Fine Arts - Their Refinement on Man

FINE ARTS – THEIR REFINEMENT ON MAN
Dr. Raparla Janardana Rao
The common strand that runs through all fine arts is refinement. It is the refinement of the existing forms. And refinement involves evolution. It is the refinement of word, voice, human gesture, caricature or a graffiti, or even a stone. It is a perennial human endeavour with the man’s stupendous energy and devotion towards his work. While refining the outer forms, man himself gets refined, in its ultimate analysis. Man in all his actions and aptitudes either on an individual or social basis, carries the impact of fine arts on himself. He is not what he was yesterday, after an inter action with anyone of the fine arts in a serious way.             A mere granite stone, is hewed into an icon. These exquisite pieces of craft form the sculpture. The awesome Buddha statues in Khandahar style, the carvings in Ellora, Badami, and Humpi reveal, man’s colossal endeavour to attain immortality, defying the ravages of flux of time. They are but “sermons in stones”. Wonder, how man has turned his own voice into melodious music soothing to the human hearts. The primitive man blowing air into a bamboo rail with holes, produced sounds, and made the flute. And this musical instrument mothered several other wind and stringed instruments. Man began to exercise his own vocal cards producing varied nuances, giving vent to his feelings of joy, agony, wonder, or devotion through the modulations. And thus music has come about, as a universal language, transcending national, regional or sectarian barriers. Pandit Ravi Sankar, Lata Mangeshkar, M.S.Subbalaxmi, Pdt.Bhimsen Joshi, Pdt Jasraj, Begum Parveen Sultana, Bala Murali Krishna and a host have become the cultural ambassadors of our nation. And a Mehdi Hasan, Ricky Martin, Madonna, Eminen or Presley though aliens, are admired in India. A “fusion music” is on its way, with L. Subramanyam playing the lead role. Thus music has turned man global in outlook.

Coming to the word, written and spoken, man has refined them into forms of literature and rhetoric. The stupendous energy and the vast canvases exhibited by the epic writers of yore, amaze man for ever. Maharshi Valmiki of Ramayana, Veda Vyas of Mahabharata, the ‘Pancha Kavyas’ in Sanskrit, the Greek Poet Homer of Iliad and Odyssey, the Roman poet Virgil of Aencid, Aeschylus of Greek tragedies, Shakespeare, Milton with their prodigious works, German dramatist Goethe of Faustus, Dante of Divine Comedy, Cervantes of Don Quixote, and Count Leo Tolstoy of Anna Karenina – all surprise us for their identification of varied human emotions and their inter play, bringing a cathartic or purging effect on the crudities of  man.

Thus we find characters, of Sri Rama and Ravana, Krishna Arjuna and Duryodhana, Vlysses with his prowess, Beatrice leading her lover, Anna Karenina, with her unhappy marriage, jostle for our attention, either for emulation or rejection.

Coming to the spoken word, Greeks protecting their rights of the city states, developed oration into a fine art, known as rhetoric. And Plato avers that “Rhetoric is the art of ruling the minds of men”. And Shakespeare through one of his characters warns us “mind your speech a little, lest it should mar your fortunes”.

In this context, let me elaborate a little, on the importance of rhetoric, citing some instances that changed the very course of world’s history. The words of Jesus Christ “Blessed are the poor in spirit” which have come to be known as ‘Sermon on the Mount’ gave birth to Christianity. And the German theologian Martin Luther, stood accused in Diet of Worms as heretic, before the Roman King Charles V for nailing 96 theses. These included the catholic practice of sale of indulgences. And his fearless words “Here I stand, I can do not other” marked the beginnings of protestantism. And Abraham Lincoln’s ‘prepositional usage’ at Gettysburg cemetery became the most quoted saying of the world. And Winston Churchill’s words, boosting the sagging morale, of the British during the Second World War, "I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat”. And again in his words “We’ll fight on the beaches, in the streets, in the restaurants, but we’ll not surrender”, electrified his nation. Martin Luther King, after his Long March with the black, to Lincoln’s Memorial saying “I have a dream “ brought racial amity in the U.S. in a non violent Gandhian way.  And in the recent past, Nelson Mandela’s words indicating his long struggle against apartheid “We’ll walk the extra mile” have become memorable. And the history of rhetoric cannot be complete, as a purposeful fine art, without a reference, to the Father of our Nation, known for his economy in expression. While we have ‘Panchakshari Mantra’ and ‘Ashtaaks Mantra’ Gandhiji gave us “Dwaiakshari Mantra” of two words “Quit India” or “Karo ya maro” in August 1942. These two words hypnotised our nation to throw asunder the long foreign colonial yoke. Again his ascetic life is symbolised in his amazingly cryptic expression, “The more I want, the less I am”.

Coming to painting, it is a marvel to find man evolving it, into a fine expression of human feelings through the creation of elegant forms. From a mere graffiti of cave man with his bulls and man’s hunting on the walls of the Caves we find later the Buddhist monks, in their sublimated sex bringing perennial beauty to the feminine form in Ajanata frescoes. “The Last Super” and “Mona Lisa” by Leonard DA Vinci, “The Guernica”, a painting in cubism by Pablo Picasso, depicting the destruction of bombing in Spanish Civil War, Nicholas Roerich’s paintings of Himalayas bringing out their serenity, Raja Ravi Varma’s forms of body beauty, Ravindranath Tagore’s Surrealisitic Nandalal Lal Bose’s live works of Mahatmaji all have brought refinement to man’s conceptual thinking.

Coming to architectural beauties, the marble marvel Taj Mahal, the copper marvel giant sized Statue of Liberty at New York harbor, the iron marvel of Eiffel Tower in Paris, the leaning marvel of Tower of Pica in Italy, and the statue of Labourers at Marina Beach by Devi Prasah Roy Chowdary make man spell bound and make him understand the immense creative power of man.

Coming to dance, man has turned his nearest instrument his body, into a faculty of dance. With the graceful gestures of his own hands, legs, and eyes, he conveys his varied emotions. No one could remain the same after watching the dance performances of late Pandit Uday Sankar with his wife partner Amala Sankar portraying the ‘Tandava’ of Kartikeya. And watching the Russian dancer, Pavlov, in her ‘Dying Swan’ sequence remains a thrill for ever.

Here let me point out that fine arts need not always speel gorgeous images to us. Even a poor man’s hut with a few flower plants around, looks elegant. Sometimes a simple detail beings a majestic touch to the object of beauty.

Observe the picture of Gandhiji, with tonsured head and a long fabric of shawl with folds covering his shoulders, standing on the foot steps of Buckingham Palace. He looked more majestic in his simplicity, than his Royal host. A Jawaharlal Nehru, without his Nehru Cap, is unimaginable. And the Netaji of Azad Hind Fouz, with his salute, excels any other General of the world in his dignity. And see, how the turban of Swami Vivekananda rests on his head, more majestic than any royality.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 
Fine Arts have certainly refined man in several of his ways. They have made him humbler and global in his outlook. They have expanded man’s concepts as said by Swami Vivekananda “All expansion is life, and all contraction is death”. And fine arts have added to man’s life what, Mathew Arnold calls “Sweetness and Light”.
In short Fine Arts may be termed as the “True saviours of Mankind”

–        Courtesy-AIR Vijayawada