Lost Worlds

Michael Wood's A South Indian Journey (previously published as The Smile Of Murugan) and Alice Albina's The Empires of The Indus are both about the loss of tradition and culture.

Wood describes his visits to the "deep south" in Tamil Nadu over 13 years (starting in the early 1990s), where he develops strong bonds with a family in Chidambaram, especially with Mala, the matriarch. He also travels the pilgrimage circuit, and observes ancient temple rituals and customs first-hand. The author's sensitive descriptions of temples and gentle portraits of people he encounters are wonderful to read. He immerses himself into everyday life, anthropologist-like.

Wood calls Tamil Nadu, the "last classical civilization" because Tamil culture has arguably withstood the effects of modernization more than other Indian cultures (or other ancient cultures of the world, for that matter). However by early 2000, he sees dramtic changes in the lifestyles of Mala's children as they grow older, marry and have children. Their lives in rapidly urbanizing cities such as Madras, though an intricate blend of east and west, have lost many of the elements that made their parents' lives whole. At the end of the book Wood laments,"But how wonderful is difference, and how diminished we will be, if the global culture takes hold everywhere, and destroys these worlds; thoughtlessly rubbing out encoded identities which have grown over sometimes thousands of years." He does however, acknowledge the economic and educational benefits modernization has bought Tamilians.

Albina travels the length of the Indus cataloging and recapping the history of cultures that thrived along the the river over the past few centuries. The river weaves it's way through Tibet, India (Ladakh), Afghanistan and Pakistan. Therefore her books spans Vedic times, Alexander's invasion, the growth of Buddhism in Afghanistan, early Afghan invasions of India, the birth and development of Sikhism and so on. Unfortunately, Albina's book reads more like a history lesson interspersed with her travel difficulties, rather than a diary of observations and insights. Wood's book is just the opposite. But her main point is is unmistakable, ancient ways of life along the river are fast disappearing, without a trace.

Fusion Architecture

The Lotus Mahal at Hampi is a wonderful combination of Hindu and Islamic architecture. After seeing a number of profusely decorated Hindu temples in Hampi, the restraint and minimalism of Islamic architecture can be quite a relief. The Lotus Mahal delicately balances the two. The roof of the building is clearly derived from Hindu temple architecture. The arches on the other hand are Islamic. However, the intense decoration around the arches is Islamic in form, but Hindu in spirit. Most of the walls are plain, indirectly leading our eyes to the arches of the doorways and windows. I also like the balance of openness on the ground floor which contrasts with the closeted feel of the first.

Buddhist Influences on Hindu Temple Architecture

During my undergraduate years, I took a class called Shrine and Image, under the tutelage of my favorite art history professor Diran Dohanian. In this class, he taught that the design of Hindu temples developed from early Buddhist stupas. I saw evidence to further support this theory during my visit to the temples of Aihole, Patadakal and Badami in Karnataka last week.

The semi-circular shrine chamber, pillared circum-ambulatory path, and pillared entrance hall, which are critical features of the Durga temple at Aihole (640-680 AD), all derive from early Buddhist shrines, such as those at Ajanta.

The structure and ornamentation of pillars at the rock-cut caves at Badami (6 to 8th c. AD) and the interiors of the temples at Patadakal such as the Virupaksha temple (740 AD) and the unfinished temple alongside it are strongly influenced by Buddhist cave designs.

A relief of a couple crowned by an overarching tree at the entrance of one of the temples at Patadakal can be traced to the torana reliefs at Sanchi(1st c. BC).

If these works of art were included in my course, I think Professor's Dohanian's argument would have been even stronger. However, the class would have lost much of it's mystery.

Lashkar-e-Shivoba

After the terror attacks in Mumbai on 26th November 2008, the Lashkar-e-Taiba, one of South Asia's most active terrorist organization headquartered in Lahore, has constantly been in the news. The title, which in both Urdu and Arabic mean Army of The Good/Army Of The Pure, is a dreaded name. A few months ago, I noticed a green bus on Tulsi Pipe Road in the heart of Mumbai with the image of a tiger and the words, Laskhar-e-Shivoba. Loosely translated, the words mean The Army of Shiva. The use of Urdu words with the name of a Hindu God is enigmatic. The association of the name with LeT, suggests a Hindu terrorist group united to fight Islamic terrorism. Green is rarely used in Hinduism, and is the the color of Islam. Therefore the use of green as opposed to safffron, the colour of Hinduism, for the bus, is also puzzling.

The symbol of the tiger is also so the symbol of one Maharashtra's major right wing political parties - The Shiv Sena. Laskhar-e-Shivoba seems to be an Urdu translation of The Shiv Sena, and this organization could be the Gujrati wing of the Shiv Sena.

A blog, http://csimumbai.wordpress.com/2008/11/09/lashkar-e-shivoba/, notes that Lashkar-e-Shivoba means Army Of Shivaji. Shivaji was the famous 17th century Maratha king and warrior, who prevented the Mughals from conquering what we today call the state of Maharasthra, by using guerrilla warfare techniques.

Greek Art and The Italian Renaissance

It's common knowledge that the Renaissance in Italy, which began arguably in the late 12th century, was deeply influenced by Roman art and sculpture, which in turn was greatly inspired by Classical Greek art and sculpture. But seeing direct relationships between Renaissance paintings created during the 1400s and Greek sculpture from around 500 BC - a gap of 2000 years - in the flesh, is quite a delight.

The Greek relief sculptures below (both are from the Archaeological Museum in Athens) are marble stelae (or upright slabs) used to decorate the graves of Greek nobility. The composition of the relief with the woman bowing down in grief, closely resembles the structure of Annunciation paintings of the Renaissance. Even the hand gesture of the figure holding a bowl predicts the hand gesture of the Angel Gabriel as he blesses the Virgin in some paintings. The Annunciation is the announcement by the Angel Gabriel to the Virgin Mary of the Incarnation of Jesus Christ. I've chosen Fra Angelico's Angelico's fresco in Florence (1437-1446) here as an example.

The second stelae, which shows (if I remember correctly) a father bidding farewell to his young son, suspiciously resembles the composition of the right side of Masaccio's The Tribute Money (1427) fresco in Florence. Masaccio's painting shows St. Peter paying off a tax collector.

Makis and Greek Roadside Shrines

I wish I'd met Makis Rafailidis at the beginning of my trip to Greece. This Athenian taxi-driver was super-friendly, and I quickly trusted him to take me on two day-trips (at the end of my holiday) - one to Delphi and the other to Mycenae/Naphlion/Epidaurus/Corinth. His rates were reasonable and he seemed to have a special affection for Indians, as he had close friends from India. He had a loud and raspy voice, and used a range of hand gestures to complement his intelligent comments. I liked his frankness, and he didn't pretend to know more than he did. If you are ever in Athens, give him a call - 697 7085927.

On my second day-trip, he explained that religious shrines, such as the one in the photograph, were built alongside roadsides, at the site of fatal car accidents. I was intrigued by the connection to the Kerala roadside shrines I wrote about in January. However, the ones in Kerala are probably the result of the cultural exchange between Hinduism and Christianity, and have nothing to do with accidents.

The Secret Life Of Mumbai Tap Water

There's a lot of crap inside Mumbai tap water. If you use an electrolyzer, clouds of sediments suddenly appear out of nowhere, as if by (black) magic. It is rumoured that tap water is not as harmful as people think, because it is heavily chlorinated. This process kills most of the germs in the water. However, these photos aren't very reassuring. But there's something to be said about building your resistance...

In the second photo, the clear water is virgin tap water. The other two glasses have been "electrocuted"; the lighter one contains purified water, and the darker one contains tap water. To make a long story short, it's worth investing in a water purifier.