Shadows Of Our Forgotten Ancestors

The artiste was immortalised a few years ago in a colourful mural on a street wall in Panjim, depicting Figueiredo in the middle of a performance, waving his baton as he read from the sheet music. The mural by Israel-born artist Solomon Souza (grandson of renowned modernist painter F.N. Souza) was among a dozen such murals painted all across the state, as part of the Mundo Goa project (during the Serendipity Arts Festival of 2019) curated by Vivek Menezes.

The project, Menezes wrote in his curatorial note, 바카라�...highlights the infinitely varied ways of being and belonging that artists, writers, intellectuals바카라�and everyone else who seeks to belong to it바카라�can derive from the unique cultural scenario of this blessed slice of Konkan coastline바카라�바카라�

In a country as vast and diverse as India, culture and identity are not mutually exclusive, and our artistes바카라�painters and sculptors, poets and writers, dancers and musicians바카라�have been the chroniclers and custodians of this heritage for as long as one can remember. Whether it was Sadat Hasan Manto바카라�s heart-wrenching stories of Partitition, Munshi Premchand바카라�s tales of caste-based oppression, Amrita Sher-Gil바카라�s visual retellings of quaint rural Indian life, Jhumpa Lahiri바카라�s introspective novels capturing the internal conflicts of contemporary times, or Ranveer Singh바카라�s embodiment of an underprivileged rapper from Mumbai's underbelly, our artistes have been relentlessly documenting our past and present, for posterity바카라�s sake. 

Their role in the building of Indian society as we see it today, has been as critical as that of political figures and rulers. And yet, their commemoration, particularly in terms of public statues or murals, is infinitesimal compared to that of politicians. According to Shukla Sawant, an associate professor at JNU바카라�s School of Arts and Aesthetics, the decisions to erect statues or public art celebrating personalities is largely driven by electoral politics. 

바카라�There is a tendency to valorise political figures because of electioneering, to ensure that a certain kind of political imagination concentrates in the public space,바카라� the professor says. 바카라�This is more or less about trying to gain visual control over political ideological expression.바카라�

The 바카라�feudal mentality바카라� of Indian society might also be to blame for its dismissive attitude towards artistes and their contributions, says historian and documentary filmmaker Sohail Hashmi. 바카라�Musicians, singers, dancers were referred to as 바카라�bhand marasi바카라�. They are not considered people worth honouring,바카라� he says.

Contrary to the West, where entire cities and airports are dedicated to artistes, the number of memorable statues or iconography of people from the world of arts in India can be counted on the tips of our fingers. The Thiruvalluvar statue in Kanyakumari, adjacent to the Vivekananda rock, immediately comes to mind. The 133 ft-tall stone sculpture of the Tamil poet and philosopher who is best known for writing Tirukkural, an ancient Tamil text comprising three books, one each on virtue, wealth and love. The 38 ft-high base of the statue is believed to be representative of the book on virtue, while the statue of the poet is symbolic of the other two values. It is said that the statue's design is meant to encourage people to achieve wealth and love based on a strong set of virtues. Each foot of the statue바카라�s height represents the 133 chapters in the text. Commissioned by former Tamil Nadu chief minister M. Karunanidhi, the statue, created by sculptor V. Ganapati, was unveiled in 2000 and reportedly cost over Rs 6 crore at the time. It has become a major tourist attraction since.  

Albeit not in the same scale, Bengal boasts of multiple statues of poet and writer Rabindranath Tagore in Kolkata as well as in Santiniketan, where the Nobel laureate lived and taught for a large part of his life. The tallest statue of the poet, however, is in Jamshedpur. The over 11 ft-tall bronze sculpture captures one of the most popular poses Tagore was spotted in바카라�standing tall with his arms folded behind his back, and staring into open space with a seemingly omniscient gaze. The statue wears the poet바카라�s quintessential 바카라�chapkan바카라� (long coat) that combined elements of both Hindu and Muslim sartorial styles of the time. Costing nearly Rs 13 lakh, it was executed by sculptor Niranjan Pradhan, and was erected by the Tagore Society, a cultural group in the city.

Hashmi believes the disregard for culture and those practising it is not necessarily a nation-wide phenomenon, but more of a 바카라�North Indian malice바카라�. 바카라�If you were to go to Chennai, Hyderabad, Trivandrum or Cochin, the statues of their greatest writers and poets are on their major streets,바카라� he says.

His claim is vindicated in Subramania Bharati바카라�s statue in the heart of a park in Pondicherry, also named after the Tamil writer. Believed to be one of the pioneers of modern Tamil literature, Bharati바카라�s writing style was progressive. Many of his songs also made their way into Tamil cinema. It is then-French-ruled Pondicherry that 바카라�Mahakavi바카라� Bharati escaped to while fleeing the British, after the media house he wrote for was charged with sedition.

On Marina Beach in Chennai stands a statue of Avaiyyar, which according to Abidhana Chintamani (an encyclopaedia of Tamil literature) is representative of three female poets who lived during different times of Tamil literature. The statue is seen holding a cane in one hand and palm leaves with her writings in the other. It was erected in 1968 alongside the statue of another female poet, Bharathidasan, and four other statues. Bharathidasan, a Tamil poet, was named after Subramania Bharati, and was a disciple of the Mahakavi. Both Avaiyyar and Bharathidasan challenged traditional gender norms that prevented women from reading and writing, and established themselves as great litterateurs of their times. 

However, North India, says Hashmi largely does not celebrate 바카라�anybody except politicians바카라�.

There are a few exceptions, however. Varanasi, which was the birthplace of both Hindi writer Premchand and 16th century Sufi saint Kabir, is also home to their sculptures. A half bust of the Hindi writer is housed at the Munshi Premchand Memorial in Lamhi. Several bronze sculptures of the Sufi saint engaged in simple daily chores find place in Kabir Math, the resting place of the saint. 

In Delhi, there바카라�s a statue of Mirza Ghalib within the precincts of Jamia Milia Islamia University. Lying unattended and often unnoticed, but nevertheless a city landmark, is the statue of Russian poet Alexander Pushkin at Mandi House. Said to have been 바카라�a gift from the Russians바카라�, the statue was inaugurated during the visit of Russian president Mikhail Gorbachev in 1988.

The dearth of statues dedicated to cultural icons can also be attributed to a faulty political approach towards education system of the country, feels Hashmi. 바카라�Education flows from the kind of politics of people who run this country, and they are not interested in culture,바카라� he says. Because the onus of imparting education lies with the government, it is imperative for the people in power to have a  바카라�culturally sensitive mindset바카라�. 바카라�The government that decides to erect a statue of Sardar Patel, can also decide to erect statues and memorials of great creative figures,바카라� the historian says.

One might argue that an artiste lives on through their works, but the almost immediate impact on public memory through a visual in the form of statues and murals is difficult to overlook. Erecting statues, besides the prolonged governmental procedures involved, is conspicuously expensive.

Hence, several artists in the country have taken up the responsibility of filling in the gaps with street art. They are creating public memorabilia of cultural icons of the country on the city walls. Like the Delhi Street Art Initiative that has painted walls, particularly school facades, in various cities including Delhi, Allahabad and Lucknow, with portraits of famous personalities from the arts world. On Pusa Road near Karol Bagh, they recently took over a few walls that now bear colourful images of cultural icons like Harivansh Rai Bachchan, Amrita Sher-Gill, Jamini Roy,  Jagjit Singh, R.D. Burman, Kishore Kumar, Uday Shankar and Raja Ravi Varma. The portraits evoke obvious curiosity about these personalities. Even if one if familiar with the names, they tend  to slow down their pace to interact with the artworks, and a new name is bound to lead to a quick Google search. It encourages passersby to find out more about these personalities, says Yogesh Saini of Delhi Street Art.

A mural of Dadasaheb Phalke came up on a wall in Mumbai in 2014, as part of another public art project by St+Art India led by Hanif Kureshi. Painted on the exterior of an MTNL building in Bandra by artist Ranjit Dahiya, the artwork had become an integral part of the cityscape until it was painted over a few years back following natural degradation. The larger-than-life painting showed the father of Indian Cinema against a bright yellow backdrop, carefully observing a film reel.

Kureshi feels having a public iconography of cultural icons, be it in the form of statues or murals, helps start a conversation about people who have contributed immensely to the heritage of the country, but are often rendered faceless and eventually forgotten in public memory. 바카라�A lot of people within and around the industry did not know of the struggles of Phalke. 바카라�But when we put up the mural, at least people started to understand who this man was,바카라� he says.

In a similar upcoming project, St+art India will be painting a mural of Oscar winning filmmaker Satyajit Ray later this month near the Tollygunge metro station in Kolkata. It will be painted by Chennai-based artist A-Kill.