art is a reshaping of reality by man. to present it in an understandable way .

as the artist recreates the

world around him. it is shaped by how he sees it, and what he believes in. the indian artist did not
attempt to depict only the material reality around him. he wished to share the complete experience of
the moment, not just the photographic presentation of the shapes around him.
beauty for the indian artist, has been a reflection of the glory of god. infact, for the ancient artist, the
experience of beauty, the ecstasy on seeing nature or art which is truly beautiful has been considered as
akin to bhrammana or the final bliss.
join us on this jouney into the heart of the indian tradition of painting. come with us the gorge of the
waghora river where ajanta was created, to the courts of the mughals and the deccan sultans. journey
with us through the desserts of rajasthan and the icy lands of ladhak and lahaul smithy in the verdant
south and the gentle hills of the north, experience the compasionate view of life that is enshrined in
indian painting.
in the philosophy of india the aesthetic experience is of great importance to man, the feeling of ecstasy
on seeing a beautiful sunrise or a truly fine work of art is considered to be akin to bhramanand or the
final bliss of enlightenment. in that joyous moment we are transported. we come out of ourselves and
feel we are a part of the beauty of creation. in that moment the cares and concerns of our daily life slip
away and we feel a deep sense of union with the whole of existence . it is this feeling of harmony, which
the art of india aspires to bring to us. the artist in india saw the entire world as a reflection of the beauty
of god. thus indian art is permiated by visions of ideal beauty. he sees every leaf, every tree, every living
being as an expression of the sublime form of the lord himself. his touch is filled by the tenderness of
adoration . and the art of india, is the expression of sublime beauty. in the indian vission, the material
reality around us is considered to be maya, an illusion. it is a veil which we need to lift to see that which
is beyond. the art of india constantly seaks to lift that veil, and to bring to us the life of the spirit, the life
of the soul of man. that which is far more important than the transitory world around us. the artists does
depict the pain and sorrows of the world. but these are seen as only ephemeral.

All of life is a dream, and by dream I don't mean an inertial state, but a kind of alternative reality if you
like.I think people have called it Maya, but I would prefer to call it Leela. Leela as a state of dynamic play.
And dynamic play of course, leaves open the possibility of creative effort. So I'd like to think that at the
core of Indian art are these three interconnected visions, the vision of self overcoming the vision of the
interconnectedness of all life, and the vision of life as a state of dynamic play. Art is one of those
discourses that points us in the direction of something beyond the here and now. I think, like religion, art
is a sort of visionary practice that that takes us away into alternative realities or gives us alternative
visions of our present reality.
The finest art.Takes us to a peaceful sanctuary of the spirit, far from the confusion and clamour of the
material world. The greatest art is a balm on the troubled brow of mankind.
Aesthetic feeling is one of the most sublime feelings that you can have.Because when you enjoy looking
at the thing, be it nature in nature or be it in art, you suddenly have a kind of a feeling within yourself
where you forget everything.I mean, there is some kind of a one point in attention to one thing and it
suddenly sort of a moves you to certain involuntary reactions.That is why many people are moved to
tears by a great work of art or a great piece of music.
Says that there are many motivations of creative writing but finally ends with the the immediate release
of your soul sadhya Parinduprithe. So ultimately it is Moksha. Some say it is like moksh, some say it is
moksh itself.
Art takes us to a moment of contact with eternal bliss.In that state of ecstasy one sees beauty in
everything, for this state is one of the realization of the divinity, which is in all of creation.The pain of life
is because of the veil of Maya, the veil of the illusion of the material world. The philosophy of India and
the art which embodies it, seeks to take us beyond so that we may be freed of the confusion, the turmoil
and the pain of the transitory world.
The inbuilt concrete is always how to celebrate the world, how to love nature or love each other, this
sort of a thing. And then art can sort of make the life more lovable, more beautiful or more interesting,
more, I mean, it can offer various ways of life enhancing works in this art.
The experience of art is seen as a great and joyous act of sharing, In the Indian tradition. there is an
inscription in a painted cave at Ajanta which says the joy of giving filled him so much that it left no
space.Or the feeling of pain.It is that sense of joy, of giving which is sought by the artist. It is this which
he wishes to share with us through the art that he creates.The viewer, too, is expected to prepare
himself to be a receptacle worthy of accepting the sublime experience the artist wishes to share with
him.The Chitra Sutra of the Vishnu Dhan Mothra Puran, the ancient treatise on painting, describes 9
Rasas, the essence of emotions.
But the principle Rasa is the Shanta Rasa, the Rasa of peace, the Rasa of tranquility, and the Rasa,Which
transcends the human situations and the discom features of the human situation.So in this Shanta Rasa,
the details that are depicted are all subjected are all made subordinate to 1 ruling team and this ruling
team, Is the dominant Pradhana rasa.This Pradhana rasa is Shanta.
Ultimate purpose of art you can say is Shanta Rasa and Shanta is likened with Moksha.
The painter in ancient India had such a complete mastery over his technical skills.That his work appears
effortless.We do not see him becoming stiff and too studied in depicting volume or detail.There is a
natural grace in his work which communicates instantly the truth of what he wishes to depict.
Artists, something that has to be presented to higher powers.This again is our concept in India.It is not
something that is to be in the market for sale.It is much more than that.And it is absolutely important
that having learned that the craft, the the technical Thing, having thought about it, having assimilated
Thing, you come to a stage where the thought process stops. It is not with intelligence that you
paint.Painting is done with a direct perception of things.It is done what we call in Hindi mansa
pratakshata.What is obvious to the mind but not to went like in the process of working, thinking slows
down and intuition takes over.It is as a believer, my firm conviction that there the higher powers only can
help.Without participation of divine forces, there's no great art.
Art was seen to be the deepest expression of man's devotion, and it was his offering to the Lord.For the
artist, his work was his dharm, the fulfillment of his duty in life.With such a sublime purpose of paintings,
the act of their creation became divine.The ancient treatise on painting guided the artist to approach his
work with an attitude of worship.He was to cleanse his mind and heart and instill in his work a joyous
sense of peace.
They dedicated themselves.They devoted themselves to this theme.So this was a sadhana.An art is a
sadhana.It is not merely A joyous enterprise.It's a spiritual enterprise.So he goes to it with a devout
heart, and his heart of devotion is the very spirit of Indian art, whether it be painting or sculpture.
Painting should be invested with a profound inner sentiment, a bow.It should be something akin to the
Pratishtan consecrated space, which as against the statues of Pram Pratishta which you know is in a
temple in a hole that the deity is put. And a religious authority women has to invest split into the
sculpture because this divine presence is important in our country in a painting. If there's not this
superior presence, it remains a technical work.
In Buddhist thought, the worshipper was to meditate on paintings and sculptures of divinities until he
absorbed their qualities.The task of the painter was to make his painting with deep devotion and
meditative care, to present the true aspects of the divinity.These were not mere paintings upon the walls
of the monasteries, but were the deities themselves.The ancient caves of Ajanta and others were painted
by guilds of artists.For the guilds their duty was to paint, and they knew no barriers of religion or
creed.The same artists painted Buddhist caves, Hindu temples and the walls of palaces.In these guilds,
the knowledge of painting, of life and of dharm was passed on from father to son through the
centuries.What does that mean?That there is a freedom.There is a kind of a.These are the rules of the
grammar.But you can always break the rules of the grammar and so on, and do so You do your own thing
and in a certain sense be the better for it.Grammar does not make style.So what these people are doing
is that they are internalizing.I think a great many of them knew what the rules were all about, but had
the ability and the freedom to go beyond them.So prescription as a broad guideline, like the structure of
our art for instance, and so on is there.But the genius of the artists, the abilities of the artists, really lie in
the fact that while, Using those and seeing those as broad guidelines, he is capable of departing,
subverting, going beyond leaping into another space.
The creation of a work of art was not limited to a picture or an image.It was a larger issue that related
itself to life and a spiritual realization of the larger issues of nature or the superhuman being of which
you were a part of and therefore you had this possibility to go through and realize.So that is the precise
reason why the work of art could afford to be anonymous.Because this question of an individualistic
aesthetics in the context of Me, my creation, my work never existed.It was a work of art, was a
realization for the larger benefit of mankind, rather than a personal achievement of sorts.
The painter in ancient India was anonymous.He did not write his name upon the paintings.He saw
himself as the inheritor of a great tradition of the collective understanding of the finest minds over all
the centuries before him.He accepted this great legacy with humility and reverence.His was not the
seeking of individual glory or the satisfaction of personal vanity.
But we have also to refer to the fact that a single aesthetic theory and a worldview permeates into the
Indian tradition in all the regions of India, right up to about the 16th or 17th century, before a
discontinuity takes place.And the place of the artist being not an individual who is doing his special thing
and his own thing, but the artist also being one amongst a very large tradition.And each time he is only
an interpreter, a vehicle of interpreting that which is bigger than him.Otherwise, if the artist did not
believe in this, why is it that each time the Indian artist is attracted to teams which have been reworked
and reworked.Ramayana, Mahabharata, This Jatakas, the Buddhist stories, Tantra and the Geeta Govind,
the Ragini's you will say very small core of content.And naturally some people have said that Indian art is
highly repetitive.Yes, it is a good criticism, but it is not repetitive.It is reinterpretative because it is the
same universal perennial which has been rearticulated, remade and the cosmos is made for that time
and duration.I find this very fascinating.
In the Indian vision, art is a great shared experience between the artist and the viewer.While the artist
creates his work with the deepest devotion, the viewer too must prepare himself to be a sensitive and
worthy receiver.The Art of India does not ask you to be knowledgeable of the technicalities of the
medium, to be able to appreciate its beauty and quality.Instead, there is the concept of the russick, a
receiver whose mind and heart are tuned to be ready and willing to accept the message of the artist.It is
believed in ancient Indian thought that the capacity to feel beauty, to taste Russ, cannot be acquired by
study.It is through a deep personal development that one acquires the capacity to experience the joy of
beauty.
That is what his bhakt says .__________, I am your slave without any payment.So you have to be slave of
yourself.You have to be slave of that moment of see.Well, I am also trying to say a few words.There are
moments that I am carried away.This happens every time, every minute that is motion.
And these moments of quiet, of withdrawal, moments of in a certain sense, removal from the world
outside for the moments in which these paintings begin truly to speak.
The process of art is seen as a fundamental and important experience in society.It is the expression and
sharing of the finest thoughts of mankind.The Indian vision in art accepts all the pain of life, yet always
sees a deep and true meaning in everything.A vision in which there is no despair, where beauty is sought
and found in every aspect of the world, Every being, every object is seen as a manifestation of the
universal.Every object is seen to be a celebration of all of creation.
The vital principle is not the preserve of humanity alone, but that plant life, animal life, human life and
various other forms of semi divine being.All of these are seen to be knit together really into one cosmic
organic unity. So on the one hand we have the quest for the attainment of the higher self which is then
seen to be not only not just the monopoly of the human being, which is where the Indic philosophy is
will be significantly different from the judeo-christian tradition.I think that possibility of self overcoming
is open to all orders of being.
This is the deep essence of truth which the art of India brings over the centuries.It is this eternal wisdom
which is yet again experienced and lived in the mind of the artist to be shared as a living experience with
the viewer.The soul of man is seen as always pining to be reunited with the Lord from where it came.The
artist paints the great harmony of the whole of creation, which is after all only a reflection of divine
glory.In the eternal dance of creation, the Lord and the soul which binds for him are only two aspects of
the same.The art of India is born out of a deep vision of life, a vision which sees the whole of creation as
one which sees every bird that flies in the sky, every single leaf that flutters in the breeze to be a part of
the divine. It is a vision of great compassion in which we transcend the limitations of ourselves to expand
and to see the divinity in the whole of creation.Art brings to us images of this eternal truth. It helps us to
experience the ecstasy of this realization of the harmony of the world.