Unfolding a story through sculpture and painting

Unfolding A Story Through Sculpture And Painting 

Herald Review September 21, 2014  

Art historian Vidya Dehejia provides valuable insights into the ancient Indian genre of visual storytelling 

LISA ANN MONTEIRO 

A fter her course on ‘ Buddhist Narrative Reliefs and Murals’ last month, Vidya Dehejia, noted art historian and Barbara Stoler Miller Professor of Indian and South Asian Art at Columbia University, is back to conduct her second course ‘ Visual Narratives of India: Text and Image’ at Goa University under its Visiting Research Professors Programme.

With the focus on the rich tradition of storytelling in India through mediums of relief sculpture, water colours on plastered walls and paper manuscripts, Dehejia is guiding her students through the distinct modes of visual narration that artists in India have used over the ages.

Storytelling is a universal practice crisscrossing national and cultural boundaries.

Dehejia’s first course looked at story- telling in sculpture with the focus on vibrant narrative reliefs where the literary sources used are a matter of conjecture.

“ Just as we can take a literary narrative and convey it as a poem or a drama, a novel or a short story, as a saga or in flashback, so too with visual narratives.

Different artists used different modes that ranged from monoscenic in which a single scene represents the whole story, to synoptic in which the artist places different episodes from a story in the same space, giving the viewer few clues as to where a story starts or ends. This creates a challenge for the viewer who must engage with the story fully to sort out the artist’s intentions,” Dehejia explains.

Her upcoming course will highlight the vibrant tradition of narrative in painted manuscripts where the actual text is on the reverse of each page and sometimes also carried on the painted page itself. The same artist would often use different modes of narrative to portray different episodes from the Ramayana, the Bhagvata Purana or other manuscripts, creating a challenging puzzle for the viewer to sort out. “ Since the story is well known, the viewer is invited to engage with the artist’s portrayal. If you think of any Ramayana episode you know well, wouldn’t it be more interesting to find it laid out on a page so that you have to engage with the characters to sort out the story? If laid out neatly, you might just turn the page as you already know the story.” Not enough is being done to preserve manuscripts in India and Dehejia says this is an immense problem that requires a determined infusion of funds which, of course, are in short supply. “ Luckily digitization of manuscripts has started and hopefully will continue in full swing.

That may not be quite the same as preserving the manuscripts themselves.

Our climate is not very friendly for paper preservation and extra measures like airconditioned premises for storage are needed if we are to preserve our manuscripts for future generations.” History takes a low priority in schools today and art history is simply not taught.

Apart from being a professor of Indian art, Dehejia is also General Editor of MARG publications, a Mumbai based not for profit publisher and is hoping to have an entire series of units online in a few years that will relate to the school syllabi. She wants to ensure that there will be free access so that the school going student will be introduced to the riches of India’s heritage.

“ I hope politics will stay away from the accurate presentation of history,” she says.

Dhejia has a background in classical Sanskrit and Tamil and her work has ranged from ancient Buddhist art to the temples of North India, and from the sacred bronzes of South India to art under the British Raj. She has authored more than 24 books and in 2012 was awarded the Padmabhushan for her contribution to art and education.

The course will be held from September 23 to 26 from 3 pm to 5 pm, free of cost and open to students and the general public.

Last month Doordarshan ( DD) began re- telecasting Purva Uttara: Past Forward, a series of eight films that introduces the viewer to eight spectacular sites representative of the riches of Indian artistic and cultural history. The series focuses on the events and forces that shaped Sanchi, Konarak, Mamallapuram, Vijaynagara, Delhi, the Taj Mahal, Mewar and Goa. Today these are icons of India’s architectural and cultural heritage.

The series was conceptualized by Vidya Dehejia and directed by Shyam Benegal and Zafar Hai back in 1997 to celebrate 50 years of India’s independence and was aired on Discovery and Star TV. The film Rome of the Tropics: Goa depicts Goa and its Roman influence.

The Portuguese came to India first as traders and then as the ruling power of Goa on the west coast. A large number of churches began to be built. This film will focus on Goa’s architecture which represents a fusion of Indian and European elements with influences from the Renaissance, Gothic and Baroque styles.

French traveller Francois Pyrard de Laval wrote of Goa around 1608 saying the edifices of churches and palaces, both public and private are very rich and magnificent and were built by local people. Dehejia says it was difficult to choose the eight sites since there’s such a wealth of material. “ Goa was chosen partly because it so often gets neglected and it is an important part of India’s cultural heritage,” she says.

Rome of the Tropics: Goa will be telecast on DD on September 24 at 4 pm with repeat telecasts the next day at 12 midnight and 8 am. Review Bureau 

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