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Indian
Arts – Exaggeration or Collective Wisdom
by Ram S. Sriram
August 28, 2009
Several years ago, I visited the
Madurai Meenakshi temple along with an American
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Guest Column
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friend of mine. My friend was fascinated
by the beautiful sculptures adorning the temple walls. At one point, he
turned to me and with a smile on his face, commented, “Ram; I am
impressed by the form and beauty depicted by the sculptor in the
sculptures of Gods and Goddesses. But, I must say that the sculptures
look exaggerated to me; how come I never see real people like these?
His observation is partly true.
Indian arts, particularly those set in religious contexts, could appear
exaggerated and even unreal. While artists in every culture embellish
reality in their creations, in the Indian culture, this concept is
carried to a higher level. In India, the aim of artists is to transcend
their individual consciousness.
The art is only an excuse to
portray, through an artist’s intuition and imagination, wordless
interpretation of the philosophies behind human existence - the wisdom
and experiences that were passed down to us over thousands of years (Hinduism,
David Kinsley). A sculpture or painting should stir and feed the
unconscious in the minds of the viewers; the physical depiction is only
incidental to this greater objective. We find at least two examples of
art conveying eloquent and wordless messages of wisdom: in Hindu temple
architectures and in the motifs of the cosmic dance of Shiva.
Most cultures consider a circle as
a perfect shape of nature, with no beginning or end and no unnecessary
contours (Hinduism, David Kinsley). And yet, most Hindu temple
architectures follow a square pattern, with each square prahara
(enclosed walkways) set within a larger prahara. While it does
include circular structures, they are usually embedded within a larger
square prahara. Why does a Hindu temple architect choose a square
shape instead of a perfect circle? Because a circle is a perfect form that
occurs naturally, there is nothing much to add to it (Hinduism,
David Kinsley).
A square, on the contrary, is a
refinement of nature - a circle manipulated to create perfect space. A
square evolves only when the lines are rearranged and only when each line
fits with the other in perfect symmetry.
A square is, in essence, a metaphor
for the evolution of a human – a human who has reordered his/her thoughts
and deeds to achieve perfection or emancipation. According to Hindu
philosophies, the evolution of a human is subject to discarding certain gunas
or qualities (e.g. tamasa or ignorance and rajasa or
passionate desire for materials things), while acquiring other gunas
or qualities (e.g. satva or purity of thought and actions). When an
individual manages to discard all the negative gunas and when
there is no more to discard, an individual attains liberation or
emancipation.
The Hindu temple architectures
symbolize this process of human evolution. Each square prahara
that surrounds a temple is a symbol of the qualities one should give up.
An individual enters a temple through the largest outer prahara
and as he advances into the interior of the temple, the praharas
get smaller and smaller. Eventually, the individual reaches the sanctum-sanctorum
of the temple and there is no more praharas to cross. Similarly,
as an individual gives up each negative guna, the individual has
fewer negative gunas to give up in future; eventually, the
individual reaches the sanctum-sanctorum of perfection.
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The Cosmic Dance of Shiva
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Another example of art as a
messenger of wisdom can be found in the depiction of the comic dance of
Shiva or Nataraja (Chidambaram Temple). In the cosmic dance, Shiva
appears with four hands; his hair is braided and bejeweled. He is wearing
a female earring in one ear and a male earring in the other. In one of
his right hands, he carries a two-headed hour-glass shaped drum. Another
right hand is held in a sign of blessing. With his left hand, he points
at the dwarf-figure, Muyalaka on whom he is dancing. In his second left
hand, he carries an urn filled with fire. He is surrounded by a circle of
bright fire and one of his right hands and one of his left hands are
touching the circle of fire.
At first sight, the description of
Shiva’s cosmic dance image appears to be the product of an artist’s wild
imagination. But Hindu scholars interpret the cosmic dance not just as an
expression of Shiva’s anger, but as a collective representation of the
objectives of life (“The Dance of Shiva”, Author: Anand
Coomaraswamy). Through the cosmic dance design, the artist is depicting a
world that should be value-driven.
The flailing arms, the flying hair,
and the speed of the dance, convey a feeling of energy, energy required
to create a livable world and energy required for its evolution. The
hour-glass drum in Shiva’s right hand represents sound, a symbol of
communication. The fire in his hand represents the power needed to both
create and destroy. Together, the drum and the fire signify creation of
knowledge and destruction of ignorance. The right hand, in a state of
blessing, indicates the need for preserving peace in the world. The dwarfish
Muyalaka (also known as Apasmara Purusha or the lazy demon) represents tamasa
gunas or poor qualities; the qualities that cause misery in the world
and that must be discarded.
Through a symbolic destruction of
Muyalaka, Shiva is urging each of us to destroy our low qualities and
strive towards higher values. The bright circle of fire that surrounds
Shiva represents wisdom and truth. When one shines light, darkness
(ignorance) fades away and what is hidden (knowledge) is revealed. The
male and female earrings on each ear represent not only equality of men
and women but also that both attributes are required to create a better
world.
What I told my friend as he gazed
at the temple walls was that the primary objective of Indian art is not
realism but symbolism. To an artist, art should not just be a depiction
of nature as it appears; instead, it should be a vehicle for
communicating the collective wisdom of an ageless, multi-faceted, and
infinitely complex Hindu culture. We can never really explain Indian art
subjectively. When we rationalize intuition or wisdom, we ignore the
depth of its message.
     
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