Alienation and Reunion of the Characters of the Ramayana

Abstract

The most striking quality about Indian art, be it sculpture, drama or story-telling, is the way in which the onlooker can become involved for purely aesthetic reasons. The form and texture of a sculpture may be amazingly pleasing even if isolated in a museum, or a dance-drama may seem so true to life and human nature, as well as rhythmic and colourful, that one becomes absorbed quite before one is conscious at all of what it is all about. I myself came to India because I was trained in art, and had become interested in the art of India in particular. To deepen my study I began to do stone carvings myself, using the ancient themes, for example "Ranganathan" (Vishnu asleep on Ananta Seshaj "Varaha and the Bhudevi" (Vishnu rescuing the earth-goddess) and "Hanuman" (the monkey-god who rescued Sita), Stone being such a slow medium, and giving plenty of time for thought, I soon discovered that I was not dealing here with things which were beautiful for beauty's sake alone. For a Hindu it would doubtless be obvious that all the temple images were symbols of a particular religious worldview. To one trained in a predominantly Western style of art this religious dimension could come as quite a surprise. However, once this aspect of Indian art is understood and appreciated then whole areas seemed to open up. Ananda Vardhana, the great exponent of the quality called "Dhvani'' in art, has used a simile which illustrates this quality which he sees as essential to art. In a dark room there are two objects, a lamp and a water pot. They are quite distinct. Only, however if the lamp is lit, can the water pot be seen and appre- ciated. One of the various points that he tries to convey in this illustration is that without dhvani or that unseen grace which is in art one cannot become aware of certain life experiences, even though the art may not be specifically about these things, yet it may have this illuminating power.