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The Ramayana and the Manainli^fô

TWO GREAT EPICS OF ASIA

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TREASURES

OF

WORLD ART©

Ravana shaking Mt. Kailasa

Numerous episodes from the Indian epic, the Ramayana, are carved ¡n relief on the

walls of the great 8th-century temple, cut from the solid rock at Ellorà, near Bombay.This relief, one of the most dramatic and monumental, depicts the episode in whichRavana, the demon-king, attempts to shake and uproot the sacred mountain Kailasa

(after which the temple is named) on which the god Shiva and the goddess Parvatiare seated. Here, imprisoned within Mt. Kailasa, Ravana strains his many arms in a

superhuman effort while Shiva with a single foot steadies the trembling mountain.

Í 1

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CourierDECEMBER 196720TH YEAR

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12 pages in full colour

THE MAHABHARATA - THE RAMAYANA

Two great epics of India and South Asia

By Arthur L. Basham

THE MARRIAGE OF DRAUPADI

An episode from the Mahabharata

THE COLLECTIVE DREAM OF A CONTINENT

By Anil de Si/va

HANUMAN, LEADER OF THE MONKEYS

THE EPICS IN THE ART OF SOUTH ASIA

Poems in stone, tales in miniature

By B.N. Goswamy

THE EXILE OF RAMA

A poem from the Ramayana as told by Kamban

MOVING TRAGEDIES IN STONE

Carved by Khmer artists of Cambodia

SHADOWS AND LIGHT ON THE RAMAYANA

Behind the screens in Cambodia's shadow theatre

KATHAKALI AND THE DANCE-DRAMA OF INDIA

By C. Kunchu Nah

INDIA'S ANCIENT HEROES ON CELLULOID

By Bhagwan D. Garga

FURTHER READING ON THE RAMAYANA

AND THE MAHABHARATA

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

TREASURES OF WORLD ART

Ravana shaking Mt. Kailasa (India)

Photo © Rapho-Brihat. Paris Coyer photo

Dusserah is the name of the popularIndian festival held in September-Oct¬ober each year symbolizing the triumphof good over evil. The culmination ofnine nights of celebrations, it is linkedwith the story of the Ramanaya and innorthern India the festivities end with

the portrayal of Rama's victory overRavana the demon-king. Here a colos¬sal paste-board effigy of ten-headedRavana bursts into flames after fieryarrows shot by Rama set off crackerspacked inside (See also P. 15). Insouthern India, Ravana is less a villain

than a tragic figure and a victim of hisill-fated passion.

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Two great epics of India and South Asia

THE MAHABHARATA

AND THE RAMAYANAby Arthur L. Basham

T

4

HE religious and culturallife of the whole of the Indian sub¬

continent and much of the rest of Asia

has been deeply influenced by the twogreat epic poems of Hinduism, theMahabharata (pronounced Ma-ha-bah-ra-ta, accent on "bah") and theRamayana (pronounced Rah-my-ana,accent on "my"). Putting aside allquestion of their merits as literature,which by any standard are very high,they are among the most importantpoems in the world.

Of the two the Mahabharata is in

essence the older, its nuclear storyhaving been transmitted from theshadowy period following the compo¬sition of the Rig Veda, the oldest liter¬ature of India. A few of the names

of rulers, sages and priests mentionedin the Mahabharata also occur in

sources of the later Vedic period, andthe story of the epic may have devel¬oped around traditions of a greatbattle which took place about 900 B.C.

But with the passing centuries theaccount was so enlarged and develop¬ed by the introduction of new charac¬ters and incidents that its historicalkernel cannot now be established.

There is even some reason to believe

that the divine hero Krishna, who

plays such an important role in thestory as we now have it, was graftedinto the poem, and had no part in theoriginal martial tradition out of whichit developed. From references in otherSanskrit texts, it seems that the story,in a form not very different from thatwhich we now know, was current in

northern India a century or two beforeour era and perhaps as early as400 B.C.

ARTHUR L. BASHAM is professor of AsianCivilization at the Australian National Uni¬

versity, Canberra. He formerly taught atLondon University where he was lecturer inHistory of India and later professor ofthe History of South Asia. This year hehas been visiting professor at the SouthAsia Regional Studies Graduate School,University of Pennsylvania. ProfessorBasham has written widely on Indian historyand civilization: "The Wonder that was

India" (Sidgwick and Jackson, London,1954); "Studies in Indian History andCulture" (Samboohi Publications, Calcutta,1964) and "Aspects of Ancient IndianCulture" (Asia Publishing House, Bombay,1966).

The plot of the Mahabharata is acomplicated one. Like the Greekstories of the Trojan war out of whichemerged the Iliad, and like the cycleof Germanic myth and legend whichcrystalized into the Nibelungenlied, theIndian epic tells of a bitter quarrelwhich developed into a war of exter¬mination. The five sons of Pandu are

unjustly deprived of their ancestralkingdom by their wicked cousins, theKauravas, and they regain it after atremendous battle in which all their

enemies and most of their friends are

slain. .

Echoes of a heroic age are heardthroughout the narrative portions ofthe epic, and the martial values ofbravery, loyalty and truthfulness aremuch encouraged. Heroes and villainsalike never refuse challenges, whetherto battle, to contests of skill, or togames of chance, and few major char¬acters are guilty of serious cowardice.The atmosphere of the main narrativeis that of a society just emerging fromtribalism, in which personal loyalty toone's chief and fellow clansmen is still

very strongly emphasized.

But the Mahabharata as we have it

contains more than the poetic accountof a legendary war. It is replete withinterpolations of all kinds, which wereobviously introduced long after themain narrative was composed.

The longest of these Is the SantiParvan, the twelfth of the 18 sections

or books into which the epic is divided,and by no means the shortest of them.Here the slow death of the wounded

Bhishma, the elder statesman of the

Kauravas, is made the pretext for along series of didactic passages onmany aspects of polity, ethics andreligion.

Similarly Yudhishthira, the eldest ofthe five heroes, is a passionate butinexpert gambler, and it is as a resultof his vice that he and his brothers

are forced into exile. This gives thecue for the introduction of the lengthytale of king Nala, another addictedgambler of even older days who losthis wife and kingdom through dicing,but regained them at last after manyadventures.

This interpolation, in fluent easyverse, often forms the student's firstintroduction to Sanskrit literature in

the original. From its style and contentit appears to be at least as old as themain narrative of the epic, and looksback to the days of small semi-tribalkingdoms before the time of the Buddha.

Undoubtedly the most important. interpolation of the Mahabharata is the

Bhagavad-Gita, the long religiouspoem which has become the mostinfluential text of modern Hinduism. Of

all works of Sanskrit literature it is

probably the most widely known out¬side India, and ¡t has been translated

into many languages and read bymillions who know nothing else of theepic poem which contains it.'

A pretext for its inclusion is provid¬ed, just before the commencement ofthe great battle, by the misgivings ofArjuna, the second of the five heroes,at the thought of fighting his ownkinsfolk and friends. His mentor

Krishna strengthens Arjuna's resolu¬tion with this long religious poem,itself possibly a conflation of versesfrom more than one source, andreveals himself as the great GodVishnu incarnate.

Shorter interpolations are numerous,and include the well known and beau¬

tiful legend of the faithful wife Savitri,who saves her husband from the clut¬

ches of the god of death, the story ofRama, a brief summary of the othergreat Hindu epic, and that of Shakun-tala, in a version significantly differentfrom the plot of Kalidasa's famousdrama.

These many episodes, both narrativeand didactic, seem to have been

incorporated into the text of the Maha¬bharata by various editors in thecourse of the five centuries between

the Maurya and Gupta empires, fromabout 200 B.C. to A.D. 300. By aboutA.D. 500 the full epic existed in some¬thing like its present form.

A terminal date may be establishedfrom the lists of tribes and peopleswhich occur here and there in the text.

Such lists* include the Hunas (theHephthalites or White Huns), whocould hardly have been known to theIndians until about A.D. 400, whenthey had established themselves inBactria, but they do not include otherpeoples such as the Gurjaras, whofirst appear on the scene in the sixthcentury.

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Photo © Rapho, Louis-Frédéric, ParisSculptured on the great rock-hewn temple of Kailasanath, at Ellorà, near Bombay, this friezeportrays episodes from one of the world's most ancient epic poems, the Mahabharata.When this bas-relief with its innumerable figures of men and animals was carvednearly 12 centuries ago, the stories and characters it depicted had already been well-knownto the peoples of northern India for a thousand years.

But, even ' after the closing of thecanon of the text, manuscripts weresubjected to many minor emendationsand interpolations, and three maintextual traditions of the Mahabharata

have been traced. Now the splendidedition of the Bhandarkar Oriental

Research Institute of Poona, which has

just been completed after the labourof many scholars for over forty years,has provided an established text ofthe epic, as it existed at the end ofthe Gupta period.

Thanks to the great expansion whichit has undergone the Mahabharata issomething much more than a narrativeepic, though it is quite possible toextract the narrative from the many

interpolations and present it as aheroic poem.

The largest single poem in theworld, containing nearly 100,000 coup¬lets or stanzas of two verses each,or about seven times the size of the

Iliad and Odyssey combined, it hasaptly been described as an ency¬clopaedia of early Hinduism. It treatsof almost every aspect of the religious,political and social life of the India ofthe time, viewed chiefly from the angleof the orthodox brahmin. It contains

much didactic material out of which

developed the Dharmasastras, or legaltexts, and the Puranas, the longpoems on myth, legend and religiouspractice which were compiled from the

Gupta period onwards. Thus, eventhough no faith can be placed on thehistoricity of its story, it is of theutmost importance to the historian.

The plethora of didactic interpola¬tions, which have expanded the poemto so unwieldy a length, have some¬what reduced its popularity. The mainstory is widely known among ordinaryHindus, however, and later authors

have written poems, dramas and prosestories around many of its episodes,in both Sanskrit and the modern lan-

guagos of India.

Abridged versions of the Mahabha¬rata, omitting many of the interpola¬tions, exist in most languages of India

CONTINUED ON PAGE S

5

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6

MINIATURES

ON FILM

AND CANVAS

The Ramayana and the Mahabharata have been

subjects of Indian feature films for many years (see

article page 43). Left, a scene from "Sandesh," a newGovt, of India cartoon film produced by J. Bhownagary

to help India's Save the Food campaign, usingtraditional material from the Mahabharata for a

contemporary purpose. Draupadi, left, has no foodto offer except a grain on an empty plate.

Krishna replies that even one grain is important. Theimages are the work of a young, gifted painter,

R.K. Malwankar. He is known for his lovely

miniatures using the thumb and fingerprint technique.

The artist has successfully caught the beauty andatmosphere of 18th-century art in northern India, an

example of which is shown on right.

A miniature dating from 1765, it depictsan episode from the Ramayana.

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FAR INTO

THE NIGHT

WITH INDIA'S

TROUBADORS

In India, where oral andvisual tradition has

been a means of

transmitting knowledge forcenturies, the Ramayanaand the Mahabharata are

an enduring and inherentpart of popular culture.They have found theirway into every languageand dialect of India and

South "Asia, where even

poor and isolated villageshave puppet shows,dramas or plays basedon the epics (see pages29 and 36). Everywherein Indian villages andtowns people love to sit ina circle and listen far

into the night to therecitations and songs ofthese poems. Manythousands of peopledevote a set periodeach day to reading theRamayana or Gita aloud,starting again at thebeginning as soon asthe end is reached sincethese works have almost

the sanctity of the Bibleamong Christians.Left and opposite,

wandering minstrels singthe story of theRamayana to audiences inCalcutta's open-air meetingground, the Maldan.Popular paintings nearmusician's hand depictRama and his wife Sita.

Photos © Georges Tcherkine, Paris

Photo © National Museum, New Delhi

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Page 8: mahabharata with pictures

TWO GREAT EPICS (Continued from page 5)

Mahabharata, world's longest poem verses

and Southeast Asia, and the story ofthe five heroes, much adapted to localtaste and tradition, is still popular inthe wayang, the shadow theatre ofIndonesia.

Few but Hindu pandits and seriousstudents, however, have read the

whole Mahabharata from beginning toend, even in translation, and in theform in which we have it it can never

become a "popular classic." But inIndia it has long served as a mine ofmaterial for later authors, and it

remains so to this day.

The second of the great epics, theRamayana, differs from the Mahabha¬rata both in theme and in character.

It tells of the righteous prince Rama,who is unjustly exiled by his father,Dasaratha, king of Ayodhya. Accom¬panied by his beauh'ful wife Sita andhis loyal younger brother Lakshmanahe takes refuge in the wild forests ofcentral and southern India (see "TheExile of Rama", page 30), where thethree have many adventures, the mostexciting of which is the capture of Sita

by Ravana, the demon king of Ceylon,and her ultimate rescue by the bro¬thers, helped by an army of monkeys.

At last Rama regains his ancestralkingdom, but the end of the story isnot altogether happy, since in orderto satisfy public opinion Rama is com¬pelled to put away Sita, who has losther ritual purity residing in the houseof another man, though in captivityshe was perfectly chaste and loyalto her husband.

The Ramayana is an account of themarvellous adventures of an almost

supernatural hero, embroidered withwonders of every kind, and written informal courtly language. For a Euro¬pean parallel we should look not tothe Iliad or even to the Aeneid, but tosuch works as Wolfram's Parzifal or

perhaps Ariosto's Orlando Furioso.

The marvellous and supernaturalelements are intensified in the first

and last books, where Rama, the heroof the poem, is revealed as an Incar¬nation of the great God Vishnu, who

took human form in order to save the

world from the molestations of demons.

Hence, Rama is worshipped as a godto this day, and the Ramayana islooked on as a sacred text.

The epic has many passages ofdrama and pathos, and shows consid¬erable psychological insight. It incul¬cates the virtues of courage, loyalty,faith, forgiveness and fellowship.

The Ramayana does not containvery lengthy interpolations, and instyle and content it gives a muchgreater sense of unity than does theMahabharata. Moreover, its length isless than a quarter of that of the otherepic. The composition is more literaryin character, and many similes andmetaphors suggest classical courtlySanskrit poetry of the kind written byKalidasa. Lengthy descriptive passa¬ges punctuate the narrative, and theseinclude beautiful word-pictures of theseasons of the Indian year, such asbecame formal and regular featuresof the later Sanskrit kavya or courtlyepic.

8

The marriage of DraupadiThe text below is taken from a children's book published in India in 1965 (1) whichretells a number of stories selected from the Indian classics. This tale, "DraupadiSwayamwara", relates an episode from the Mahabharata: a contest of skill betweenthe Pandava and the Kaurava clans for the hand of the Princess Draupadi.

Text (c) copyright - Reproduction prohibited

T he Pandavas were living in Ekachakra whenthey heard news about the Princess Draupadi. Draupadiwas the daughter of Drupada, the King of Panchala. Shewas the most beautiful princess of the time and wasgreatly talented. Kings and princes of many countriesdesired to marry her.

King Drupada had hoped that Draupadi would marryArjuna, the cleverest and the most handsome among thePandavas. But he heard, with great sorrow, of the tragicdeath of the Pandavas at Varanavata. Now he had to find

some other suitable husband for Draupadi. There weremany young princes of great name seeking her hand. ButKing Drupada could not make a choice. He decided tohold a swayamwara for his daughter.

Swayamwara was a kind of marriage where a princesscould choose her husband from among a crowd of suitors.The suitors would be introduced to the princess one byone and she would make her own choice. Sometimes the

suitors were asked to perform some difficult feat of strengthor skill and he who did it first would get the princess inmarriage.

A day was fixed for Draupadi's swayamwara and invita¬tions were sent to all kings and princes. Everyone acceptedand they came to the Kingdom of Panchala.

The Pandavas, still in disguise, decided to attend Drau¬padi's swayamwara. They went to the capital of Panchalawith Kunti. There they stayed in the house of a potter.

On the day of the swayamwara, the Pandavas left Kunti

(/) "Tales from Indian Classics". Book 1 retold by Savitri, illustratedby Pulak Biswas. © Children's Book Trust, New Delhi. 1965.

in the potter's house and went to the palace. They wentthere not as princes but as Brahmins and took their seatsamong the visitors.

The kings and princes had arrived hoping to win thehand of Draupadi. There were distinguished warriorsamong them. The Kauravas, confident of winning theprincess, were also there.

The large marriage hall was beautifully decorated. Theguests took their seats. King Drupada and his son escortedDraupadi to the hall. Everyone stood up and lookedeagerly at the most beautiful princess they had ever seen.

King Drupada then said that Draupadi would marry anyman of noble birth who could string a bow kept in thehall and shoot at a target. The bow was huge and heavy.The target was a little metal fish very high above the groundinside a disc with holes that kept turning round and round.A vessel of water was kept on the ground below thetarget and the suitor had to shoot at the fish by lookingat its ¡mage in the water.

It was an almost impossible task. But the kings andprinces were eager to compete, for each wanted to winDraupadi. One by one they got up and went to the mightybow to try their luck. Many could not lift it. Some couldlift it but were unable to string it. The most famous amongthem were able to lift the bow and string it but failedto shoot at the fish.

There was disappointment on the face of King Drupada.People looked at each other in dismay muttering that itwas an impossible feat.

Then Arjuna stood up from among the crowd of Brah¬mins, and walked towards the bow. Everybody looked at

Page 9: mahabharata with pictures

The account of Rama's exile, forexample, contains many fine passagesof natural description, as when Ramadescribes the season of the rains:

"See how much lovelier now the

[forests are,green from the constant rain, and gay

[with dancing peacocks.The roaring clouds, weary with loads

[of water,rest on the peaks, escorted by the

[cranes,which, flying in line, rejoicing in the

[clouds,seem like a chain of lotuses, wind¬

blown across the sky.Green grass and flowers cover the

[warm earth,like a lady wrapped in a many-coloured

[blanket." (1)

Successive editors introduced mat¬

erial from many sources into the narra¬tive of the Mahabharata, which, despiteits ascription to a single author, thesage Vyasa, and its generally correctSanskrit, has something of the anony¬mity of folk-literature about it. The

(J) Translated by the author.

Ramayana is also ascribed to a singleauthor, the sage Valmlki, who is intro¬duced in the first and last of the poem'sseven cantos as a contemporary ofthe hero, and as the protector of thepregnant Sita when she is cast out byher husband.

But the Ramayana is also clearly thework of more than one author, thoughits structure is not so bewilderinglycomplex as that of the longer epic.The style of the first and last cantosis significantly different from that ofthe central five. These five cantos can

stand alone as a complete story andhave no real need of the other two.

Except for a few obvious interpolations,they treat Rama as a mortal hero,whereas in the first and last cantos

he is wholly divine, the full Incarnationof the great God Vishnu.

There are many other argumentswhich prove with virtual certainty thatat least two and probably three handshave contributed to the poem in itsfinal form. But the most important partof the story is the work of one man,a conscious poet far more sophisti¬cated and sensitive than the nameless

composers of the Mahabharata.

Since a synopsis of the Ramayanastory occurs in the Mahabharata itseems that the former was in existence

before the process of adding interpo¬lations to the latter came to an end.

Nevertheless the Ramayana . seemsmore recent than the Mahabharata nar¬

rative, and its central portion may havebeen composed no later than aboutthe beginning of our era. The capitalcity of the Kurus, Hastinapura, onwhich the story of the Mahabharatacentres, is in the western part of theGanga basin, some fifty miles to thenorth of modern Delhi (1). Ayodhya, thecapital of Rama, is in eastern UttarPradesh, and the western part of thesub-continent plays little part in theRamayana story.

In the Mahabharata the Deccan and

CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE

(1) Editor's note. The site of Hastinapurahas recently bean excavated. Romila Thaparwrites in A History of India, "a part of it wasfound to have been washed away in about800 B.C. by the flooding of the river Ganges.This incident is referred to in the Puranas

as having occurred in the reign of theseventh successor to the king ruling atHastinapura immediately after the [Maha¬bharata] war, which would suggest c. 900B C. as the approximate date for the war."

This extraordinary scene is only a tiny portion of a gigantic 160-footbas-relief at Angkor Wat recounting episodes from the Mahabharata.It depicts the combat between the Pandavasand the Kauravas (see also photo p. 19). The Mahabharata,Gandhi wrote, demonstrates the futility of war, and the field of battleis our own body: "To one who reads the spirit of the Gita (a part ofthe Mahabharata) it teaches the spirit of non-violence,the secret of realizing the self through the physical body."

him and wondered how a Brahmin dare attempt a featwhich was beyond all the heroic kings and princes. ButArjuna confidently picked up the bow, stringed it, andshot five arrows one after the other at the target. Thefish fell to the ground.

There was jubilation among the crowd.. Draupadi lookedat the splendid youth and garlanded him. Some of thekings and princes did not like the idea of a Brahminwinning the hand of a princess. They wanted to start afight but others said that the princess was fairly won.

Arjuna and his brothers went back to the potter's houseto tell their mother of the happy event. It was night whenthey reached the house. Arjuna knocked at the door andshouted to Kunti : "Mother, I have won a wonderful prize."Kunti replied from inside : "Share it with all your brothers."And then she came out and saw what the prize was. "Mysons", said Kunti, "I cannot take back what I have said andso Draupadi shall be the wife of all." Draupadi became thecommon wife of all the brothers.

King Drupada was not happy at the Swayamwara. He didnot know who the young man was.. Was he really aBrahmin? Or was he somebody who was disguised asa Brahmin? He wanted to find out. He sent a spy tothe potter's house. The spy returned and informed theking that the Pandavas were not dead and it was Arjunawho had won the hand of Draupadi.

Drupada was filled with joy. He sent messengers to Invitethe Pandavas to the palace but he did not tell them thathe knew their secret. When the Pendavas arrived clad in

the clothes of simple sadhus, the king received them withgreat honour. He. requested them to tell him who theyreally were. Dharmaputra then told Drupada the wholestory.

The news that the Pandavas were alive reached the

Kauravas. On the advice of Vidura, Bhishma, Drona andother respected elders, King Dhritarashtra asked the Pan¬davas to return home. The Pandavas and the Kauravas

then made, peace between themselves. They divided thecountry into two parts, one half to be ruled by the Pan¬davas and the other by the Kauravas.

The Pandavas set up their capital at Indraprastha and theKauravas at Hastinapura.

9

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TWO GREAT EPICS (Continued)

Ramayana, a living ideal down the ages

10

the Dravidian south of India are little

mentioned, except in lists of placesand peoples which have obviouslybeen worked over in the course of the

centuries in which the epic developed.In the Ramayana these regions, as wellas Ceylon, play an essential part inthe story, though they are looked on asshadowy and wild lands, chiefly theabode of demons and of monkeyswhich talk and act like men.

The court of Dasaratha ¡n the

Ramayana ¡s that of a typical Hinduruler of classical times, not that of achieftain such as we meet in the

Mahabharata story, who is merely thefirst among his unruly peers. Thoughthe Hindu tradition places Rama manythousands of years before the heroesof the Mahabharata, the Ramayanareflects a much more developed phaseof Hindu culture than does the Maha¬bharata narrative.

A strange and very tame version ofthe story preserved in the traditionsof Theravada Buddhism suggests thatthere actually was, sometime in thecenturies before Buddha's birth, a

king named Dasaratha whose righteousson Rama was wrongly exiled but inthe end regained his birthright.

But the exciting account of thecapture of Sita by Ravana and herultimate rescue finds no place in theBuddhist version, and this suggeststhat the Ramayana, like so many heroictales of ancient and medieval times, isa conflation from more than one

source, and that some of the mostdramatic parts of the finished storyhad no place in the original tale. "Itis, like the Mahabharata, a legend,not a piece of sober history, or eventhe reflection of the historical processof the Aryanlzation of the Deccan."

Much work has now been done ¡n

unravelling the skeins of medievalEuropean stories such as those ofthe Nibelungenlied and the Chansonde Roland, both of which have beenshown to have no reliable historical

content; and there is no reason whythe Indian epics should be more his¬torically trustworthy than their Euro¬pean counterparts. They are far morethan mere historical narratives; rather

they are among the greatest poems inthe world's literature, and as such theyhave inspired countless millions ofpeople for some two thousand years.

The Ramayana has impressed itselfeven more deeply than the Mahabha¬rata upon the soul of Hindu India. Ithas been translated, or more oftenfreely paraphrased, in almost everyIndian language, and in most of thelanguages of South-East Asia. Theseversions have adapted the story ofRama to the local cultures, and made

it part of the local traditions. It hasbeen heard repeatedly by many gen¬erations of illiterate peasants, who notonly have been thrilled by its stirringand often touching story, but also have

been taught the virtues of love, fore-bearance, obedience, courage andtruthfulness from ¡t.

Rama has long formed the ideal ofHindu manhood, as Sita has of Hinduwomanhood. Rama is invariably obe¬dient and respectful to his parents,loving and protective towards Sita,loyal and affectionate to his relativesand friends, humbly reverent to gods,priests and sages, benevolent andgentle towards his subjects, just andforgiving to his enemies. The obe¬dience and deference which Sita showsto her husband and her husband's

family know no bounds, but she pos¬sesses Intense courage, and is readyto stake her life in defence of hervirtue.

IHE story of Rama has long

been part of the cultural tradition ofBuddhist Burma, Thailand and Cambo¬dia. The Muslim Indonesians and

Malays, who imported the Ramayanafrom India long before their conversionto Islam, still delight in the ancientHindu story, adapted slightly to meetthe theological requirements of theirreligion and the different cultural milieuof the Southeast Asian archipelago.The Muslim tradition of India and Pakis¬

tan, however, seems to have rejectedthe ancient legends in their entirety,though in the days of the Mughals Per¬sian paraphrases of both epics weremade.

There can be no doubt that the

enduring popularity of the two epicshas been largely due to the fact thatboth were adapted at a very earlyperiod to the needs of Vaishnava Hin¬duism. According to the orthodoxformulation Vishnu, the High God fromwhom all creation sprang, has fullyincarnated himself nine times In mor¬

tal form for the salvation of the world,and will Incarnate himself a tenth time

at the end of this aeon, in order to

restore the age of gold. Of the tenincarnations of Vishnu those most

widely revered are Rama and Krishna,the former the hero of the Ramayanaand the latter one of the main char¬

acters of the Mahabharata.

Thus the epics of India have becomeholy books, forming a sort of NewTestament to the older, less directlyappealing, Vedic literature. Unlike theVedas, which were intended only forthe menfolk of the higher classes,especially the brahmins, the epicsmight be heard, read and learnt byanyone, even by women, children anduntouchables. Thus their influence on

the religious life of India has been inthe long run far greater than that ofthe Vedas and Upanishads.

The devotees of Krishna have

several other classical texts, notablythe Harivamsa and the BhagavataPurana, with which to sustain theirfaith. On the other hand, for those

who prefer to worship God in the formof Rama the Ramayana in its manytranslations and paraphrases hasbecome a sort of Bible.

The Hindi Ramayan of Tulsi Das wasthe only religious text to impressMahatma Gandhi in his boyhood, andwith his last breath he called uponGod by the name of Rama. Anothergreat source of his inspiration wasthe Bhagavad-Gita, which forms partof the Mahabharata.

Some Indians of later generationsmay feel that many of the moral pre¬cepts of both epics are hardly appli¬cable to present conditions, and mayhave doubts about the theology whichthey reflect, but, whatever their futureas sources of religious inspiration,these texts have so deeply affectedthe heart of Hindu culture and are of

such high merit as literature that theycan never be forgotten.

The non-Hindu who wishes to

understand the culture of Hindu Indiaand the basic values and attitudes of

Hinduism cannot do better than read

these poems. From the point of viewof modern "western" taste, their lite¬

rary value may be enhanced by judi¬cious abridgement.

It ¡s unfortunate that so far little hasbeen done to introduce the Indian

epics to the contemporary non-Indianreader, for, though full translations ofboth exist in English and several otherEuropean languages, none of thesehas been made in a style which con¬veys to the twentieth-century readerthe forceful narrative of the Mahabha¬

rata or the subtle dialogue and finedescriptive writing of the Ramayana.

Good abridged translations of bothpoems in modern idiom are needed tobring something of their grandeur andbeauty io a wider circle of readers,in the lands where their stories are

not traditionally known.

DAMAYANTI THE BEAUTIFUL

Narratives of romance and tragedy,well-springs of philosophy and moralprecepts, the epics of ancient Indiaare also works of splendid descriptivepoetry which with lyric sparkleoften evoke the charms of nature:

the grace and mysteries ofthe world of animals and an

infinite variety of living, growing things.Painters and sculptors of many landshave thus found in them an unceasing

source of inspiration. This painting,the work of an 18th-century artist,illustrates a Persian translation ofthe Mahabharata. It shows the beautiful'

Damayanti, who won the heart of thegracious Prince Nala, resting in hergarden on a summer day. The storyof the trials and tribulations of

Damayanti and her lover is told inone of the finest and best known

poems of the Mahabharata.

Photo © Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris

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Page 12: mahabharata with pictures
Page 13: mahabharata with pictures

THE COLLECTIVE

DREAM

OF A CONTINENT

by Anil de Silva

I

Co/our page

Top: Bhishma, in the Mahabharata(centre figure) expiring on the field ofbattle while Krishna, holding a lotusflower, listens to his dying words. WhenBhishma asks for water, Arjuna shoots anarrow into the earth and brings forth asparkling spring to quench Bhishma's thirst.This 19th-century painting decorates aVishnuite manuscript of episodes fromthe Mahabharata compiled in Kashmir.

Photo Paul Almasy © Private collection, Paris

Left: A 17th-century Persian illustration(Mughal school) for a translation of theMahabharata. It depicts the combatbetween the powerful Bhima and thewicked Duryodhana on a bare hillside.Dominating the scene are theGods of the Indian Pantheon, among themIndra, God of the sky and stormsand Yama, God of the underworld.

Photo © Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Right: The Ramayana is rich indescriptive passages that bring vividly tolife the landscapes of India in all theirseasonal change. In one of them an Indianartist of the 17th-century may havefound inspiration for this charmingminiature showing Rama and Sita travellingin their chariot through a luxuriant land.

Photo © Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris

he Ramayana and theMahabharata, though born in India,belong to the "collective dream" ofall of South East Asia. The epics arereborn at every age, their messagerenewed, their forms changing as thecourse of history changes, fructifyingand revififying and filling the humanspirit. They have charmed andenchanted, inspired and exalted thepeople of India and South Asia, form¬ing the very foundation of their richand living culture.

The epics are history, myth andfolklore, and the ageless quality oftheir appeal, the influence of the moral,ethical and religious values theycontain have shaped the daily lives ofmillions of men and women for gener¬ations.

It has often been said that "what isnot in the Mahabharata is nowhere."

Mahatma Gandhi, who wrote at lengthon the meaning and import of the twogreat epic poems and translated theBhagavad-Gita (which is a part of theMahabharata) into his native Gujarati,once said: "The Gita has become for

us a spiritual reference book. . . thedeeper you dive into it the richer themeanings you get."

Later he wrote: "Early In childhoodI had felt the need of a scripture thatwould serve as an unfailing guidethrough the temptations of life. . .I learned Sanskrit to enable me to

read the Gita. Today the Gita is notonly my Bible or my Koran it is myMother. I lost my earthly mother whogave me birth long ago, but thiseternal mother has completely filledher place by my side ever since. Shehas never changed, she has neverfailed. When I am in difficulty or dis¬tress, I seek refuge in her bosom."("Gita the Mother" by M.K. Gandhi.)

The Ramayana Is an epic poem of

love and beauty and tells the story ofthe princely hero, Rama, who fights abattle to bring back his kidnappedwife, Sita, from the demon king ofLanka (Ceylon). The Mahabharata isthe story of the Great Civil War whichrent India about 1,000 B.C., a terriblefratricidal war between the Kauravas

and the Pandavas, the sons of two

brothers, and fought on the northernplains of Kurukshetra, in the region ofDelhi.

Both epics were transmitted orallyfor centuries before being writtendown, but even today wandering mins¬trels and baliad singers travel regularlyfrom village to village throughout Indiaand other countries of South Asia

reciting and singing the epics far intothe night under the stars. Indian work¬ing-men, wearied with the toil of theday, are capable of spending a wholenight seated in a circle round the firelistening attentively to a drama of threethousand years ago.

To the central themes of the Maha¬

bharata and Ramayana have beengrafted a multitude of subsidiary storiesto illustrate the central themes. Their

heroes find prominent mention in the

CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE

ANIL DE SILVA of Ceylon has spent manyyears of study on the art and literature ofIndia and Asia. She is the author of "The

Life of Buddha" (Phaidon Press, London,1957) and "Chinese Landscape Paintingsin the Tun-Huang Caves" (Methuen andCo., London; Crown Publishers, New York),both of which have appeared in severallanguage editions. Her latest book, "India:Conquest and Freedom" (New York GraphicSociety) will appear shortly. Anil de Silvais co-editor with Prof. Otto von Simson "j Qof "Man Through His Art", the series of | \Jart albums sponsored by the World Con¬federation of Organizations of the TeachingProfession with Unesco aid.

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COLLECTIVE DREAM (Continued)

Endless variations on a theme

Indian and South Asian literature of all

ages from the fifth century onwards.

Both epics constitute a veritabletreasure-house of Indian and South

Asian lore, both secular and religious,and give as do no other single worksan insight into the innermost depths ofthe soul of the people. Both worksare great as a collection of stories,great as epic poems describing inmagnificent language various emotionsand events, great as manuals of lawand morality, great as a record ofsocial' and political philosophy, andgreat as sacred treatises pointing theway to an understanding of thesupreme ends of life.

Hajime Nakamura, Professor ofPhilosophy and Religion at Tokyo Uni¬versity has written: "In the epics ofMahabharata and Ramayana the typicalheroes of India are not national heroes

in the sense of any national and racialconsciousness, which they, as well astheir authors, lacked. Ancient Indianspreached as a virtue the offering ofone's property, even one's life if neces¬sary, for the sake of others' happiness.But they were never taught self-sacri¬fice for a particular nation or race.The concept of the national hero inour sense did not appear in Indianhistory." (1)

T

14

HE numerous variant tales

incorporated into the main story of theMahabharata are mainly related whenthe Pandavas are exiled into the forest

after Yudhishthira loses his kingdomin a game of dice. Many sages cometo visit them there and recount stories

and legends of the past. Over thecenturies, many of these tales havebeen taken up again by hundreds uponhundreds of writers,, rewritten andmodified, and used for plays and stor¬ies and poems.

Among the most Important worksinspired by the Mahabharata wasthat written in the 5th century by theSanskrit poet, Kalidasa, undoubtedlythe greatest poet dramatist of India'sClassical Age, and often referred toas the "Indian Shakespeare." Theplay, called Abhijnana-Shakuntalam,relates a love intrigue in the king'sharem (first translation into English in1789). The verses are simply enchant¬ing. Goethe wrote about It, "flowersand fruit, all that delights and all thatsustains, all heaven and all earth, areexpressed In the name of Shakuntala."

Another play inspired by the Maha¬bharata was written by RablndranathTagore for his famous Chitra. It takes

(1) "Ways of Thinking of Eastern Peoples"by Hajime Nakamura, edited by PhilipP. Wiener (East-West Center Press, Honolulu,Hawaii, 1964). Originally published by theJapanese National Commission for Unescoin 1960.

as its theme an episode about Arjuna,the great hero of the Pandava brothersclan. The play ¡s located in Assamwhere Arjuna is said to have stayedfor some time.

There are uncounted versions of

the Ramayana. Every language ofIndia has its own Ramayana. Thethree most famous Indian versions,

however, are the Sanskrit, attributedto Valmiki and written about 300 B.C.;

the sixteenth century Hindi version byTulsi Das; and the ninth centuryTamil classic by Kamban.

Perhaps the most beautiful renderinginto English is the Ayodhya Canto ofthe Kamban version, the most dramaticpart of the Ramayana, translated byC. Rajagopalachari, and published in1961 in the Unesco Collection of

Representative Works (a chapter of thepoem is given on page 30). TulsiDas's version has also been translated

into English by F.R. Allchin In the sameUnesco Collection under the title

Kavitavali (both books by George Allen& Unwin Ltd, London). It containssome of the poet's most highlypersonal and profound expressions ofdevotion to Rama.

- ~Valmiki's Sanskrit poem Is filledwith lyrical descriptions of Nature.Rama and Lakshmana are tricked into

leaving Sita unprotected in the forestand when they return they find hervanished. She has been kidnapped

by Ravana. Rama, in his despair, runsmadly from thicket to thicket callingSita's name. In each ray of sunlight,in each golden flower, he thinks herecognizes her yellow robe.

Invoking the trees he cries: "SweetKadambara, have you seen my fairone? Speak, Basil, you must know,for her limbs are like your gracefulbranches Sweet Tila, fairest ofall, where is she who loved yourflowers? Gentle deer, has she playedwith you? Is your moon-faced friendhiding behind some tree? Have pity.Speak to me Where are her softlimbs, her moon bright face, hershapely neck, her red lips..." (2) andRama throws himself upon the bareearth in despair.

Later, wandering in the forest, Ramaand Lakshmana come to the grove bythe Pampa Lake. It ¡s Spring and"Rama and Laskhmana bathe in the

crystal waters of the Pampa ablazewith white and red lotus buds. The

trees are proudly crowned with flowersalong the banks and long creepersfall from them laden with blossoms.

Screaming parrots make shrill musicand Rama feels his whole being filledwith langorous desire for Sita.

(2) This and the following quotations fromValmiki's "Ramayana" come from anunpublished adaptation of the "Ramayana" byAnil de Silva and Lilian Lassen.

One of the dramatic episodes in the Ramayana is the abduction by Ravana, thedemon-king of Ceylon, of Sita, wife of Rama exiled in the forest. Rama is luredinto the forest in pursuit of a deer (a demon in disguise), and his brother Lakshmana,guarding Sita, is tricked into leaving her. Ravana then appears, sweeps Sitaoff in his aerial chariot, as seen in painting below. A great vulture, Jatayu, triesto rescue her and though mortally wounded lives long enough to tell Rama ofSita's abduction. Jatayu's combat with Ravana is depicted in thisminiature from the Punjab Hills school of painting, dating from about 1765.

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Page 15: mahabharata with pictures

Photo Indian Tourist Office

THE FESTIVAL

OF DUSSERAH

Photo © Holmes-Lebel - R.J. Chlnwalla

The three colossal

figures dwarfing theordinary mortals at theirfeet (above) arepasteboard effigies of theprincipal demons of theRamayana ten-headedRavana (centre) flankedby Meghdana andKhumbhakarna. Theyfigure in the celebrationof the Indian festival

of Dusserah. After

celebrations dedicated to

the Goddess Durga whohelped Rama againstRavana, gianteffigies, like those aboveerected in a northern

Indian city, meet a fieryfate when flaming arrowsshot by Rama igniteexplosives packed insidethem. Right, putting lasttouches to a figure's head.

"Look, brother, the Kakila birds

mock me with their joyful notes andthe yellow clusters of the cassiasawake my longing for Sita; the Mangotree, breaking into flower, is like agaily dressed lover; the wild cockcalls to his mate near the waterfall,

my darling heard his shrill notes atdawn one day in our cottage. Fromtree to tree each bird seeks his mate,

filling the air with their triumph and thecall of the Spring is unbearable. Myeyes are tortured for a sight of Sita.

"Amid the bamboo thickets the pea¬cock dances In frantic glee, his tailglowing like a jewelled window in thesun; the peahen answers her mate inhis amorous dance and he pursues herthrough the tangled grass, no demonhas robbed him of his lovel Look,Lakshmana, at this butterfly whosewings are covered with the goldenpollen of the flowers he has kissed.In this month the cup of my widowedgrief is full. I cannot bear the loss ofher, the long sleepless nights withouther.

"Somewhere under alien skies it

must be Spring too, and my imprisonedlove mourns for me. My spirit knowsshe can never live without me. Everygentle breeze that stirs the blossomson the trees fans the fury of mydesires Where are you, Sita,my fawn-eyed love?" Rama wandersthrough the wood calling desperatelyfor his lost love.

THE ardent zest for nature

seen in these extracts goes back to acontinuous tradition and is the supremeexpression of an essentially Indianexperience. All nature's exuberance,the cries of the Kokila, the wind, thesun, the moon, the heat, the ralnclouds,the Mango trees, the bee, the vine,the curve of a pitcher, the dark Indigo-starred sky at night, all are caressedby the poet and nature's vitalityexpresses and symbolizes love, hereexpressed by Rama for Sita. Theespecial place the Ramayana holds Inthe hearts of the people of India andSouth Asia is due mainly to the purityof the hero and heroine who incarnate

the ideals of conjugal love and fidelity.

How revealing is this description ofSita as a prisoner: "Ravana woke toa new day to the strains of music asthe solemn hymn of praise to the dawnwas sung. The thought of Sita cameto his heart, he could not control thepassion that absorbed his soul.Laying aside his bow and arrow, heput on a spotless white robe embroi¬dered with flowers and gold andentered the Asoka grove impatient tosee her. A sudden fear and tremblingtook hold of Sita when she saw Ravana

in his pride; she folded her arms'overher breasts trying to screen theirbeauty from his bold and amorousglances. She lay prone like a severedbranch on the earth, her thoughts flyingto Rama to give her courage."

Valmiki's Ramayana has Ravana asthe villain, but In South India and the

15

CONTINUED ON PAGE 17

Page 16: mahabharata with pictures

HANUMAN,LEADER OF THE MONKEYS

BELOVED BY MILLIONS

Animals occupy a leading place in theIndian epics, notably in the Ramayanain which they are treated as humans andoften deified. Monkeys are a symbol offidelity, and the loyalty shown to Ramaby Hanuman is proverbial. Right,a painting of Hanuman with Ramaand Sita in his heart, an example ofthe Kalighat "pop" art which bazaarartists of Kalighat, Calcutta beganto produce early in the 19th-centuryfor mass sale to pilgrims who throngedthe Kalighat temple. It has beenclaimed that Kalighat painting"anticipated by a century or morecubism and impressionism."

Photo courtesy Victoriaand Albert Museum, London

Hunaman is widely worshipped in South Asia. In memory of hisservices to Rama, monkeys are held sacred. In Indian citiesthey boldly roam about streets and public parks. Here a playfulmonkey tests a bell at Temple of Monkeys in Calcutta,as a stoic stone lion chews his tail.

Photo © Tony Saulnier, Paris

l'/ÍWw^V"- EMI= p-J-i £ % i

k v^r \±i

HANUMAN was the most

powerful of the monkey chiefs. Hanu-man's loyalty to Rama has becomeproverbial, and he is held up as thesymbol of faithfulness and self-surrender.

When Rama on his return to Ayo-dhya asked Hanuman what boon he

desired as a reward for his greatservice, the faithful monkey only askedfor permission to live so long as thestory of Rama would be told in this

world. The boon was granted and itis believed that Hanuman still lives in

some inaccessible mountain.

In the "Mahabharata" is an interest¬

ing account of a meeting betweenHanuman and his half-brother Bhima

(Bhima was born of Kunti by thepower of Pavana, the wind-god).

After Rama's death, Hanuman wasliving in a mountain fastness spendinghis days in contemplation of his greatmaster. Bhima, in his search for amythical flower Draupadi wished topossess, happened to pass this forestand saw an old monkey sleepingacross his path. He haughtily askedthe monkey to get out of his way.

The monkey wished to know whohe was. Bhima gave a boastfulaccount of himself and the greatnessof the Pandava heroes; upon this, themonkey asked him how such wonder¬ful people happened to wander in theforests without a kingdom and how thebeloved wife of such heroes was

suffered to be insulted by Duryodana.

Bhima disdained to make answer but

asked the monkey to clear the road.The monkey said that he was ailingand requested Bhima to step acrosshim. But Bhima would not do this

because, he said, of his respect forhis brother Hanuman who was a mon¬

key. Nor would he pass him by thehead side.

After some argument Bhima agreedto pass by the tailside, but as hestarted to pass the tail this appendageof the monkey began to lengthen.After walking along the tail for about

- .mi. "'iiiMimpiimn um

. L

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COLLECTIVE DREAM (Continued)

Ramasymbol of love and chivalry

a league Bhima decided to lift it upwith his club, which weapon, however,broke in the attempt.

Now the Pandava knew he was deal¬

ing with no ordinary ape and he cameback to Hanuman and asked him

respectfully who he was. Hanumansmiled and disclosed his identity. Heentertained Bhima with many tales ofancient days, and described to him thefeats performed by the monkeys in the"Ramayana" battle.

Bhima requested Hanuman to showhim the form he had assumed for

jumping over to Lanka. Hanuman nowstood up and began to increase insize; but before he reached his full

stature Bhima got frightened of theenormity of the form, fainted and felldown. Hanuman assumed a smaller

size, revived his brother, gave himdirections as to how to get the flowerhe was seeking and sent him on hisadventurous task.

Hanuman was famous not only forhis physical strength but also for hislearning. "The chief of the monkeys,"says the "Ramayana", "is perfect : noone equals him in the Shastras, inlearning, and in ascertaining the senseof scriptures. In all sciences, in therules of austerity, he rivals the pre¬ceptor of the gods."

Hanuman is widely worshipped inIndia. In memory of his services toRama, monkeys are held sacred. Inmany Indian cities they boldly roamabout streets and public parks.

From: "Epics. Myths and Legends of India"by P. Thomas. Copyright held by D.B. Tara-porevala Sons & C°. Bombay, India.

Jain versions, Ravana is the greattragic figure for his love for Sitacarries with it his own death; hecatches our imagination and the ideathat his passion bears its inevitabledisaster follows the spirit of Greektragedy.

The main school of Jain poetryfollows the poet Vimalasuri (whoseSanskrit version was written round

the first or second century A.D.) andprobably contains one of the richestRamite literatures to be found in Sans¬krit, Kanerese and in the dialects.Vimalasuri makes Ravana beautiful:

"Shining, dark brown body, his facelike a full-blown lotus, large chested,powerful long arms, waist slender andhips like that of a lion, thighs like thetrunk .of an elephant. . . ."

The first non-Indian version of theRamayana was produced in Chineseand dates from about the fifth century.In Tibet, Nepal and Chinese Turkestanlocal versions appear to be well knownfrom about 700 A.D. In Cambodia an

inscription dated 600 A.D. tells that a

sage presented the Ramayana to atemple and made arrangements for itsrecitation. We know that in the tenth

century a Sanskrit scholar expoundedboth epics at the Cambodian court.

By the seventh century the epicswere known in Assam, Thailand andLaos. Ayuthia the ancient capital ofThailand was named after Ayodhya, thecapital of the kingdom of Rama. Indo¬nesian versions, mainly based on veryearly Indian variants, are depicted inthe shadow plays and in bas-reliefs ofthe temples of Panataran and Pramba-nan. In the Javanese versions of the

Ramayana only the bare bones of theIndian version have been retained, therest being the incorporation of tradi¬tional Javanese legends. The MughalEmperor Akbar had the Ramayanatranslated Into Persian during the six¬teenth century, produced with mag¬nificent miniatures (see colour photosof some Persian miniatures, pp. 11, 12).

There Is no part of India or Ceylonunconcerned in some way with. eitherone of the epics, and thousands goon yearly pilgrimages to Ramesvaram,the southernmost tip of the sub-conti¬nent, where Rama and the army ofmonkeys stopped before crossing overto Lanka to rescue Sita. And in

Ceylon Itself, Sita Eliya is said to bethe Asbka Grove where Sita was keptprisoner.

The great Indian festivals of Dus-serah,' Divali and Navrati are linkedwith the Ramayana, while others areassociated with Krishna, a god-hero ofthe Mahabharata. Divali, the festival oflights, is concerned with the return ofRama to his kingdom. Every house,cottage and hut burns its little oillamps in célébration; painted clayimages of all the characters are made,and all homes are open to guests on

that day (see "Unesco Courier", April1963).

The Ramayana has a special placein India and South Asia because of

the purity of Rama and Sita and theirlove symbolizing fidelity. The idealof chivalry in the epic corresponds tothat of Europe in the Middle Ages,for Rama is the protector of theoppressed, of widows and orphans; heis the perfect knight valiant ¡n faceof danger, protective and tender toall women while loving Sita alone.

Many scholars have frequentlyfound comparisons between Homer'sIliad and the Ramayana for they sharethe basic plot of a husband who goesforth to battle to rescue a kidnappedwife; and the story of Jatayu, thevulture, whose brother burnt his wingson going too near the sun recalls theGreek myth of Icarus.

Many other characters in the, Greekand Indian epics have points incommon: Agamemnon and the monkeyking Sugriva, Hector and Indrajit, theson of Ravana who abducted Sita,Nestor and Hanuman. Other details

recall the Bible: Hanuman and Joshua

both order the sun to stop in Itscourse; and Hanuman, like Jonah,enters the mouth of a sea monster.

ANY of the folk tales found

in the Mahabharata and translated dur¬

ing the Middle Ages have become partof the legends and stories of manyEuropean and African countries. In theseventeenth century, the Bhagavad-Gita and other Indian texts were trans¬

lated Into European languages andinfluenced many European and Ameri¬can thinkers and philosophers, writersand artists: Beethoven, Schopenhauer,Emerson, Freud, Thoreau, Whitman,Rodin, and in more recent times, theIrish poet Yeats and Aldous Huxleyamong others. Goethe borrowed anIndian stage convention from Kalida-sa's drama Shakuntala (which hadbeen translated Into German) for hisown prologue to Faust.

The extraordinary richness of thetwo epics accounts for the unbounded

popularity they have enjoyed for cen¬turies in India and South Asia and the

joy and pleasure they continue toafford to millions today. Although theepics deal with mythical beings, ani¬mals, demons, gods and men, all thesecharacters endear themselves to us;they are never all bad or all good.Whether these figures from the remotepast come from the epics of Vyasaor Valmiki "they are the everlastingoracles of life; they have to be ques¬tioned anew with every age, each age ^approaching them with Its own variety 1 7of understanding. ... to learn, to evokefresh speech from them and under¬stand that speech."

Page 18: mahabharata with pictures

THE EPICS IN THE

ART OF SOUTH ASIA

by B.N. Coswamy

0

18

n the walls of countless

Indian homes today hang inexpensiveprints with illustrations of Rama sub¬duing the ocean, or Krishna deliver¬ing his celebrated sermon to Arjunaon the battlefield of Kurukshetra, andbefore them the householders offer

dally worship, much as they repairwith devotion to the crowded open

air grounds where the traditionalfestivals and the ritual dance, the

Ramalila, are annually performed.

In the Himalayan hill district ofChamba, young girls patiently embroi¬der scenes from the Mahabharata on

muslin pieces which they will takewith them as dowry at the time oftheir wedding. The heroic figures ofArjuna and Bhima and Kunti moveabout, with the same agility with whichthey did several hundred years ago,in the Indonesian shadow theatre, the

Wayang-Purwa. In Thailand the ancientmasked play, the Khon, still reliesprincipally on themes from the storyof Rama.

All this adds up to the marvellousphenomenon of not merely the survi¬val of the two great Indian epics, theRamayana and the Mahabharata, asvital elements in living cultures, butalso of the arts, at least those amongthem which are folk-based, continuingto find inspiration in themes that comefrom across several centuries.

The epics run like a thread throughtime and space. In our time and daythe emotion may be wearing a littlethin, but the social and moral valuesenshrined in these stories still sustain

vast multitudes.

B. N. GOSWAMY is a world authority onIndian and Asian art. Professor of Art

History, department of Fine Arts, PanjabUniversity, Chandigarh, India, he is theauthor of many studies on Indian art, includ¬ing "Glimpses of Mughal Architecture"(Bengal Govt., Calcutta, 1953); "Designs ofOrissa Temples" (Thacker and Co., Cal¬cutta, 1950) and "Indian Temple Sculpture"(Lalit Kala Akademy, Delhi, 1956).

It was quite natural for the sculp¬tors and painters of South Asia tohave turned to works which were so

interwoven with life and affected so

profoundly the minds and the spirit ofgenerations of men and women. Butthey turned to them also because itwas meritorious, conducive to dhar-ma (1) and emancipation, to treat ofGods and their deeds; and againbecause in them they found a treasureof heroic tales that could be told with

love and care.

The Ramayana has a wonderfullyrich narrative in itself, while the Maha¬bharata is a veritable encyclopaedia.The epics are everywhere in theart of India and South-East Asia. So

enormous, in fact, is the body of worksof art devoted to themes from the

Ramayana and the Mahabharata, thatone can hope only to treat briefly ofthe most significant among them.

It is difficult to speak with certaintyof the exact period the earliest repre¬sentations of the Ramayana or theMahabharata in the arts belong to,for -much has been claimed by time.But they appear to come from the verybeginning of the time when Hinduthemes started finding consistentexpression at the hands of the Indiansculptor.

The artist of the Gupta age (320-600 A.D.), the classical period ofIndian history, turned his attentionalike to Buddhist and Hindu themes,

and an early, fifth-century relief fromthe Garhwal region, a beautifully realiz¬ed treatment of the battle between

Bhima and Jarasandha, ushers usinto a period of great achievement.

It is to this period that that chastemonument, the Gupta temple of Deo-garh in Central India, belongs. Of thisgem of Hindu architecture, popularlycalled the Dasavatara temple with

(1) A word used in all the Indian languageswith a rich connotation of duty, right conduct,justice, order, natural, and essential quality.

reference to the ten incarnations of

Vishnu to whom the shrine is dedi¬

cated, the entire basement was oncedecorated » with a continuous frieze

representing events from the Ra¬mayana.

Only a small fragment of thissculptured frieze has survived, butwhat exists is deeply moving. In thesereliefs is mirrored the classical Guptaideal of balance and harmony. Thevoluptuous grace of the figures, thequality of movement in the composi¬tions, do not interfere in the slightestwith the tone of noble restraint which

characterizes the art of this period.

The sculptor appears to be In com¬plete command both of his materialand his emotion, and whether he is

showing the deliverance of Ahalya(turned to stone by her husband forbeing unfaithful) when Rama's feettouched her, or Rama, Lakshmana and

Sita leading a life of contented aus¬terity in the forest, there is a qualityof quiet sweetness In his art. Thereis no effusion, no overstatement.

The same grace and refinementbelong to the work of the Pallavasculptors of the South, but to theseare added a new quality of dynamism.Thirty-five miles south of Madras, atMahabalipuram, stand the remarkableseventh-century rock-cut temples nam¬ed after the Pandava heroes of the

Mahabharata; but what towers above

everything else here is the massivegranite boulder on the sea-shore thatpresents a marvellous aspect of ener¬gy and Imagination.

The entire face of this enormous

piece of living rock has been carvedto represent a scene of epic grandeur.The theme ¡s a matter of some con¬

troversy among scholars, but whetherit ¡s the Descent of the Gangesfrom Heaven, or the story of Arjuna'spenance, the source of the episode isthe Mahabharata.

The familiar figures of the heroes

Page 19: mahabharata with pictures

Carved into the stone of Angkor Wat,this scene from the Mahabharata is

an outstanding example of themonumental Khmer sculpture ofCambodia which attained its apogeein the first half of the 12th century. Intop centre of this carving lies Bhishma,chief of the Kaurava clan, mortallywounded by the arrows of Arjuna,chief of the Pandavas.

do not appear here, for the story isnot an integral part of the narrativeof the epic, but a whole age is evok¬ed while all the creatures of the world

range on either side of the Gangesin gratitude for this miraculous gift tothe Indian world.

It is a little difficult to form an ade¬

quate Idea of the dimensions of thisgreat piece of sculpture and theimpression It makes, for no photographcan easily convey this, but some ideaof the scale can be formed from the

fact that scores of figures of menand animals, including a family of ele¬phants, are represented here in lifesize.

This vast, energetic composition,suggestive of the magnificent qualityof the myth, is not confined by anyframe or line, but flows over the whole

surface of the boulder. BenjaminRawland has said: "Just as the space

of the relief Is untrammelled and,indeed, seems to flow into the spaceoccupied by the spectator, so theindividual forms in ¡t are only partiallydisengaged from the stone whichimprisons them. One has theimpression, indeed, that they are incontinual process of emergence fromthe substance of the rock itself."

This seemingly is the age of great,dynamic conceptions in the art ofIndia, one of the finest hours of crea¬

tive expression in human history. . Andthe great rock-cut, eighth-centuryKailasanath temple at Ellora, nearBombay, fits naturally into this age.

This enormous monolithic temple,cut out of the rock, is dedicated toShiva after whose home, the sacredmountain Kailasa, it Is named. Butthis association with Shiva is no bar

in the mind of the Indian sculptoragainst the representation of non-Shivaite themes in the temple. Thereare in fact numerous episodes from theRamayana that are carved in relief onthe walls of the temple and the smallersancturies that form a part of theentire complex.

The mood here is dramatic and

scenes of remarkable liveliness unfold

themselves before the eye of thespectator who becomes gradually a

Photo © Luc Ionesco, Paris

participant In the drama. Among themost impressive scenes is one whichshows the abduction of Sita, the

heroine of the Ramayana, by thedemon-King, Ravana of Lanka. Themoment chosen by the sculptor is thatin which Ravana is fleeing with Sitaon a chariot towards his kingdom inLanka, and his way is barred by thevulture-king, Jatayu.

The relief depicting this is an un¬believably fine realization of dramaticposture in sculpture. The figure ofSita is mutilated, but the demon-kingpowerfully breaks free from the simplebackground of the composition, amenacing figure, twisting aroundangrily to deal with the bird thatvainly pecks at him.

The most dramatic and the most

monumental of reliefs at Ellora, how¬ever, is Ravana shaking Mount Kailasa.This is an illustration of the episodein the Ramayana where Ravanaattempts to shake and uproot thesacred mountain on which Shiva and

Parvati are seated, in order to use

it as a weapon in the great waragainst Rama, and to destroy thepower of Shiva (see photo page 2).

The Ellora tableau it is difficult to

simply call ¡t a relief shows Ravana,imprisoned in the foundations of the

19

CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE

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20

ART OF SOUTH ASIA (Continued)

mountain, "in a cavern almost of Sty¬gian gloom", straining his manifoldarms to shake the mountain with one

superhuman endeavour. The body ofthe demon-king dissolves into the darkrecess, as his arms in the half lightseem actually to move and throb withlife.

In the upper part of the composi¬tion, however, everything ¡s calm, forShiva with supreme effortlessnesssimply stretches one of his toes topress the mountain down with it. Thepanic of the fleeing figures, the intui¬tive fright of Parvati, as she leans toseek support from her Lord as themountain trembles, are all ¡n mar¬vellous contrast with the unruffled

serenity of the posture of Shiva.The total effect ¡s indescribable for

this is one gigantic theatrical tableauwhich sweeps the spectator off hisfeet. Depth and darkness invest theentire scene with a remarkable emo¬

tional and psychological suggestive-ness. We here have one of the most

dramatic compositions in the entirehistory of art.

With this monument, it is almost asif the last great statement of an epictheme, at least as far as sculpture inIndia is concerned, has been made.There is much that follows, but in

themes from the Ramayana and theMahabharata treated ¡n various periodsand schools of art, there is a certain

loss m intensity of feeling. The visionfalters a little. The interest in fact

shifts now to a distant region, thelands of South-East Asia.

Indian settlements from a time goingback to the beginning of the Christianera are known in these parts, but thegreat periods of art date from theseventh century onwards, when thereis evidence of Indian culture beingfirmly rooted there. There is an enor¬mous amount of artistic and construc¬

tion activity. The most impressivemonuments of Buddhism and Hinduism

alike are not in India, but in South-East Asia.

With the institution of religious pil¬grimages in the seventh and eighthcenturies, great complexes of templesrose on the Dleng plateau in MiddleJava, the majority of them dedicatedto Vishnu. To this period also belongsthat supreme monument of mysticBuddhism, the stupa of Borobudur,rivalled by the great Hindu temple,the ninth-century Chandi Loro Jong-rang near Prambanam in Java.

This latter monument ¡s profuselydecorated with sculptures, the finestof the carvings illustrating the earlierpart of the Ramayana. These run ina continuous frieze on the exterior of

the balustrade of the upper terraceof the temple of Shiva, and theircontinuation was probably to be foundon the corresponding terrace of thenow ruined Brahma shrine on the right.

The style of these reliefs at Pram¬banam, as indeed of the beautiful

reliefs of the great stupa at Boro¬budur, which are perhaps even

CONTINUED ON PAGE 29

Colour pages

THE GRANDEUR OF MAHABALIPURAM (Page 21)

At Mahabalipuram, 35 miles south of Madras, near a group oftemples dedicated to Draupadi and the Pandava heroes ofthe Mahabharata, a massive granite boulder dominates thesea-shore. With its entire face carved to represent a scene

of .epic grandeur, filled with gods, winged figures, water-spritesand animals of all kinds (like those in this photo), the mightyrock (90 ft. by 20 ft.) is a monumental record of sculpturalart in 7th-century India. Its theme, the subject of some con¬troversy, has been variously identified as "The Descent of theGanges" or "The Story of Arjuna's Penance".

THE SIEGE OF LANKA (Pages 22-23)

This striking painting (22 in. by 33) by an artist of the PunjabHills, northern India, dates from 1720. It portrays anepisode from the Ramayana: in the gardens of his palace onthe island of Lanka (Ceylon), Ravana tries in vain to seduce hiscaptive, the beautiful Sita. Aided by a huge army of monkeys,Rama lays siege to Lanka and slays Ravana after a terrible hand-to-hand combat. Two centuries ago the Punjab Hills, and notably

the small mountain kingdom of Guler, became a great centre of miniature paintingin India, many of whose works were inspired by themes from the Ramayana andthe Mahabharata. This painting is now in the Cleveland Museum of Art (gift ofGeorge P. Bickford).

Photo © Cleveland Museum of Art,courtesy Asia Society, New York

RAMA THE FAMOUS (pages 24-25)

For many centuries Cambodia's theatri¬cal art has drawn much of its classical

repertory from the Ramayana, which isknown to the Cambodians as the Rama-

kerti, or "Rama the Famous". The balletcomposed of scenes from the epic mimedby actor-dancers is a magnificent andever-popular spectacle. These photos weretaken during a recent performance by thecorps de ballet of the royal palace at

3 M Phnom Penh, capital of Cambodia. Thedifferent characters are easily distinguishable by their ornate masks and glitter¬ing costumes. (1) In a combat between monkeys, the valiant Hanuman, ally ofRama, is masked and dressed in white. (3) Discovering Sita imprisoned in Rava-na's palace, Hanuman tells her that she will soon be freed by Rama. (2) Garuda,half-man half bird, the powerful charger of the God Vishnu. Garuda aided Rama inthe battle to deliver Sita.

TRIUMPH OF GOOD OVER EVIL (page 26)

Rama's combat with Ravana is the dramatic climax of this

scene from a ballet given in the royal palace at Phnom Penh(Cambodia). Symbolizing the triumph of good over evil, Ramabrandishes his bow and with the aid of his ally, Hanumanthe monkey, subdues his adversary. Here, a woman dancertakes the role of Rama. Formerly the entire corps de balletwas composed of Khmer women dancers. Nowadays theroles of the monkeys in the Ramayana are taken by menwhile men and women alternate in the role of the masked

Ravana during the same performance.

THAILAND'S MASKED DANCE (page 27)

One of the most ancient forms of theatrical art in Thailand is

the masked pantomime performed by richly costumed dancers.This scene re-enacts the struggle between Rama and Ravana.In. the dance-dramas of Thailand, as in those of Cambodia and

Laos, Ravana wears a high pointed headdress and Hanumana white mask. The Thai title of this mask-play, Rama Kien,signifies "Rama, the Famous".

^^m^mm* DANCE OF THE MONKEYS (page 27)On the island of Bali (Indonesia) a unique dance-drama,the "ketjak" or "dance of the monkeys", presents episodesfrom the Ramayana. It is performed by 150 village men whosit in circles around a great wooden torch, swaying in rhythmas they chant. From time to time the figure of a narratorrises above the swaying chorus and in tones alternatelyplaintive and forceful recites the theme of the epic, recalling

the deeds of heroes at grips with demons Often the monotonous melodic chant isbroken by imitations of the jabbering, squeaking and chattering of the army of monkeysin the Ramayana. The wandering voices, wailing cries and swaying gesticulatingfigures all combine to enhance the exorcistic character of the dance. It was in factonce used as an incantation to ward off evil forces from the village.

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ART OF SOUTH ASIA (Continued from page 20)

One of the supreme arts of all time

superior, goes back clearly to theGupta reliefs at Deogarh. There is thesame quality of noble restraint in thework. There is drama here, and muchmovement.

Panel after panel Illustrates thatpart of the Ramayana where Rama isa witness to and a participant in thefight between the monkey-kings, Su-griva and Bali, and in these there isan extraordinary animation, but theemotion is again controlled. Withsuavity and grace, the Javanesesculptor makes his statements, alwaysemploying economy but always suc¬ceeding in evoking the feeling inherentin the epic episodes.

We become witnesses to the divine

power of Rama as he bends his bowwith a movement of marvellous rhythmto conquer the Ocean; we participatein the struggle between good andevil as the monkey-kings grapple intheir death struggle and Rama shootshis arrow from behind seven trees.

Everything here is vitally alive.

The Indian models that so obviouslyprovided the inspiration for the workin Java, lay also at the base of thegreat periods of art from the first tothe seventh century in Cambodia. Butthe styles change rapidly after theupheaval of the eighth century andthe Khmer period of art In Cambodiabegins.

The relatively subordinate positionoccupied by sculpture In the architec¬tural monuments of the pre-Khmerperiod also changes and we enterupon a period of, increased sculpturalornament that leads, step by step, tothe final explosive, Baroque style ofthe last period.

The quiet note of early sculptureslike those at Sambor is left behind

INDONESIA'S WAYANG

SHADOW THEATRE

The name "shadow theatre" is inseparablylinked with Indonesia and its culture.

Here, the word "wayang" (literally,"shadow"), identifies the flat, leather-carvedrod puppets whose shadows are projectedon to a screen. A form of entertainment

as popular as the cinema in Westerncountries, the shadow theatre is a superbmedium for storytelling and has captivateduntold generations with its presentationsof ancient tales, bringing to life greatepics such as the Mahabharata and theRamayana. The Wayang theatre, whichis believed to have originated in India,is also found in Malaysia, Thailand andCambodia (see page 34), and in parts ofsouthern India. The smallest of the

Indonesian puppets is about 9 inches high,the tallest sometimes close to 40. A full

set of puppets may number 300 to 400characters, each made according to strictrules of iconography and all easilyrecognizable. Left, episode from theMahabharata presented at Jogjakarta(Indonesia).

Photo © Tony Saulnier, Paris

even by an early monument of theFirst Style of Angkor, that jewel ofa shrine at Banteay Srei, -which aninscription dates to the ninth century.

Several important lintels here illus¬trate scenes from the Ramayana andare set inside richly ornamented,sinuously profiled arches. The scenesare arranged in a formal manner, butthe symmetry does not jar. There isan almost perfect balance in thecompositions, whether they be illus¬trations of the battle between the

monkey-kings, or of Ravana shakingMount Kailasa again.

But in these there is an element

of ornamentation. The scenes lack

that dynamic character which belong¬ed to the Indian reliefs of the eighthcentury, and the representations aresuggestive of a playful air, "as thoughthe figures were moving to the mea¬sures of an elaborate ballet."

The great Cambodian expressionsin sculpture came however from thestupendous monument, the 12th-cen¬tury temple complex of Angkor Wat.It ¡s not only the architecture of thismonument of Khmer civilization at its

grandest that is difficult to describe,but also the sculpture which coverswall after massive wall.

Battle scenes are a favourite with

the Angkor Wat sculptors, and of thesethe most Impressive and awe-inspir¬ing are those that illustrate the GreatWar from the Mahabharata. The

magnitude and the brilliance of theepic scene are matched in this relief.

"The uproar and confusion, fierceassault and valiant defence, of thebattlefield are rendered with Incredible

skill and inexhaustible Invention, thewhole surface of the wall beingdecorated with forms in a brilliant

variety of dramatic postures," says thegreat orientalist, Heinrich Zimmer, andadds, "Once the eye has becomeaccustomed to this unemphatic stylethere is an almost infinitely richvariation to dwell upon and take in."

We have here one of the supremearts of all time at Its moment of

climax. The flatness of the surface of

these reliefs, a little disturbing to aneye not used to it, is completelyintentional, for it is wholly appropriateto the almost sunless galleries of thetemple.

The monotony of these anonymousreliefs is only superficial, for in factthere is in these scenes a dazzlingdisplay of inventiveness, achievedwith an appearance of supreme ease.Working on these scenes of a heroicmould, the Khmer sculptors madewhole walls spring to life with thegreat action which ¡s described withsuch virtuosity and vividness in thepages of the epic.

Only a century removed from Ang¬kor Wat is the great mass of theBayon at the centre of Angkor Thorn.Here again, there are whole friezes

representing scenes from the Ra¬mayana and the Mahabharata, as atAngkor Wat. This in spite of the factthat the Bayon is a Buddhist monu¬ment, but then it is only nominally so,for ¡n fact ¡t reflects the true character

of the Cambodian ruler, Jayavarman,who was neither a Buddhist nor a

Hindu but a Devaraja, or God-King.Angkor Thorn once again displays theKhmer virtuosity which is carried for¬ward from the preceding century andwhich ceases only with the disasterthat befell this civilization in the fif¬

teenth century.

What might be called the last ofthe great periods of sculpture, atleast as far as the representation ofscenes from the Ramayana and theMahabharata in South-East Asia goes,is to be seen at the fourteenth-

century shrine in Java, called theChandi Panataran. Here the epic isthe same, but the style has changedappreciably. In a fantastic landscapeof forests and clouds that in itself is

reminiscent of an artificial stage-set,characters from the epics take on theaspect of puppets from the shadowplays of subsequent centuries forwhich they provided obvious inspira¬tion. After this only stray voices areto be heard.

In India at this time any sculpturesdealing with the themes from the epicswhich we can call worthy of theirsubject matter are now in bronze.The growth of creativity from theeleventh century onwards in southernIndia is concentrated in the Chola

kingdom, and bronzes of breathtakingbeauty, including the famous ShivaNataraja, are produced.

Shaivism, however, does not claimthe entire attention of the Chola crafts¬

men; there is a great deal of sculp¬ture of Rama and Krishna themes.

But the sculpture, in the nature ofthings, is not monumental, nor is itnarrative in' any manner of speaking.The concentration is on the produc¬tion of icons which spring from theneeds of religion, not the narrative ofthe epics. We do have deeply mov¬ing sculptures like that of the greatmonkey-God, Hanuman, who becomesin the popular mind the archetypaldevotee of Rama, but the figures areisolated. They do not become inte¬grated with a narration in terms ofsculpture.

In stone, there are still numerous

representations of epic themes andthe Ramayana reliefs from Halebld inthe southern state of Mysore, or thetemple of the Thousand Ramas fromthe Vijayanagar kingdom in South-East India are cases in point, butnothing as deeply moving as in theearlier periods is seen. Great sculp¬ture now treats of other themes, and

in the representation of epic themes yGattention now positively shifts to ^**painting.

From the great periods of early

CONTINUED ON PAGE 31

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THE EXILE OF RAMA

Below we publish Chapter 11 of the Ayodhya Canto of the Ramayana by Kamban, one of thegreatest classic Tamil poets of the 9th century. Translated from the Tamil by Sri ChakravartiRajagopalachari, the work was published in 1961 by George Allen and Unwin Ltd., London, in theUnesco Collection of Representative Works. The aged king Dasathara chooses one of his foursons, Rama, to succeed him as ruler of Ayodhya, but is finally pursuaded by one of his wives toname Rama's brother Bharata as his successor. Bowing to his father's decision, Rama preparesto leave the capital and his wife. Sita refuses to accept this separation and insists on accompany¬ing Rama and his brother Lakshmana into exile. Text copyright ©. Reproduction prohibited.

30

The city was distressed and citizens were dazedAnd crowds unending followed as he went.Rama arrived where Janaki was (1).Startled, she rose, for she did not understandWhy the crowd did weep or why they cameThus dazed and covered with dust.

Nor why her prince was strangely clad.

Her fright increasedAs the women about embraced her;

They would not speak but smothered her in tears.She turned her large eyes then to Rama:"My prince, tell me now,Is the king wellOr has some illness stricken him?"

And Rama quietly spoke:"My peerless brother beloved will rule the realmBy the command of them that gave me being.I go today to see the hillsFrom where the rains are sent.

And till I come again abstain from grief."

She sobbed but not for his dread exile

Or for the kingdom's sake:She sobbed for the cruel words that scalded her ears:

"Grieve not the time I shall be away!"

For how could Sita bear the thoughtOf separation? Were they notAn eternal pair together in the sea of milkTogether again on earth when he chose to be bornIn Ayodhya to set the troubled world aright?

"This his resolve is surely good:That which the king and our motherCommanded him to do, so he must.

But why must I remain behind?"She thought, heart near to breaking.

Then softly spoke she to Rama:"How can you steel your heartAnd cruelly leave me here and go?Is it hot in the wilderness?

Can the sun scorch me so much there

As life here without you?"

He heard her words and his eyes sawThe sea of grief behind her tears.He had no heart to leave her thus

And he pondered what to do;Sita went in and soon came out

Clad in bark and stood by himAnd quietly held him by the hand and laughed.

(1) As the adopted daughter of Janaka, king of Mithila, Sita ¡s alsocalled Janaki.

The women swooned and fell

At the sight of the princessThus suddenly prepared for exile."Those doomed to live must live,

They cannot die before their time,In spite of every grief," they cried.

Rama saw that immense crowd

Of women plunged in burning grief."Oh, princess dear!" he said,"Lovelier than lilies and the pearls of the seaAre your teeth when you are moved to laughterYou know not what it means, beloved

To do as you proposeIf you go with me"Twill lead to sorrow without end."

At these words, Sita always soft in speechSweeter than the warbling of birds,In angry tones did cry: "I understand indeed;I am your only sorrow.Cast me aside

And all will then be well!"

Rama spoke no moreAnd led her through the thronging crowdsOf men and women lamenting loud.

Brother beloved marched in front,

On his shoulder hanging his gut-bound bow;Janaka's daughter smiling went behindIn hermit habit clad:

Between them walked the exiled princeMajestic like a great rain-cloud.

O who can find the words

To tell their thoughts when the citizens saw this sight!"Now that all is over," they cried,"We no more shall weep and wailBut exiles all proceed with him,To live where he abides who is ever our king."

The three received their royal mothers' leaveAnd Rama softly said to them: "I leaveMy lord and father to your care,"Then mounted he Sumantra's chariot

With beloved brother and divine spouse.

The city emptied with Rama's chariot;The king remained and so his queens;The paintings and the statues stayed behind tooFor want of life.

As Sumantra drove the chariot

The cows flocked home and the stars began to appear.The sun plunged among the hillsAs though to shut his eye against the scene.

Page 31: mahabharata with pictures

This Indian miniature by an artist of the Mughal school (late 16th century) depictsthe meeting between Rama and his brother Bharata in the forest. Bharata is outragedby the intrigue that has deprived his beloved brother of the throne and tellingRama, "I will not wear the crown that evil plotting has bestowed on me", imploreshim to return as lawful ruler of Ayodhya. But Rama in obedience to his father'scommand chooses to remain in exile. He gives his sandals to Bharata as a symbolof authority and asks him to rule as regent in his place until his exile ends.

ART OF SOUTH ASIA

(Continued from page 29)

Indian painting from which we havethe frescoes of Ajanta, Bagh andBadami, nothing has survived to indi¬cate the existence of any great cyclesof paintings of Vaishnava themesalthough literary references to Illus¬trations of epic themes abound. Butsoon after we move into the world

of miniature painting, we come uponextensive sets devoted to illustrations

of the Ramayana and the Mahabha¬rata, even if ¡n the style commonlyknown as Western Indian, or Jaina,

not many representations of thesethemes are found.

Among the first of the great setsof miniature paintings dealing with thetheme of the epics ¡s an extensive andbrilliant series that was painted forthe Mughal Emperor, Akbar (1542-1605). This is the famous illustratedRazmnama a translation into Persian

of the Mahabharata, made under the

orders of the great Emperor himself,and rendered in painting by the artistsof the Imperial atelier.

The set is believed to have been

completed by the year 1589, and anestimated four' hundred thousand

rupees were paid to the artists whodrew and coloured the 169 full pageminiatures which are now in the col¬

lection of the Maharaja of Jaipur.

This is -one of the most sumptuousof all Mughal manuscripts and we arefortunate ¡n having the names ofseveral artists who collaborated to

produce this enormous work. Thisis an exception to the great Indiantradition of anonymity in the arts,"one of the proudest distinctions ofHindu culture."

We know little or nothing of thenameless artists who created the

masterpieces of sculpture mentionedabove, but many of the Mughal paint¬ings, in keeping with their own tradi¬tion, are signed. Of the names ofseveral artists who are associated

with this great set, the most famousare those of the gifted Daswanth andhis son, Basawan, two Hindu paintersworking under the guidance andsupervision of Muslim master artistsof the Imperial atelier.

There is great richness and percep¬tion in the work of these and other

artists. The colour and line are dazzl¬

ing. But there is something that seemsto be lacking in the series, perhapsit is the feeling of devotion. Onesenses that the epic has been reduc¬ed in the transfer to the painted page.The series tends to become the illus¬

tration of an engaging story, uninform¬ed by the spiritual undercurrent whichruns through the epic as we know it.

Important series of Illustrations ofthe Ramayana were also executed inthe Mughal period, and several sets,some in the Imperial style others inthe provincial, have survived. Thereis little doubt that the narrative of

the epics had conquered the imagina¬tion of the Mughal artists of theearly period, and they illustrated itwith verve and imagination, but notperhaps with the same intensity of

CONTINUED ON PAGE 44

31

Page 32: mahabharata with pictures

Photo © Yves Coffin, Paris

Photos © Luc Ionesco, Paris

32

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MOVING

TRAGEDIES

I

Page 33: mahabharata with pictures

.w r -r.-r r~\ xi :

Photo © Luc Ionesco, Paris

An ally of Rama in his campaign to free his wife is the monkey-king Sugriva, who has been dispossesed of histhrone and exiled by his half-brother Bali. The adventures and prowess of the monkey heroes . of the Ramayana figureprominently in sculptures of all of South East Asia. Shown here are four of rare beauty by Khmer artists in Cambodia.(1) Sugriva at grips with Bali, a 10th-century carving at Koh Ker, 60 miles east of Angkor. (2) Rama drives hischariot to Lanka to deliver his wife Sita with the help of his monkey allies. (3) Sugriva weeps with anguish on being usurpedof his throne by Bali. These two 11th-century bas-reliefs are carved on the Baphuon temple at Angkor. (4) A masterpieceof deep emotion in stone: pierced by Rama's arrow, Bali dies in the arms of his wife 12th-century bas-relief, Angkor Wat.

33

Page 34: mahabharata with pictures

In Cambodia

SHADOWS

AND LIGHT

ON THE RAMAYANA

uPSING its polished, allusive art to transport itsaudience into the realms of ancient lore, the shadow theatre

has acquired a distinct technique and style of its own inevery Asian country where it exists (see page 28). In Cam¬bodia, performances nowadays are limited to importantoccasions the king's birthday, for example, or the cremationof a famous person. Cambodia's puppets made of perforatedhide are not isolated silhouettes like those of Indonesia,

but are placed in a decorative frame in which the characteris surrounded by "scenery" motifs of various kinds thatrelate to the scene being played. These elegant, oftenleaf-shaped frames are seen as shadows on a translucidscreen lit from behind by candles. Above, "behind thescreens" as puppet manipulators at Siem-Reap, near Angkor,present an episode from the Ramayana. Right, as theaudience sees the performance: holding up the puppets,parts of which resemble exquisite filigree, the manipulatorssway from side to side like shadows dancing with shadows.Music on traditional instruments accompanies the perfor¬mance, and a narrator embellishes his account of the storywith subtle and comic allusions that delight his audience.

"v- i

Left, a performer holds up tothe shadow screen a frame

depicting an episode from theRamayana: Sita is foundin her place of captivity bythe vultures which Rama has

sent in search of her.

Page 35: mahabharata with pictures

Photos © Luc Ionesco, Paris

Shadow theatre puppets aremade with meticulous care and

skill by artists who respect atraditional iconography yet imprinttheir work with individual

artistic touches. Below, workingon a rectangle of buffalo hide,a Cambodian artists at Siem-Reapsketches two monkeys incombat. Right, another artistcarves outlines of a figure andmotifs on a completed drawing.

' M

35

A

Page 36: mahabharata with pictures

THE KATHAKALI

AND THE DANCE-DRAMA

OF INDIA

by C. Kunchu Nair

K

36

ATHAKALI is the principaldance-drama form of Kerala, a narrow

strip of land lying on the coast ofsouth-west India. Though confinedthus to a small area, Kathakali is a

part of an all-India tradition of clas¬sical theatre and shares with its sister

arts in other parts of India certainbroad features which sharply mark offthe Indian tradition from Its counter¬

part in the West.

It is neither possible nor necessaryto discuss here all these common

features relating to the growth ofunity in the Indian Theatre movement.But, at the same time, one cannot

loose sight of certain striking factorsand circumstances which tended to

govern the content and form of thistraditional theatre.

One such factor was the most in¬

timate and enduring connexion thetheatre had maintained ever since its

C. KUNCHU NAIR began his studies andtraining in the Kathakali dance-drama atthe age of 15. He has devoted the past43 years of his life to the subject, studyingfirst under the late Pattikkamthodi Ravunni

Menon, the greatest Kathakali teacher ofmodern times. He is now director of the

most important Kathakali dance academyin Asiathe Keralakalamandalam, in Kerala,

south-west India, where he is also seniorprofessor. In 1959 he introduced theKathakali to Europe and this year histroupe completed a smash hit visit toEurope and Canada. Choreographer andproducer, he has studied every aspect ofthe art of Kathakali.

birth with the religion of the land inall its changing forms and with itsrecorded and written literature. The

most important of this large body ofreligious literature were and still arethe two very great and powerful epics,the Ramayana and the Mahabharataand the later Bhagavad-Gita.

Apart from their historical and liter¬ary value, these bulky compilationsrepresented India's earliest memories,collective wisdom ' and consciousness

and its religious and moral attitude.Not only did they contain discussionsof various philosophical schools, codesof morality and ethics and of abstractqualities of virtue and vice, happinessand sorrow and nobility and baseness;but they also portrayed in bold typesand as the real embodiments of these

principles, noble heroes and heroinesand villains of all kinds.

They narrated stories of great bat¬tles between good and evil and howthe former always triumphed over thelatter; they explained how the godsoften descended on the earth and

mingled and shared with human beingstheir joys and sorrows; how the virtu¬ous on the earth went to Heaven to

enjoy the fruits of their good deedsand how the vicious were draggedto Hell to answer and suffer for their

black deeds; if the gods sometimeslapsed into human weaknesses, themortals often rose to the state of

godliness.

Always with ready answers to theproblems that troubled the suffering

human heart and with constant advice

through sweet persuasion and un¬mistakable examples, these epicsseemed so near and dear that peoplecame to think of them as part of theirvery selves.

No wonder, then, that these holybooks especially the Mahabharata,Ramayana and Bhagavad-Gita exert¬ed so powerful and lasting an influenceon the minds and dally lives of thepeople and proved, over the ages, tobe inexhaustible sources supplying arich variety of themes for art and litera¬ture in India. Rarely did any artist orwriter feel any compulsion to lookelsewhere for his subject matter.

Not that Indian Society remainedstatic. Changes there were in the

CONTINUED ON PAGE 39

KRISHNA AND ARJUNA

Two heroes of the Mahabharata, Krishna

(left) and Arjuna, as they appear ina Kathakali dance-drama. In this

scene from the Bhagavad-Gita,the God Krishna teaches Arjunathe true virtues of the upright man.The Kathakali theatre, which originatedin Kerala, south-west India, in the 17th

century, is part of an all-India traditionof classical theatre in which poetry,music and dance are closely intregrated.The mythological characters are easilyidentified by their highly stylizedcostumes and make-up and theircharacteristic miming and gestures.

Photo © Odile Montserrat, Paris

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KATHAKALI (Continued)

Four-hour make-up for each dancer

Colour page

ARTIFICIAL JOWLS

OF PAPER AND PASTE

In the Kathakali theatre green make-upand wide eyes (lotus eyes) accentuatedby thick black lines identify gods andnoble heroes (see page 36). Violentcharacters such as the ruthless Duryodhanaof the Kaurava clan

(top left) wear green make-up variegatedwith red and white, and grotesqueprotuberances on their noses. Outrightscoundrels like Duryodhana's brother,Dussasana (top, far left) have red beardsand are made up to lookrepulsive and inhuman.

Kathakali dancers wear ornatelydecorated crowns, those with thelargest circles being reserved forthe most evil and detestable characters.

The art of building up the elaboratemask-like facial make-up of the Kathakalidancers is a hereditary vocation and anexpert spends up to four hours oneach face. About 60 varieties of make-upand costumes are used to portray thedifferent characters: god or demon,woman or brahmin, and many others. Afacial border called "chutty" gives newcontours to the features. Made of paperand rice paste mixed with lime, it is appliedto the cheeks, enlarging the face withthe aim of giving greater presence tothe character, just as thick-soled shoeswere once worn by Greek tragedians.The form of the chutty depends on thecharacter being portrayed. Left, actorcompletes the chutty he wears withgreen colouring, to portray a hero ofthe Mahabharata. Far left, top: an actorIs given a "katti" (knife-shaped) make-upfor his role as Duryodhana. Far left, bottom:putting the last touches to the basicmake-up. Designs on forehead alsoserve to identify each character.

Photo © Odile Montserrat, Paris

social life, but not basic enough todislodge these great epics from theirsupreme position. Any pressures fromthe changing social and cultural valueswere absorbed by a slight reworkingof the old materials.

This persistance of epic stories asthe recurring theme for the theatre hadtended to discourage realism. Leg¬ends and myths, distortions andexaggerations as they are from reallife, could hardly lend themselves torealistic treatment without injuringartistic unity and aesthetic propriety.

Besides, there was an important cir¬cumstance that kept realism out of theIndian Theatre. Never in the historyof its evolution could drama ¡n India

completely break loose from poetry,music and dance as happened in theWest. Even as these three arts were

having their own indépendant coursesof development, they retained theiroriginal connexion with drama. How¬ever their development as separatearts necessitated their reintegrationwith drama at a higher level, the formof integration depending on the pre¬ponderance of one or other of thethree forms.

The heavy emphasis on poetry,music and dance added to the almost

complete dependence on mythologicalstories, ruled out realism. The onlylogical and consistant direction thedevelopment of Indian Theatre couldtake from that position was evidentlytowards an increasingly greater degreeof abstraction and stylization andfurther refinement and rarefaction of

technique.

How did the art of acting stand inrelation to its three adjuncts poetry,music and dance? To answer this,we may introduce here the concept ofAbhinayam developed by Hindu theo¬rists. This term has often been inade¬

quately translated as acting. In fact,it is more than acting and if broadlyunderstood includes poetry, music anddance.

Abhinayam is explained as the artof conveying or communicating to thespectator through suggestion thethoughts and feelings of the charac¬ters in relation to their causes and

effects. Feelings, emotions and moodswere analyzed and classified accord¬ing to their intensity and permanence.How these feelings are visually pro¬jected all over the body throughchanges in the colour, motion, position,pose, gesture, etc., of the body, itslimbs and .features and changes inthe voice, was closely studied. Themovements and gestures and tonalvariation were abstracted, stylized,condensed or enlarged and related todefinite feelings, moods and actions.

The Abhinayam consists primarilyin the actor's showing or "acting"these elements thereby suggesting thecorresponding feelings, etc., which

become sublimated as aesthetic fla¬

vour or enjoyment in the spectator.

The Hindu theorists have recognizedfour elements or aspects of Abhinayamaccording to its means or media asrelating to (1) body (Angikam); (2)speech (Vacikam); (3) mind (Satvi-kam); and external means (Aharyam).

(1) Angikam - Proper use of artisticgestures, actor's bearing, walk, move¬ment of features and limbs.

(2) Vacikam - Use of proper pro-nounciation, modulation of voice,accent and rhythm, proper dramaticdelivery of the text (prose, poetry andsongs).

(3) Satvikam - Representation ofsome of the basic psychic conditionsby such means as immobility, pers¬piration, change of voice, etc.

(4) Aharyam - Make-up and cos¬tumes and the stage decor and props.

In Its wider sense Angikam shouldinclude dance, and Vacikam, music.

Considering these characteristicfeatures which are almost antitheticalto the Western concept of drama, itwill be more appropriate to call thetraditional Indian drama (includingdance-drama) a form of "lyrlco-drama-tl.c spectacle." Incidently, it is inter¬esting to note that this Is also true invarying degrees of most of thecountries of the South-East Asia whichwere once called "Greater India."

THE major forms of Indian

dance (of the interpretative type) anddance-dramas like Bharatnatyam, Ka-thak, Manipuri, Kathakali, Kuchlputi,Bhagavatamela, Yakshaganam, etc.,which were revived during the last fiftyyears grew up in this all-India dancetradition. However, in assimilating thistradition each of these forms had its

own area of emphasis. Each is firmlyrooted in its local folk tradition which

Imparts and sustains its uniquenessand justifies its independent existence.

Kathakali can be roughly translatedas danced play. A cycle of eightplays based on the story of Rama,the hero of the Ramayana, was writtenbetween 1655 and 1661 A.D. (somescholars say between 1484 and 1497A.D.) by a ruler of a petty principalitycalled Kottarakara.

Many poets wrote Kathakali playsduring the last three hundred years,but only some thirty of this large col¬lection, numbering more than ahundred, remained and still remainpopular on the stage. Of these nineare based on the Ramayana, thirteenon the Mahabharata and seven on the

Bhagavad-Gita.

In preparing the ground for the y\emergence of this new form, the tra- ^^dition of the older dance forms of

Kerala both folk and classical and

CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE

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KATHAKALI (Continued)

Daily practice from 3 a.m. to 9 p.m.

religious and secular played a greatpart. Many of the choreographicpatterns, the basic stance with thefeet planted wide apart and the out¬stretched hands on either side, themovements for fighting, dance sequen¬ces and many of the elements ofthe make-up and costuming all showthe strong influence of the Indigenousfolk arts.

Another art form on which Kathakali

has heavily drawn is Kutiyattam theoldest classical form of drama for thepresentation of Sanskrit plays. Thisform was developed during the ninthand tenth centuries A.D. Kathakali is

heavily Indebted to Kutiyattam for itstechnique of facial expression, handgestures and many of its stageconventions. It was mainly throughit that the all-India tradition reachedKathakali. Kathakali is thus a finesynthesis between the indigenous Dra-vidian tradition and the all-India tra¬dition.

A

40

Kathakali performance

usually takes place in the open air andoccupies the whole night. Traditionally,the acting area (12 feet square) wasnot raised, but was on the same levelas the spectators who used to squaton the ground, the stage being cover¬ed with a pandal (a light roofed struc¬ture on poles), which is at least 104feet high.

Accompaniment: The musical accom¬paniment consists of three drums, theChenda, Maddalam and Edakka, anda gong, a pair of cymbals and a conchshell. The Chenda is not played fora female character and Edakka formales. There are two vocalists, theleading one holding the gong and theother, the cymbals.

Preliminaries: On the day of theperformance, at about 6 p.m. a shortdrumming announces the day's pro¬gramme. This is called Keli.

At about 8.30 p.m. the programmebegins. A huge brass lamp with wicksfloating in oil placed at the front centreof the stage is lit. Then followsdrumming on Maddalam called Aran-gukeli.

Then two stage assistants hold acurtain in front of the stage.

Behind the curtain one or two dan¬

cers perform a propitiary prelude call¬ed Thotayam, ¡n praise of the godsand accompanied on the Maddalamalone. This is followed by a recitalof prayers by the two singers.

The next item is the conventionalintroduction of the important characteror charactors of the play selected forthe night. In the full splendour of themake-up and costumes and accom¬panied by all the instrumentalists andvocalists, they perform certain puredance sequences.

This is called Purappat.

Then the stage is given to the musi¬cians alone and they give a recitalcalled Melappadam. Now they canshow their talents as soloists and more

freely explore the possibilities of theirarts without their playing being tailor¬ed to the demands of the dance ordrama.

Story proper: The Melappadam conclu¬des the preliminaries,- and the rest ofthe night is taken up by either. onefull play or exerpts from several.

The Kathakali play, the literarytext composed by the playwright, isthe basis of Abhinayam. The textis ¡n the form of verses and songswritten usually in highly poetic style.The songs represent dramatic dialo¬gues, the verses being generally thewords of the narrator and summariz¬

ing those sections of the theme whichare not represented on the stage. Theyoften act as the links between the

scenes.

Abhinayam (representation): Onepeculiar feature of Kathakali whichdifferentiates it from most other Indian

dance dramas deserves special men¬tion. In the other forms, all the fourelements of Abhinayam, mentionedabove, concern the actor-dancer alone.In Kathakali, however, he does onlythree, the Vacikam being entrusted tothe singers, except that the actor-dancer in certain roles makes some

grunts. This suppression of Vacikamhas led to a remarkable developmentand elaboration of the facial expres¬sion of the actor-dancer to an extent

not often seen in any other school.

Vacikam (relating to speech or sing¬ing): The singing of the verses andsongs forming the text of the playconstitutes the Vacikam. As the

singer sings the lines of the songs,the actor-dancer interprets the ideasand feelings contained in them. Themelody-moulds, the rhythms and thetempi of the songs are of great sig¬nificance. Their choice is so carefullymade as to create a variety of moods,to retard or quicken the speed of theaction and to draw out or compressthe movement according to the needof the particular plot situation orfeelings being projected. For instancea song for a battle scene and one fora love scene are entirely different Intheir rendering, melody-moulds andtempi.

Angikam (relating to the body): Thesole medium for Angikam is the bodyof the actor. The silent artist suggeststhe idea and related feelings contain¬ed in the words and sentences of

the songs with the help of the move¬ments of the body, its limbs andfeatures. They include hand-gestures,mime, dance, etc.

In between the stanzas the actor

usually executes a sequence of dance.This is not pure or abstract dance. It

reflects, by its tempo, quality andnature the general purport of thestanza which precedes or succeedsthe dance.

For hand gestures Kathakali mainlydepends on a short manual whichgives 470 gestures deriving them from24 root gestures. They are classifiedas single hand, double hand, mixedhand (each hand forming different ges¬tures from the other) and gestureshaving more than one meaning. There

another division into eight types.Each has its own different pose, direc¬tion, movement of the body and wayof using space. Eyes normally followthe gestures. The mode of showingthe gesture and the accompanyingmovements of features and limbs are

determined by the context, the tempoof the rhythm and the nature of thecharacter portrayed.

0NE other feature is impro¬

visation and solo acting. There areseveral occasions when there are no

textual lines to interpret and the actoris required to fill in the gaps by Impro¬visation. The character may be goingthrough a forest and describing thewild life; or enjoying the sights ofHeaven. Here, without the help ofany scenic settings, the actor conjuresup a succession of visual ¡mages inmovement ¡n terms of which he tries

to explain and interpret the desiredtheme.

The instrumental music provides apowerful support. Its main function isto simulate all kinds of movements of

m

C. Kunchu Nair (author of this article)teaching at the Kathakali dance academy,the Keralakalamandalam, in India,of which he is director. Marks

in ash on his forehead and chest are

the signs of the Lord Shiva.

Page 41: mahabharata with pictures

BHÜ

V »'

3¿&->

sir5?-

Photo © Pic, Paris

Introductory dance to a Kathakali drama based on the Mahabharata, performedat the 1967 Theatre of the Nations festival in Paris. A Kathakali troupefrom the Keralakalamandalam in Kerala, India, made a highlysuccessful tour of Europe and Canada this year, with the collaboration of the InternationalMusic Council and the International Institute for Comparative Music Studies.

the actor-dancer including gestures,dances, etc.

Aharyam: This primarily relates tothe make-up, costumes and jewelleryof the actors and secondly to the stageprops. Kathakali does not make useof any stage settings. But the make¬up and costumes have a most impor¬tant function in this dance-drama

which ¡s primarily to indicate not thebirth, age, status, or nationality of thecharacters but the essential nature of

their mental make-up. The distortion,abstraction and exaggeration of themake-up and costumes reflect thesame qualities of the mythologicalcharacters.

There are now about 6lxty varietiesof make-up and costumes. Major typesare the nine given below:

Pacca (Green) - Generally for thenoble and virtuous. Gods and heroes

like Rama; Katti (Knife) - Charactershaving vices such as greed, lust andvanity. Ravana the demon king ofLanka who was killed by Rama; Tatl(Beard) - Destructive forces in theform of terrifying demons; Minukku(Polished) - Females, Brahmins,Sages etc.; Karl (Black) - Aborigines,hunter etc.; Pazhuppu (Mixture of

yellow and red) - Brahma, Shiva andbrother Krishna; Chuvappu (red) -Sun, Fire etc.; Teppu (Painted) - Bird,Snake etc.; Poymukham (Masks) -Masks of monkey, pig, old hag etc.are sometimes used.

The process of make-up and costum¬ing ¡n Kathakali takes much time aslong as four hours to complete inrespect of characters having Chutty

the facial border made of rice pastemixed with lime and sometimes paperas well.

First the actor himself draws an

outline of the make-up on his face.Then he lies down face upwards andthe make-up artist forms the Chuttyon his face little by little. This takesmost of the make-up time.

Next the actor himself completesthe remaining details and puts in hiseyes a granule-like particle whichgrows Inside the flower of a plantbelonging to the Solanaceae family.The particle ¡s retained ¡n the corner ofeach eye and is removed only afterthe performance. It makes the eyered and imparts a special glow add¬ing to the expressiveness of the eyes.Then one by one he puts on thecostumes and ornaments with the help

of dressing room assistants. Beforehe goes to the stage he pays respectsto his teachers.

The materials used for the make-upare: Red arsenic, Indigo cake, Dammarresin, Collyrium, red powder, ricepaste, lime, paper, cork, Miea, Glngillyoil and Cocoanut oil.

The technique of Abhinayam as used¡n Kathakali and the endless varietyof highly stylized and sharply definedmovements that goes with it presup¬poses a long course of hard andrigorous training of the body and mindof the would-be actor-dancer. The

training begins at the age of 10 to 12and lasts for about 12 years. By along series of repeated exercises andother practices the body is trained tobecome a proper medium of dance andexpression.

After the second year, the studenttakes part in actual performancesas an understudy for minor roles.June to December is the season

for training proper. For the rest ofthe year he participates in as manyperformances as possible under theguidance of his teacher. As part ofthe training, he undergoes for threemonths every year a treatment of oil

CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE

41

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KATHAKALI (Continued)

massage to make his body mellowand supple.

Along with this goes the trainingof mind. The student learns the text

of the plays and tries to understandthe problems of characterization, struc¬ture of the play and a host of othertheories. By the time he leaves theschool he has studied at least 15 playswhich form the basic core of the

Kathakali repertoire.

The modern tendency ¡s to reducethe period of training by extendingthe classroom work to the whole yearinstead of limiting ¡t to six months as¡n former times. But the period cannotbe reduced to below eight years. Themaximum number of students a teacher

can handle at a time is four. Girls

never act in Kathakali, one reason

perhaps being the length and rigorousnature of the training required.

A typical time table of training inthe past was:

3.00 a.m. to 4.00 a.m. Practice in

the movements, of eye, brow, lip*, neckand other facial features.

4.00 a.m. to 6.00 a.m. Oil is

applied to the body; a course of exer¬cises, foot-work, dance movementsetc., lead to the massage in whichthe student lies on a mat and the

teacher works his body over with hisfeet.

8.30 a.m. to 11.30 a.m. and 2.30 p.m.to 5 p.m. Practice in the preliminarydances, Thotayam and Purappatu;rehearsal of the plays.

7.30 p.m. to 9.00 p.m. Practice inexpressing emotions, feelings andsentiments with the help of eyes, brow,cheek, lips, neck etc., and interpreta¬tion of important sections of the play.

Modern schools of Kathakali have

had of course to make some conces¬

sions to this long and rigorousschedule to allow time for the generaleducation of the students.

As part of India's cultural -renais¬sance which began in the last century,Interest in our traditional arts, musicdance and drama has been revived.

One of the best representatives ofthis renaissance in Kerala was the late

national poet, Vallathol.' With the helpof his friends he founded in 1930 the

Keralakalamandalam the first and now

the most well-known Academy to teachKathakali and other arts of Kerala.

Vallathol travelled throughout India andvisited many countries, popularizingthis art form and seeking help for hisAcademy, which is now owned andrun by the Government of Kerala. Atroupe from the Academy made ahighly successful tour of Europe andCanada from May to September, 1967.

In 1939 a second school Kottak-

kal Natyasangham was started. To¬day Kathakali is growing as an artform and several other schools offer¬

ing training in Kathakali have openedin India.

Drawings © Peter Schumann, Archives ofthe International Institute for

Comparative Music Studies, Berlin

LANGUAGE OF HANDS. In the Kathakali dance-drama, the songs and verses of the textare sung by soloists. The actor-dancer remains silent, but speaks in a languageof gestures, or "mudras". Mudras are the movements and positioning of the handsto represent a word, a person, an idea or an action, and so on. The language is enrichedby movements and' miming with the body, limbs and features that express the ideas andfeelings of the characters in the play. One manual on mudras lists nearly 500 of thesehand gestures a few examples of which are shown below.

Brahma, the Creator

Rama, the hero

Truth

The Goddess Parvati Indra, King of lleavun

C\

Certainty

Obeisance (greeting) The five Pandava brothers

Reason King Duryodhana

To kill

Beautiful girl

Chariot

The heavens

Gentle ^v

Disc

Loved one

Brother Sin Cuckoo Marriage Wife

42

Poison To see Combat Husband Tortoise Lion

Page 43: mahabharata with pictures

INDIA'S ANCIENT HEROES ON CELLULOID

N,lot long ago someone askedthe distinguished Indian film makerSatyjit Ray, if it was true that hewished to make a screen version of

the Mahabharata. "Yes, I do," he

replied. "I have given it a lot ofthought. It is a theme that endures,a theme of war and peace, tyrannyand struggle. Also, ¡t is worthwhileto- look at one's roots."

From the classic age of Sanskritdrama some sixteen centuries ago tothe present times, poets, playwrights,sculptors and film makers have lookedat these roots with growing fascinationand drawn sustenance from them.

It is small wonder then that the veryfirst Indian film, "Raja Harishchandra,"produced in 1913 by Dhundiraj GobindPhalke, should have been a mytho¬logical tale sung and celebratedthroughout the country.

The story concerns Harishchandra,a king known for his piety andtruthfulness. One day Vlswamltra,the wise Brahmin in the epic literature,demands of him the sacrificial gift dueto a Brahmin and the king offers himwhatever he might choose to ask,"gold, his own son, wife, body, life,kingdom and good fortune". Vis-wamitra strips the king of all hisworldly possessions leaving him but agarment of bark and his wife and son.The king suffers untold miseries andhardships, sacrifices his son, and isabout to offer up his wife, when thegods arrive and entreat him to accom¬pany them to heaven.

The film was a tremendous success.

Exciting as films from other countrieshad hitherto seemed, it was an evengreater thrill for the audience to seea familiar, traditional story set in Indiaand performed by Indian actors. Itlifted the audience out of day-to-dayfrustrations into the world of legendaryIndia whose glorious past, familiar insong and story, yet even so, half for¬gotten, had thus been given living, mov¬ing reality.

The impact, in fact, was overwhelm¬ing. In one of Phalke's subsequentfilms, when Krishna appeared on thescreen men and women in the audience

prostrated themselves. This sponta¬neous action was not the naive gesture

BHAGWAN GARGA is an Indian cinemahistorian and film critic. He has written on

many aspects of the Indian cinema and hasproduced a number of documentary films onIndian film-making and Indian art. On aninternational level, hé has helped to arrangethe exchange of films between India andFrance and was a member of the Unesco

committee of experts on Anthologies of theHistory of the Cinema which met in Paris inApril 1967. Bhagwan Garga is to prepare theIndian anthology.

by Bhagwan D. Carga

of people mistaking the screen incar¬nation for the real god; the reverenceshown was for the symbol not for theman portraying it.

The first decade of the Indian cinema

was given over almost entirely tomythological stories from the Mahab¬harata and the Ramayana. The Indianfilm maker was quick to discover notonly the perennial popularity of thetwo great epics, but also that theywere an inexhaustible mine of dramatic

material that could be adapted to suitany audience.

In the heyday of the serials, when"The Perils of Pauline" helped Holly¬wood to make Its millions, the Indianfilm maker, like many others, followedthe trend but on his own terms. In the

epics, particularly the Ramayana, hediscovered a wealth of action the

basic Ingredient of the serial film.

One of the earliest serials producedand shown in several instalments ¡n

India was "The Exile of Rama" (1918).Thrilling as it may have been to watch.Miss Pearl White dangling from anaeroplane or leaping from a burningbuilding, this heroine was still no matchfor the monkey-god Hanuman, whocould suspend himself in mid-air or lifta mountain on his little finger. Dangerlurked behind every bush in the forestswhere Rama and his beautiful wife,Sita, were exiled.. And what greaterthrill than to witness the combat bet¬

ween Rama and Ravana, the demon-king, in which Rama struck off Ravana'sten heads one after the other, only tofind that as one fell another grew inits place.

THE Mahabharata is not

only the more ancient and the longer ofthe two epics, but has a larger fund ofstories those of Nala and Damayanti,of Shakuntala (immortalized by Kali-dasa in his play of the same name),of Savltri and, of course, the movingpoetic colloquies between Arjuna andKrishna which form a separate book,the Bhagavad-Gita.

All these stories lend themselves

readily to screen adaptations. Themost popular of all is perhaps that ofNala and Damayanti, the story of abeautiful girl for whose hand the godscompete with her lover (a mere mor¬tal) and lose. This ancient story illus¬trates the humanized concepts of thetraditional culture, gods with a touchof human frailty, women celebrated forbeauty and wit, men capable of win¬ning when pitted against gods.

The cinematic potentialities of thestory are obvious enough, and the firstversion was made as early as 1919 by

Madan Theatres of Calcutta, with anItalian, Eugenio De Llguoro, directingthe film. "Nala and Damayanti" hassince been filmed at least twenty times,but has lost none of its popularity.

The advent of sound films served, ifanything, to increase the popularity ofscenarios based on the epics. It issignificant that among the first soundfilms by far the best was "Ayodhya KaRaja" (The King of Ayodhya), a mytho¬logical film. A little later, in 1934, came"Sita," directed by Devaki Bose, whichis perhaps the finest screen renderingof the Ramayana to date.

Devaki Bose used a characteristic¬

ally Indian device in unfolding hisstory. The ancient Sanscrit dramas

traditionally opened with a prologuein which the chief actor or narrator

(the sutradhar) outlined the story orcommented on one or another aspectof the play. Bose opened his filmwith a commentary of this kind illustrat¬ed with murals depicting Incidents fromthe lives of Rama and Sita.

During the Second World War whenthe demand for entertainment increas¬

ed tremendously and commercial com¬panies in consequence took the lineof least resistance, Indian films tooshowed obvious signs of decline and"fatigue". Significantly, the two out¬standing films of the period were "RamRajya" (The Reign of Rama) and"Shakuntala", the first based on theRamayana and the second on the Ma¬habharata.

In "Ram Rajya" the crucial momentcomes when Rama, though convincedof the chastity of his wife, Sita, whileshe was the captive of Ravana,nevertheless sends her into exile after

hearing a callous remark casting doubton her innocence. Vijay Bhatt, directorof the film, has recalled publicreactions to this part of the storywhen he showed his film in New York.

"Many people asked me why thekindly Rama yielded to the wishes ofthe people in spite of his convictionthat Sita was innocent. I replied thatthis was the difference between the

democratic kings of the West and ofthe East. Edward VIII left the peoplefor the sake of his wife; Rama lefthis wife for the sake of the people."

Superficially, Vijay Bhatt's replymight appear chauvinistic and vain; inreality it is nothing of the sort. Itshows how the Indian ¡s alwayscomparing and judging his ownconduct (and sometimes that of others)by the standards set in the epics.These standards are by no meansunattainable. In fact the popularity of A^ithe epics is mainly due to their deep *Vhumanity, wherein gods behave likeordinary men and men like gods.

Page 44: mahabharata with pictures

X^., y^r . *

¡M

. ..»">* * ov t* jr í

In many temples on theisland of Java (Indonesia),notably the famous templeof Prambanan, stone reliefsrecount ancient stories

from the Mahabharata and

the Ramayana. Amongthe finest are those

depicting the exploits andadventures of Arjuna,chief of the Pandava clan.

This masterly head ofArjuna graces the ruins ofthe 13th-century Djagotemple in eastern Java.

THE EPICS IIM THE ART OF SOUTH ASIA (Continued from page 31 )

44

feeling or psychological insight whichthe Indian sculptor had brought tohis work.

In the seventeenth century, Mughalpainting takes a different turn, butartists continue to paint the epics.Now the scene shifts to Rajasthanwhere several series of magnificentpaintings in long, extensive sets, areproduced. The favourite theme withthe Rajasthani painters is the Rama¬yana and many sets now in impor¬tant collections all over the world have

survived.

Although the technical level may notbe as high, the lines lacking the samevibrancy, and the colour the samesophistication or enamelled brillianceof Mughal work, what has been gain

ed is an intensity of emotion. Inmany of the Rajasthan paintings thereis a quality of naivete and wonder atthe beholding of divine form. Theseare products of a wonderful spiritualequilibrium. One feels that the artistfully believed in what he was painting.

That other great centre of miniaturepainting in India, the Punjab hills,showed an equal interest in the epics.One of the most famous sets of mini¬

atures of the Hill or Pahari schools

is the large Ramayana, many of whoseunusually large-sized leaves are nowin the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston,and the Cleveland Museum of Art.

The date of this set is a matter of

controversy among scholars, but therecan be little doubt about the quality

of these paintings. In a scene likethe siege of Lanka, the imaginativeinventiveness of the Pahari painter,as he arranges whole armies ofmonkeys and bears covering the hill¬side outside the golden walls of thefortress of the demon-king, combines .with his rich sense of colouring anddesign.

What is seen in these paintingsabove all is the feeling of wonderand humility with which the painterapproached the subject. Here wehave the mature flower of an ancient

tradition. An even earlier set of paint¬ings treating of the Ramayana theme,and dating possibly back to A.D. 1720,comes from the tiny principality ofGuler in the Punjab Hills.

Page 45: mahabharata with pictures

This is rendered in what is popu¬larly referred to as the Basohli style,and has all the vigour and intensityassociated with it. With the simplestpossible palette, consisting of hotyellows and blues and reds, the artistof the hills has created in these paint¬ings a magnificent world of Gods andheroes seen with eyes of devotion(see colour plate, page 22-23).

There are still other sets of the Ra¬

mayana from the Hills, an importantand very extensive one coming fromthe remote hill State of Kulu, and

popularly known among art historiansas the Shangri Ramayana.

But the set which has perhaps thegreatest amount of delicacy andrefinement of treatment illustrates the

moving episode of Nala and Da¬mayanti from the Mahabharata. Inthis series of exquisite drawings, somepartly coloured, the artist of theeighteenth century has left behind amasterpiece in terms of tendernessof feeling. The number of paintingsin this set is not fully known althoughit appears to have been very large,but whatever has survived is of

magnificent quality.The most extensive of the sets of

Pahari works is again a series ofdrawings. This series illustrating theentire story of the Ramayana has asmany as seven hundred leaves, thesebeing swiftly drawn In sanguine. uponpaper. The set is dated and signed:it was executed in A.D. 1816 for RajaBhuplnder Pal of Basohli by the artistRanjha of the family of Pandit Seu.

The entire set is well preserved,and is now in the collection of the

Bharat Kala Bhavan at Benares. This

makes it the most complete set ofpaintings of any themes from the epicsanywhere in the world. And what isamazing is that nowhere in thesehundreds of leaves is there anyweakening of intensity or emotion.

A significant passage from the BalKanda of the Ramayana tells of thelegendary author of the epic, Valmiki,realizing the story of Rama completelyin his mind before setting to work.It was to gain this realization that"seating himself with his face towardsthe East and sipping water accordingto rule, he applied himself to the yogiccontemplation of his theme.

"By virtue of his yoga power, hethen clearly saw before him Rama,Lakshmana and Sita; as well as Da¬saratha together with his wives, laugh¬ing, talking, acting, and moving, inhis kingdom, as in real life. He be¬held, by yoga power, all that hadcome to pass and all that was tocome to pass In the future, like anelli fruit on the palm of his hand.And having truly seen all by virtueof his concentration, the generoussage began the setting down of thehistory of Rama."

The artist of the great works of artof which we have spoken must also,one feels, have proceeded in a some¬what like manner.

FURTHER READING ON THE RAMAYANA

AND THE MAHABHARATA

RAMAYANA

The Ayodhya Canto of theRamayana as told by KambanTranslated from the Tamil

by C. Rajagopalachari.(Unesco Collection of RepresentativeWorks.) George Allen and Unwin,London, 1961 (16/-).

Kavitavali

by Tulsi Das.Translated and with a Critical Intro¬

duction by Raymond Allchin.(Unesco Collection of RepresentativeWorks.) George Allen and Unwin,London, 1964 (32/-); R.S. Barnesand Co., Inc., New York. ($ 6.00).

Ramayana (in prose)by C. Rajagopalachari.Bhavan's Book Univ., Bombay, 1965(paperback).

The Ramayana and theMahabharata

Condensed into English verse byRomesh C. Dutt. Everymans'sLibrary. J. M. Dent and Sons, Lon¬don; Dutton, New York, 1966.

The Holly Lake of the Acts ofRama

by W. Douglas P. Hill.New translation of Tulsi Das's

Ramacaritamanasa.

Oxford Univ. Press, London, Cal¬cutta, 1952.

Thai Ramayana

Retold from the original versionwritten by King Rama I of Thailand.Chalermit Bookshop, Bangkok, 1965.

MAHABHARATA

Mahabharata (in prose)by C. Rajagopalachari.Bhavan's Book Univ., Bombay.

Mahabharata of Krishna

Dwaipayana Vyasa

Translated into English prose fromthe original Sanskrit by P. C. Roy,Oriental Publishing Co., Calcutta,1956 (12 vol.).

The Gospel of Selfless Action orthe Gita according to GandhiTranslation of the original in Gujaratiwith an addition, introduction and

commentary by Mahadev Desai,Navajivan Publishing House, Ahme-dabad, 1946.

The Bhagavad-GitaTranslated by S. Radhakrishnan.George Allen and Unwin, London,1948.

The Sita, the Song SupremeIntroduction by S. Radhakrishnan.Taraporevala, Bombay, 1962.

The Bhagavad-GitaTranslated from the Sanskrit with an

introduction by Juan Mascaro, Pen¬guin Books, Harmondsworth, London,1962.

The Song of God Bhagavad-GitaTranslated by Swami Prabhavanandaand Christopher Isherwood with anintroduction by Aldous Huxley, Phoe¬nix House, London, 1956.

ABOUT THE MAHABHARATA

Jnaneshvari

by Jnaneshvar, incorporating the textof the Bhagavad-Gita (S. Radhakrish¬nan translation). Translated from theMarathi by V. G. Pradhan. Editedand with an introduction by H. W.Lambert (Vol. I). Unesco Collectionof Representative Works. GeorgeAllen and Unwin, London, 1967

(52/6).

Gita, the Motherby Gandhi.Edited and published by A. T. Hin-gorani, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan,Bombay, 1965.

The Teaching of the Gitaby Gandhi.Edited and published by A. T. Hin-gorani, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan,Bombay, 1962.

Ethnography of Ancient India(Mahabharata)by R. Shafert.Harrassovitz, Wiesbaden, 1954.

On the meaning of theMahabharata

by V. S. Sukthankar.Asiatic Society of Bombay, Bombay,1957.

ABOUT BOTH EPICS

Ancient Indonesian Art

by A. J. Bernet Kempers.Harvard University Press, Cambridge,Mass., 1959.

Vyasa and Valmikiby A. Ghose.

Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Pondicherry,1956.

Art in Indonesia: Continuities and

Changeby. Claire Holt.Cornell University Press, Ithaca,New York, 1967.

Epics, Myths and Legends ofIndia

by Paul Thomas.Taraporevala Sons and Co., Bombay,1945.

The Loves of Krishna in Indian

Painting and Poetryby W. G. Archer.George Allen and Unwin, London,1957.

A History of India (Vol. I)by Romila Thapar. Penguin BooksLtd., Harmondsworth, London 1966(Pelican paperback, 7/6).

History of Indian and IndonesianArt

by A. K. Coomaraswamy.Goldston, London ; Hiersemann, Leip¬zig ; Weyhe, New York, 1927.

1000 Mythological Charactersbriefly describedby Edward Sylvester Ellis.Noble and Noble, New York, 1927.

Indian Tales

by Romila Thapar.G. Bell and Sons, London, 1961.

The Art of Indian Asia,its Mythology and Transformationby Heinrich Zimmer.Edited by J. Campbell, PantheonBooks, New York, 1953. 45

Page 46: mahabharata with pictures

Letters to the EditorWAR OR PEACE ?

Sir,

Congratulations on the issue, "Waror Peace?" (August-September 1967).It deserves the widest circulation par¬

ticularly among young people since itmakes us face up to our responsi¬bilities and reveals the gravity of thedisarmament problem. A great dealof nonsense has been written aboutthe problem and one often feels thatmuch of what is said about the criticaldanger threatening us all has neitherrhyme nor reason. Your Issue, how¬ever, was clear and concise, and Iparticularly welcome the publication ofextracts from the Papal Encyclical. Ishall make sure that my family andfriends see the issue, not with theidea of creating a "war psychosis", butto encourage them to give deeperthought to the problem.

Simone Aviron-Violet

Lyon, France

Sir,

Your August-September issue is awonderful presentation of facts thataffirm what is necessary for worldpeace and international understanding.I was so impressed with the articlescontributed by Philip Noel-Baker, HisHoliness Pope Paul VI and Unesco'sDirector General, Mr René Maheu thatI ordered more copies which I shallcirculate among friends and membersof our local United Nations Associa¬

tion. I have subscribed to your maga¬zine for four years and always findit a mine of information (never a dullcopy).

A.E. Green

United Nations Association

Broadstone, U.K.

AFRICA'S SHORTAGE

OF DENTISTS

46

Sir,

The remarkable article by NicholasC. Otieno on training Africa'sscientists (June 1967) should alsohave emphasized the serious shortageof dentists in Africa.

If my information is correct, Africaas a continent has only one dentistfor every 80,000 inhabitants. Thisshortage is likely to increase unlessurgent steps are taken to expandexisting schools of dentistry in Dakarand Lagos and unless new teachingcentres are established in the African

universities now being built.

Jacques CharonFédération Dentaire Internationale

Paris, France

NOISE POLLUTION

Sir,

The harmful effects of noise are

now invading the countryside. Tworeasons are the increasing use oftractors and the opening of smallworkshops which do not comply withindustrial health regulations, especiallyfor the prevention of damage to hear¬ing. City dwellers seeking a few

weeks of rest and quiet In the coun¬tryside are sometimes obliged to cutshort their vacations because certain

villages have become so noisy. Yourissue on Noise Pollution (July 1967)will be of prime interest to countrypeople, particularly to school teachers,since in small communities which have

neither doctor nor nurse, the teach¬

er ¡s the only person able to alertpeople to the harmful effects of noiseon health.

Dr Pierre Rolland

Bourg-la-Reine, France

LINK BETWEEN FRIENDS

Sir,

I love the "Unesco Courier", as do

my friends who receive it when Ifinish reading it. One, a teacher inKobe, Japan, says It is the bestmagazine he reads, and it is alwaysin demand at his school library.Sometimes there are several areas of

Interest so the magazine goes toseveral friends in different countries.

Hugh Stewart SmithWashington D.C., U.S.A.

THE NAMING OF MONTREAL

Sir,

The caption of a photo Illustratingthe article on Canada ("A Culture inthe Making") ¡n your April 1967 issue,tells us that Jacques Cartier gave thename "Montreal" to the city hefounded near Mount Royal.

Francis the First, of France, inconsenting to help Jacques Cartier tosearch for new lands to the west of

the Island of Hierro (most westerlyIsland of the Canaries), and in agree¬ment with the Pope, instructed the

explorer to give the name "Montreal"to the first town founded by him inCanada. This was to honour the

youny Cardinal de Medicls, Bishop ofAvignon in France and of Montreale, asmall town near Palermo, Sicily.Cardinal de Medicls had been

instrumental in obtaining the Pope'sagreement to Cartier's enterprise.

Eugene GuernierInstitute of Political Studies

University of Paris

A VAST INVENTORY

Sir,

The Corpus Vitrearum Med/7 Aevi,the inventory of Europe's medievalstained glass windows, is by no meansan "unprecedented undertaking", asdescribed in your April 1967 issue.It is one facet of a colossal enterprise,a vast and almost universal cultural

Inventory undertaken since 1924 bythe International Academic Union,

which comprises 27 of the world'sprincipal academies in the fields ofLetters and the Ethical and Political

Sciences. In addition to a score of

major undertakings, including theCorpus Vitrearum Medii Aevi, theUnion sponsors many similar pub¬lications.

Our Union, whose headquartersare at the Académie Royale de Bel¬gique (Brussels), benefits by sub¬sidies from the International Council

for Philosophy and Humanistic Studies.These subsidies are drawn from funds

which the International Council, as an

international non-governmental organi¬zation, receives from Unesco.

Prof. Henri LavacheryHonorary Perpetual Secretary

to the Académie Royalede Belgique, Brussels, Belgium

NEW PRICE OF THE 'UNESCO COURIER'Repeated rises in production and distribution costs have made

it necessary to adjust the annual subscription rates and singlecopy price of the UNESCO COURIER.

On January 1, 1968 our new rates will go into effect as follows:

SINGLE

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Subscribers will be notified of the new rates in other currencies

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Listed below are the new annual subscription, ratés in the follow¬ing countries: Belgium: 170 FB - Denmark: 20 D.Kr. - Fed. Rep.of Germany: 12 DM - Israel : £1 9.50 - Mexico : 30 pesos m/n -Netherlands: 10 fl. - Spain: 160 pts - Switzerland: 12 Fr.S.

Page 47: mahabharata with pictures

UNESCO COURIER INDEX 1967

JanuaryFLORENCE, VENICE. International campaign for Florence and Venice(R. Maheu). Years to repair the damage (B. Molajoli). Plight ofFlorentine artisans (R. Keating). Dimensions of a disaster. Hospitalfor paintings (H.J. Plenderleith). Anatomy of the flood (D. Tonini).Cimabue's "Crucifix". Ghiberti's "Gates of Paradise". eArt treasures

(12) Adam and Eve (Florence).

FebruaryTHE POPULATION CRUNCH. Three centuries of demography(B. Urlanis). World population prospects (J. Fourastié). Hanging citiesahead? International emergency technical aid service (E.D. Mills).Landslides in Rio de Janeiro. Ethics in the mass media (R. Maheu).New home for Rameses' Nubian temples. Unesco in the service ofpeace (V. de Lipski). Art treasures (13) Spirit figure mask (Gabon).

March

APARTHEID. A country divided (Unesco report on Apartheid). Effectsof Apartheid on culture: Price of segregation (A. Paton); Forbiddendialogue (L. Nkosi); Seeds of wrath (D. Brutus); The dying minds(R. Segal); The fettered spirit (B. Breytenbach). South Africa'swasted manpower (ILO report). Apartheid and the church. Art trea¬sures (14) Hands (Auguste Rodin).

AprilEXPO 67. Canada's culture in the making (F.C. James). Expo 67:the world In a thousand acres. Canada's far north (I. Baird). Artistsof the tundra. Stained-glass of medieval Europe (colour pages).Well-springs of Czech literature (A. Hoffmeister). Kenya's wild animalorphanage (R. Greenough). Art treasures (15) Regal head (Hungary).

MayBirth of wheat and maize farming; early(J. Hawkes). When Orpheus struck theNew mathematical horizons; dawn of theDid the Japanese bring the art of pottery

to Ecuador 5,000 years ago? (B.J. Meggers). The sailing vesselcomes into its own (L. Gottschalk). The second scientific revolution(J. Bronowski). Sinews of industrial society; era of synthetic mate¬rials (CF. Ware, K.M. Panikkar, J. M. Romein). Study of animalbehaviour (J. Oppenheimer). Offspring of Icarus. Art treasures (16)Wrought by master goldsmiths (Colombia).

June

AFRICA AND THE AFRICAN GENIUS. Birth of a new Africa

(G. d'Arboussier). Studying Africa's history (K.O. Dike). African arch¬itecture. Protecting Africa's artistic heritage (E. Eyo). Map of Africa

HISTORY OF MANKIND,

domestication of animals

trembling lyre (L. Pareti).geographic spirit (P. Wolff),

1967: 39 flags in full colour. African literature (E. Mphahlele). 21writers of tropical Africa. Vernacular languages (P. Daigne). Train¬ing Africa's scientists (N.C. Otieno). African bookshelf. Art trea¬sures (17) From Africa's ancient past (Nigeria).

JulyNOISE POLLUTION. Down with decibels (O. Schenker-Sprüngli).Architects of silence (C. Stramentov). Reducing street and air trafficnoise (L.L. Beranek). Supersonic "boom carpet". Noise abatementin Cordoba (G.L. Fuchs). Noise and health (G. Lehmann). Dange¬rous sounds we cannot hear. Art treasures (18) Nostalgia for nature(Henri Rousseau).

August-SeptemberWAR OR PEACE? Image of a disarmed world (Unesco inquiry).Science and disarmament (P. Noel-Baker). Challenge of peace(V. Ardatovsky). Development new name for peace (Encyclical Letterof Pope Paul VI). To build a new order in the world (R. Maheu).Kuboyama and the saga of the 'Lucky Dragon' (R. Hudson). Man doesnot live by politics alone (J. Nehru). Auroville, India's internationalcity of concord. Tistou of the green fingers (M. Druon). Unesco andthe search for peace. Art treasures (19) Hand of the Bogomils(Yugoslavia).

October

MARIE CURIE. A life dedicated to science. The rarest, most preciousvital force (M. Curie). The dreamer in Warsaw (L. Infeld). Thewoman we called "la patronne" (M. Perey). Menace of "extinct"volcanoes (H. Tazieff). Ruben Dario (E.R. Monegal). World FoodProgramme (C. Mackenzie). Great men, great events. Art treasures(20) Altar boy (Korea).

November

U.S.S.R. TODAY. Metamorphosis of a continent (N. Mikhailov). Fromilliteracy to astronautics (V. Elyutin). Complexities of modern education(M. Prokofiev). Reflections on Soviet culture (S. Gerasimov). Newskyline in Moscow. 700,000 scientists in the U.S.S.R. (M. Lavrentiev).TV programme girdling the world (P. de Latil). Journey to Ethiopia'spast (R.H. Howland).

December

TWO GREAT EPICS OF ASIA. Mahabharata, Ramayana(A.L. Basham). Collective dream of a continent (A. de Silva). Hanu¬man, leader of the monkeys. The epics in the art of South Asia(B.N. Goswamy). Exile of Rama. Shadow theatres of Thailand andCambodia. Kathakali and the dance-drama of India (C. Kunchu Nair).India's ancient heroes on celluloid (B.D. Garga). Art treasures (21)Ravana shaking Mt.Kailasa (Inda).

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Page 48: mahabharata with pictures

The two ancient Indian epics, the Mahabharata and the Ramayana, have fired theimagination of generations of poets and artists in India and much of Asia. Amongthe countless works of art inspired by stories from these works are thousands ofbas-reliefs and sculptures carved in the stupendous 12th-century Khmer temple-city complex of Angkor (Cambodia). In the largest of the temples, Angkor Wat,scenes of epic grandeur from both epics cover over 13,000 square feet on thewalls of just the first floor gallery. This detail is from a panel depicting armies ofmonkeys helping Rama, hero of the Ramayana, to vanquish his enemies.