Oct

Will anybody throw a beautiful harp out on the street

The previous post on the chola bronze in the Singapore museum, evinced lot of interest. Lots of freinds were eager to know about how the statue got there etc. Its true that most Museums around the globe have chola bronzes in their collections. Its a tribute to the master craftsmen for their endurance and also to many devoted people who helped to hide, bury these beauties deep into the ground ( there is a prescribed manner how this is to be done, during bad times)

Lots of times, these masterpieces take the wrong routes ending up in private collections and exhibits, the most famous one being the London Natraja case, where Dr. Nagaswamy expertly argued the case, stunning the world with his knowledge of chola bronzes and ensuring that the statue returned to home soil

Bio Data of Dr. Nagaswamy with the London Nataraja case:

OK, all that is fine, but what are we doing to the many splendid works of art that languish in India. Many are in dark cellars inside our museums, as hardly anyone visits them anymore, except the tourist and one off school educational tours. Much less can be said about them in their original residences. These are from xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx temple , pictures from Sri. Chandra of REACH Foundation:

The great poet Bharathi, immortalised by his divine compositions wrote thus…

O! Sivasakthi, the supreme creator of the Universe
You made me with sharp intellect and charm
But then, will you keep me in helpless poverty?
Will anybody throw a beautiful harp out on the street?

( tks to Dr Kannan of Min tamil for the extempore translation)

How true !!

Two amazingly beautiful 13th C chola bronzes, an impeccable Nataraja - who is all movement, grace - for he is Lord of destruction, but does it warrant keeping him amidst all this filth. The next is a sublime Shiva, if the previous form was all fluid motion, this is calm benevolence. Both left to contemplate on their plight on the ground, with white ants for company.

Do we realise our rich heritage?
( Sadly, the location xxxxxxxxxxxx out for safety reasons)

Fatal Attraction - for whom ( A guest post) ?

My friend Mr. Palaniappan Vairam, is a true gem. The right words to describe his work would be unique, being without a like or equal,unusual. I chanced on his initial posts by accident and we chatted up and thus began our almost daily interaction. One look at the subject of his blog is enough to convince you as to why i choose the above lines to describe him and his work - on Tamil Sangam works.

Vairam’s Karka nirka blog

This is not a guest post in the correct sense, for he has already posted this in his blog. But since this style suited mine, i kind of high jacked the post and arm twisted him - for how else do you showcase a key event in Ramayan, sung so beautifully by the king of tamil poetry to be so aptly sculpted in far off Parambanan ( Jog Jakarta - Indonesia) - there are many more lovely Ramayan sculptures in parambanan, which we will see in subsequent posts. Over to Vairam

I choose just a single stanza of Kamban’s Ramavatharam today:

The stags and all the other deer who saw it
came toward it with desire as great as the ocean,
like all those who fall to whores without love,
skilled at elaborately deceiving heart.

Poet: Kamban

Translated by George L. Hart and Hank Heifetz

The Situation:

Marichan, an uncle of Ravana is disguised as a golden deer to woo Rama and Lakshmana out of the way, so that Ravana can capture Sita. So Marichan takes a form of a golden deer.

The Beautiful Simile:

When the golden deer appears, all the stags and other deers around it just flock towards the golden deer with great desire/lust /passion. He employs a brilliant simile here to describe the situation. Men in old times used to visit courtesans who were well versed in all arts. They knew how to satisfy a mans need. The men usually think these women really love them and pour their wealth on them. From the courtesans perspective, they just use their art to deceive the man and earn the riches. Kamban gives this simile to make us understand that the golden deer was too beautiful to believe, a beauty that will attract every one who sees it without any doubt and yet it was deceptive beauty. When some thing seems to be too good , surely something must be suspicious about it, eg. share market, when shares sky rocket in their value suddenly there comes a jolt of a market scandal. But most
people fall for the too good to resist offer. Kamban gives you this stanza to point out that even great mind of Rama had fallen for ‘the too good to resist’.

And some thing in the style of my good friend Mr.Vijay Kumar, a sculpture from Prambanan, Java , to end my post today. Such a loively depiction of the Rama chasing the deer, letting fly his arrow and in his dying moments Maareecha gaining his true demonic form.

dont follow the ‘too good to resist’!

Vairam
(source:http://www.mountainelm.com/in-rama1.JPG)

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Poetry In Stone

Will anybody throw a beautiful harp out on the street

Fatal Attraction - for whom ( A guest post) ?

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