspoken formula might be something like 'more (Vedic) pradaksina, less tantric ritual; more tantric ritual, fewer pradaksinas'. If we test this hypothesis by the verse quoted here and by numerous similar passages it is certainly corroborated. Siva has the greatest number of typically tantric rituals, Candi (identical with Camundi, Kali the Vajrayana Buddhist goddesses, and the non-Aryan autochthonous goddesses in general) very many indeed as a typically tantric goddess and as the many-splendored spouse of Siva; Vishnu and Ganesa have some very few purely tantric rituals, the Sun none, although the Vedic tarpana or water offering has been taken over into the tantric tradition without any change.

The next two verses are captioned 'the greatness of pradaksina for Siva', and they run 'he who has performed formal worship and who does not do pradaksina for Sambhu (Siva), his worship is fruitless, and the worshipper is a cheat (dambhika); (but) he who performs just only this one correct pradaksina with devotion (to Siva), all worship has been done by such a man, and he is a true devotee of Siva'.

In the Dravidian south, pradaksina seems to be particularly popular in the worship of indigenous deities. The Naga deities represented by snake-idols of various shapes and sizes on a plinth usually at some distance from the shrines of the main (Brahmin) deities, or under specific trees in the villages are chiefly deities of fertility and the life-cycle. They are also installed on the viriksa-vivaka-manthapam (Sanskrit vrksa-vivaha-mandapam, i.e. 'tree-marriage-platform' a platform erected around two intertwined trees which are fairly frequent all over India; such trees are said to be `married'), which women circumambulate 'on Mondays in order to remove Carppa Tosam (Sanskrit Sarpa-dosa), the curse of barrenness, a curse incurred by harming a snake either directly or indirectly as by some relative, ancestor, etc." However, pradaksina is the regular procedure on any temple visit, especially in the south, where the temples have spacious pradaksinas i.e. ambulatories. The pradaksina is done immediately after the worship in the shrine, sometimes before and after. Also the idol or rather, a small, portable replica of the idol in the shrine is carried around those pradaksinas every day by the temple priests, with nadasvaram (south Indian reed-horns, somewhat like a shawm) accompanying the procession. The musicians walk some distance ahead, the pious follow the image, several times on festive occasions.

Although `pirataksinam' (Tamil for pradaksina) is known to most Dravidians who visit Brahmin temples, the indigenous Dravidian word is `valttu', from the Tamil root `var, to salute. The Akkoracivacariyar, a manual for Tamilian temple-officials, prescribes 'The Acariyar (head priest) comes to the temple 3 and 3/4 nalikai (i.e. about an hour and a half) before sunrise; after having completed his anusthanam (the initial observances), he washes his hands and feet, makes pirataksinam by walking round the sanctum turning his right side towards it, salutes the (guardians of the gate) tuvarapalakar, Sanskrit dvarapalaka, the figures placed at each side of the entrance), and reaching the place in front of the sacred bull (Nandi his image is found in every Siva temple, facing the deity), pronounces the basic mantra and offers flowers.'

At the Somasundara Temple in Madurai (Tamilnad), some devotees circumambulate the shrine nine times, while a pattar (a sort of auxiliary priest) throws a flower on one each of the nine idols representing the navagrahas (the nine constellations) on their behalf. A monk or some other religious mendicant usually stands at hand who, for a small fee, will throw incense on a charcoal fire as an offering as the visitors perform their pradaksina. There are dozens of variations in the pradaksina-routine in different shrines, and there is much more heterogeneity in the south than in the north.

The more tortuous kinds of pradaksina are well known to tourists and photographers; on Mount Abu the famous Jaina sanctuary in Gujarat I witnessed a group of pilgrims in June 1955 who measured the entire ambiance of the sacred mount, roughly two miles, by constant prostrations in what they call the ‘dehamap' method in Gujarati (i.e. the 'measure of the body')  facing the direction of the pradaksina they prostrate, then stand up, placing their feet exactly on the spot where they had touched the ground with their foreheads, then prostrate again and repeating the process until the pradaksina is complete or until they pass out. That particular pradaksina, I was told, takes an average of thirty hours; the pilgrims do rest in between, however, but they do not take any solid food until they have completed it.

I have not seen any texts, however, which would prescribe these painful kinds of religious observance. If there are, they would belong to the category of pilgrim's-pamphlets such as are distributed at the various shrines all over India; they are always in the vernacular, and have none but purely local status. No widely accepted instruction manual would recommend self-inflicted hardship of this sort.

A word must be said about the pradaksina of Mt. Kailasa in Tibet. In 1951 over six hundred Indian pilgrims undertook the pilgrimage on the route Almora, Pituragarh, Garbiang, Lipulek, Taghlakot. The Hindus regard Mt. Kailasa as the abode of Siva and Parvati, ‘Kailasanatha', ‘Kailasapati’, etc., being frequent names of Siva, and common male proper names. The mythology Tibetan legend has woven round the mountain is unknown to the Hindu pilgrims, and although the number of Tibetan pilgrims circumambulating Mt. Kailasa and Manasarovar must be many times that of Hindu pilgrims, their mythological background and the sectarian motives are totally unrelated to each other though the general purpose for both, as goes without saying, is the acquisition of punya, spiritual merit. The Hindu pilgrims perform this observance in three parts: first, they circumambulate Lake Manasarovar, and some of the more heroic among them even take a bath in its chilly waters; the ascent to the ambiance of the Kailasa Mountain proper begins immediately at the completion of the pradaksina of the Manasarovar, i.e. the latter's starting point to which the pilgrims return after this first circumambulation, is situated right at the foot of the mountain. The circumambulation of Mount Kailasa takes about three days, that of Manasarovar a day and a half, so the total pradaksina lasts four and a half days. On the other side of Mount Kailasa there is another lake only slightly smaller than Manasarovar; it is called Rakkastal by the Hindu pilgrims, and I think it is a local Kumaoni variety of Raksastala, 'lake of the raksasas' or demons; the pilgrims do not go near that lake, as its water is thought to be inauspicious (hence the name?); they only cast a glance bandani nazar,' the glance of veneration', and fold their hands; they are advised not to look at it more often than just that one instant.

There is no built-in theory, in tantric written tradition or in tantric oral lore, which would establish a hierarchy of thematic importance: these decisions seem to be left to the individual tantric. The scholar, I believe, cannot do much more than rely on some sort of intuition by analogy: in most Indian religious traditions there is such a hierarchy in the gamut of religious exercise (Sadhana). Meditation first, belief in the theological framework with the devotional (bhakti) schools this might stand first then ancillary exercises, then perhaps charity, then study and reading. The Upanisad enjoins 'listening, cogitating, meditating' srotavyam mantavyam nididhyasitavyam in this order, and the general under-standing is that 'listening' is the least important, 'meditation' the most important step. It is by no means certain that this orthodox hierarchy holds for tantrism. Ritual of all sorts seems so much more important in tantrism than it does in non-tantric literature of the same level of sophistication, that it seems quite possible that tantric masters did regard activities like pilgrimage and circum-ambulation to be as nuclear to the process as, say, deep meditation. If the proportion of textual injunction can be a guide, these activities, which may be regarded at the most as accessories to the religious life, by non-tantrics, have not been given any shorter shrift than meditation proper. Just how central these activities are to the practising and succeeding tantric we are in no position to say; yet, we cannot omit them in a survey of the tantric tradition just because most modernistically oriented or 'philosophically' inclined students and votaries of a religion may regard them as marginal, or even inferior, pursuits.

Writer Name: Agehananda Bharati

Companions of Vishnu

November 13, 2013, 1:00 am

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Sesha and Garuda

Vishnu's paradise, Vaikuntha, is the pivot of the cosmos. It stands on the ocean of milk, radiant with golden spires, sparkling gems and bright banners. Here Vishnu, ruler of the universe, holds court with Lakshmi by his side, ensuring that dharma is respected by one and all.

When order prevails, Vishnu rests in peace on the coils of Ananta-Sesha, the divine serpent.

When dharma is threatened, Vishnu rides into battle on the celestial bird Garuda to set things right.

Kadru Enslaves Vinata

Sesha and Garuda were both sons of Kashyapa, the celestial sage, by his wives Kadru and Vinata.

Kadru, mother of serpents, once said that Ucchaishrava, the divine stallion, had a black tail.

Vinata, mother of birds, believed the celestial horse was spotlessly white. She was so confident that she chirped, "If you can prove that Ucchaishrava has even a single black hair on its tail, I will be your slave."

Kadru secretly summoned her children and hissed, "Go and cling to the tail of Ucchaishrava as it rides past the horizon at dawn tomorrow." The serpents obeyed so that the next day, from afar, the divine horse appeared to have a black tail.

By this deceit, Kadru won the wager and made Vinata her slave.

Sesha Becomes Vishnu's Throne

Sesha, eldest of the serpents, did not approve of his Mother's trickery. He broke all ties with his siblings and his conniving mother.

Sesha's nobility so pleased Kashyapa that he said, "You will be the support of the cosmos. Your mighty hood will be the foundation of the universe. On your coils will rest the lord of the world, Vishnu himself."

Garuda Steals Amrita

Kadru meanwhile demanded the elixir amrita as the price of Vinata's freedom.

So the eagle Garuda, mightiest of Vinata's sans, swooped down upon Amravati, the city of the gods, in search of the celestial drink. He found it in a well of fire guarded by two huge dragons.

Garuda flapped his great wings to put out the fire, pecked the dragons to death and flew off with the pot of elixir. Indra tried to stop him with his dreaded thunderbolt, the vajra, but it barely managed to singe one of the mighty bird's feathers.

Garuda TricksKadru

Having secured the release of his mother with the stolen nectar, Garuda told Kadru and her sons, "You must not drink divine nectar with unwashed lips."

The serpents saw sense in Garuda's advice. They rushed to a nearby river to wash their mouths leaving the pot of nectar unguarded on the river bank.

While they were away, Garuda summoned Indra to reclaim the pot of amrita and take it back to the heavens.

Thus did Garuda manage to free his mother without letting the serpents take a sip of nectar.

Garuda Becomes Vishnu's Mount

"Why did you not sip the amrita yourself?" asked Vishnu.

Garuda replied, "I do not take what is not mine."

Pleased with this reply, Vishnu said, "Your nobility matches your brawn and brain. Would a worthy bird like you consider being my mount?"

"Only if you let serpents become my natural food," requested Garuda.

"So be it," said Vishnu.

Garuda became Vishnu's vahana and his insignia, appearing on the lord's banner.

Jaya and Vijaya

There are seven gates round Vaikuntha. Those who renounce lust, anger, greed, pride, attachment and envy can cross the first six. At the seventh stand the doorkeepers Jaya and Vijaya permitting entry to only those who have transcended the fear of death and the passion for life.

Sanaka, Sananda, Sanatana and Sanatkumar, renounced the world as soon as they were born and decided to go Vaikuntha. But they were stopped at the gates by Jaya and Vijaya who said, "How can we let you enter, you who have had no taste of life or death?"

Three times did the children try to enter Vaikuntha; three times they were stopped by Jaya and Vijaya.

Piqued, the four kumars cursed the divine doorkeepers, "You have, like demons, blocked our spiritual journey into the abode of the lord. May you therefore become asuras three times over."

Vishnu rushed to the gates of Vaikuntha to console Jaya and Vijaya who were only doing their duty. Said the lord, "Even as demons, you will be my gatekeepers, embodying the six emotions that shut the doors of Vaikuntha. I will fight you, destroy you and show man the road to my paradise."

Jaya and Vijaya were reborn as the lustful Hirartyaksha, the wrathful Hiranyakashipu, the greedy Kartaviryarjuna, the proud Ravana, the obsessive Kamsa and the jealous Sishupala who were killed by the lord in his incarnations as Varaha, Narasimha, Parashurama, Rama and Krishna.

Vishnu-dootas Rescue Ajamila

Ajamila lived a wanton life, drinking, gambling, disrespecting elders and neglecting his family. As he lay dying, he called out to his son: "Narayana, Narayana, please come here."

The boy paid no heed to his father's request.

He shouted again, "Narayana, Narayana, please come here." The boy still did not come. And so Ajamila breathed his last, mumbling "Narayana, Narayana."

Yama, the god of death, decided that Ajamila who had done not one good deed in his entire life should spend the rest of eternity suffering in hell.

As his dreaded Yama-dootas rushed towards Ajamila's corpse to collect his soul, they were stopped by Vishnu-dootas, the lord's angels who said, "By chanting the name of Narayana in his last moments, Ajamila has performed one pious act and must therefore be given a chance to redeem himself." -

The two groups of divinities fought until the will of Vishnu prevailed. Ajamila was allowed to be reborn.

In gratitude, Ajamila spent his next life in piety, continence, charity and reverence making up for all that he had done in his previous existence. Ultimately he was given salvation, and allowed to reside in the blissful heart of Vishnu.

The Quarrel-monger

 Lute in hand, chanting, "Narayana, Narayana," the divine sage Narada went across the three worlds spreading rumours, causing rifts.

In Vaikuntha, he would regale his lord Vishnu with his merry tales. "I described Ahalya's beauty to Indra until he began lusting for that married woman... Daksha hates Shiva after I reported how Shiva ridicules him ... I spoke about Jamadagni's cow with so many superlatives that Kartaviryarjuna wants to steal it now ... I made Shreedevi jealous of Bhoodevi ... I put the fear of death in the heart of Kamsa . I praised the pompous Ravana into believing that he was greater than the gods. . ."

"Why do you do this, Narada?" asked Vishnu.

"Do what?"

"Cause so much trouble."

"I don't do anything. I merely test their faith in you. If they were truly your devotees, would any of them be lustful, wrathful, greedy, envious, frightened or proud?"

Vishnu burst out laughing and blessed his dearest devotee who kept chanting, "Narayana, Narayana".

Narada Learns About Maya

"The world is my maya. He who accepts this, realises me," said Vishnu.

"What is maya?" asked Narada.

"Before I reply, will you fetch me some water?" requested the lord pointing to a river.

Narada did as he was told. But on his way back, he saw a beautiful woman. Smitten by her beauty, he begged the woman to marry him. She agreed.

Narada built a house for his wife on the banks of the river. She bore him many children. Loved by his wife, adored by his sons and daughters, Narada forgot all about his mission to fetch water for Vishnu.

In time, Narada's children had children of their own. Surrounded by his grandchildren, Narada felt happy and secure. Nothing could go wrong.

Suddenly, the sky was covered with dark clouds. There was thunder, lightning, rain. The river rose in flood, broke its banks and washed away Narada's house, drowning everyone he loved, everything he possessed. Narada himself was swept away by the river.

"Help, help. Somebody please help me," he cried. Vishnu immediately stretched out his hand and pulled Narada out of the river.

Back in Vaikuntha, Vishnu asked, "Where is my water?" "How can you be so remorseless?

How can you ask me for water when I have lost my entire family?"

Vishnu smiled. "Calm down, Narada. Tell me, where did your family come from? From me. Where has to gone? Into me. I am the only reality, the only entity in the cosmos that is eternal and unchanging. Everything else is an illusion a mirage, constantly slipping out of one's grasp. You, my greatest devotee, knew that. Yet, enchanted by the pleasures of worldly life, you forgot all about me. You deluded yourself into believing that your world and your life was all that mattered, that nothing else was of any consequence. As far as you were concerned the material world was infallible, invulnerable, perfect. That is maya."

Writer Name:- Devdutt Pattanaik