The Aesthetics of Gujarat

The rich cultural heritage of India can no longer be preserved by mere academic speeches, involved spiritualism and rhetoric. Similarly, the defects of the present educational system should not be merely debated. The time has come when some of the younger generation are definitely searching for cultural values in the social and civic life of ancient India. They have begun to look to the past for its specific guidance for the present. Scholarly achievements can be assured only by systematic studies of ancient literature and history, in Sanskrit and the vernaculars, and of objects of art.

I believe that the vernaculars of the different provinces of India have been, practically, left unnoticed for the guidance I am suggesting. The ‘Rasa’ literature in Brija, a book like ‘Banglar Brita’ by Dr. Abanindranath Tagore in Bengali, and the manuscripts in Tamil and Telugu have been frequently referred to. But they have not been, it seems, practically examined and applied. If this is done, and some well-thought co-ordination is accomplished, it would be easy to prove the continuity of art traditions in the different provinces, and to mark their distinctions as well as their unity. For the influence on the different provinces of aesthetic conceptions taken from Sanskrit is natural. The influence would be considered as their unifying factor. At the same time the vernaculars suggest, as they should, provincial distinctions.

Both these elements could be observed in the Gujarati poets. I select those of the two important periods in Gujarati literature, for example, of the fourteenth to nearly the seventeenth century, and from the eighteenth to the nineteenth century. Poets Bhalan and Nakar of the earlier centuries, poets Premanand and Virji of the eighteenth century, and poet Dayaram of the nineteenth have, all of them, revealed in their poems the aesthetic inclinations and tendencies of Gujarat. All these poets have emphasised the importance of art and artists and art-craftsmen. Their presence on all important occasions, ceremonies and festivals was indispensable. The conference of reputed artists and craftsmen was a common feature of popular assemblies. Poet Giridhar, for example, says: ‘The king had called architects, carpenters, blacksmiths and painters from all corners of the world, to build his audience-hall, Sabha mandap.’

Poets Premanand, Virji, Nakar and poet Giridhar have referred to the architecture of the ‘Mandap’ in their verses. Poet Premanand says: ‘There were hundreds of rooms arranged opposite each other, and between them there were long-covered passages together with big courtyards and doors opening on the streets.’ Poet Nakar, is, it seems, inclined to note the decorations also. In describing the court festival, the poet narrates that the whole city was decorated with the jewelled ‘toranas’ (festoons) over the doors, green leaves and plantain stems for brackets and pillars. Poets Giridhar and Virji mention the construction of ‘jalis’ (niches), steps, brackets, pillars and roofs suggestive of old architecture. The important thing is to know that they have also spoken of their utility. For they say that the arrangement of ‘jalis’ and ‘chhajas’ exercises a cooling effect on the eye. Poet Giridhar mentions specifically the following varieties of ‘mandap’, namely, ‘Raja mandap’ ‘Sabha mandap’ and ‘Ranga mandap’.

Poet Giridhar describes also mural paintings and decorative designs on the walls, ceiling, pillars and roofs. He says: ‘On the walls and on the ceilings of the mandap were painted images of gods and goddesses and the ten incarnations, the portraits of all the ruling kings as well as the ‘navagraha’– the planetary and solar system–like the corridor paintings at Ajanta. The roofs of the mandap were pained, he says, in some coloured floral and decorative figure designs. Further, the poet observes that the paintings on the niches, pillars and doors were as bright as real jewels.

Poet Giridhar has, it would appear, a more critical perception for art. He emphasises, moreover, the existence of art in the home. It would be out of place here to quote lengthy descriptions. But they are worth careful study. I shall cite some of them. In one of his descriptions of the art-crafts he says that Kamavati, a character in his poems, had embroidered in ‘kasida’ stitches one big rug or carpet in eighty-four patterns with eighty-four varieties of colour. The design of its border was chiefly composed of creepers and flowers. Its medallion contained patterns of figures in different poses. For high craftsmanship the poet says that its charming colour combinations, various designs and neat and well-arranged stitches of the carpet surprised the spectators. They mistook, he says, the carpet for a real painting.

It should be observed that these poets were preoccupied with colour. Poet Premanand, for instance, remarks that the pillars of the ‘mandap’ were covered with various richly coloured black, yellow and white cloth like, he adds, the ‘saries’ of the South. He also suggests the neceessity for colour harmony in architecture. He speaks of the light green of the steps, the threshold and doors in red, white walls decorated with gold arabesque, and the decorative peacocks, blue and green, on the lintel of the doors.

On auspicious occasions and ceremonies like the marriage and thread ceremonies, and the anointing ceremony in the worship of Krishna, the poets describe the colours of dresses and ‘saries’ of women. They discuss the black ‘kanchuki’ with saffron tassels, red and green ‘saries’ with golden stripes, and saffron bodices. For the ‘Holi’ festival, generally, pinkish and yellowish ‘saries’ were used. ‘Red chundadies’ were particularly worn for ‘subhsakun’ as an auspicious token.

Similariy, the different kinds of ornaments were, poet Dayaram says, worn for different occasions. Generally, the poet says that rich jewelled bangles, jewelled earrings, nose-rings, and necklaces of diamonds were used by the rich-women for marriage ceremonies. On the occasion of ordinary festivals they used to put on ornaments of gold. In describing the Krishna and Gopi dance he refers to ornaments like ‘zanzer’ (bells) on the feet, ‘katimekhla’ (girdle) with tiny ‘ghughries’, ‘vank’, ‘makut’ and ‘mal’. Further, these poets suggest that along with diamonds and rubies, other rich glass pieces in blue, green or saffron colours were set in the bangles or necklaces, as a variety and as a colour harmony for the gold.

From these extracts we can visualise the artistic environment of Gujarat, the environment which instinctively set the standard for the poems. The art crafts in the home, the high culture of women, their sense for colour, for the beauty of nature, sense of form, the legitimate place of art and artists in the houses alike of the rich and the poor, in the folk and court festivals, are all suggestive of a live art environment. They lived the cultural life of India; they were in an environment directly alive with art. Art was neither a subject for academic dogmas, for intellectual display and ostentation, nor the distinctive monopoly of a class or caste.