B.B. Lal
Way back in the third millennium BCE, there were four major civilizations on the Afro-Asian continents: the Egyptian civilization on the banks of the Nile, the Mesopotamian civilization in the Euphrates Valley, the Chinese civilization on the Yellow River and the Indian civilization on the Indus, running up to the Sarasvatī. All these civilizations were great in their own way. The Egyptian civilization is known for its pyramids. Unfortunately, during the construction of these pyramids, hundreds of laborers perished. So you have the greatness of the pyramids but accompanied by the human tragedy. In the Mesopotamian civilization, you have got royal tombs in which along with the king the retinue was also buried, and those people were poisoned so that they could not resist being forced into the burial. In the Chinese civilization, the king took delight in having a large army of soldiers and so we have the gallery of soldiers, 60,000 of them there.
The Indian (Haṛappan) civilization, on the other hand, had none of these trappings. It didn’t claim to have anything like the pyramid; it had no royal tombs, in which the followers were buried. There were no armies like the Chinese. The greatness of the Haṛappan civilization is in its egalitarian character. It was a thoroughly peaceful society. In it there flourished what may be called the art of the elites or the “high art” as well as the folk art or the art of the common man, through which folk stories were depicted.
I would like to illustrate the Haṛappan “high art” by taking three examples. On Pl. 1.1 is seen the famous bronze figure of a “dancing girl” from Moheṅjo- Daṛo. It was produced with a highly advanced technique, known as cire perdu. Only about 11 cm in height, it depicts the various features vividly. She is naked and stands relaxed. The flexed right hand is placed on the right hip, while the left hand, bedecked with a series of bangles, rests on the left knee. She wears a necklace the pendant of which dangles between the breasts. The face is lifted, as if in a haughty attitude. The hair is curly and tied in a bunch at the back of the head. Of the two legs, the right is somewhat straight, while
Pl. 1.1: Moheṅjo-Daṛo, “dancing girl” in bronze
the left is bent. The feet are missing, However, in another example, which unfortunately is incomplete, there are anklets (pāyala) around the feet. Thus, if we visualize the two specimens together, our first figure perhaps also wore anklets – an ornament usually worn by “dancing girls.”
On Pl. 1.2 may be seen the limestone figure of a “priest,” which is very finely carved. He wears a trefoil-decorated shawl which goes under the right armpit, and thence to the top of the left arm. His eyes are half-closed, indicating that he is in meditative mode.
Pl. 1.2: Moheṅjo-Daṛo: Limestone figure of a “priest”
According to the prescribed method of meditation, the person must fix his gaze on the tip of the nose (nāsikāgra), as a result of which the eyes automatically get half-closed.
Pl. 1.3: Moheṅjo-Daṛo: Seal impression, depicting “Śiva-Paśupati”
The Haṛappan civilization is renowned for its excellently carved seals, the like of which we do not have anywhere in the world. Here we show on Pl. 1.3 the impression of a seal, generally called “Śiva-Paśupati” seal. The central figure, seated in a Yogic posture, has been taken to be that of Śiva. He is surrounded, clock-wise, by a tiger, an elephant, a rhinoceros and a bull. It is because of these animals that he is regarded as Paśupati (Lord of Animals).
As against the foregoing examples of “high art,” we may now have a look at two examples of the common man’s art which may well be called “folk art.”
In fig. 1.4 is shown a painted pot from Lothal, the renowned Haṛappan site in Gujarat. The painting portrays a well-known folk story, namely that of “The Thirsty Crow.” It’s a folk story which even today the grandmothers narrate to their grandchildren when putting them to sleep at bed time. In the picture the principal characters are a deer and a crow, with a pitcher between them. The deer wanted to drink water from the pot, but he couldn’t insert his head into it because of the long horns; so he had to walk away disappointed. Then came a crow who found that the water table in the pot was very low. The intelligent crow collected some small pebbles from nearby and started
fig. 1.4: Painting on a pot from Lothal, depicting the story of “The Thirsty Crow”
putting them inside the pot. (The painting also shows some pebbles inside the pot.) As a result, the level of the water rose, and the crow drank it to his heart’s content. Stunned by the intelligence of the crow, the deer looked back with amazement.
There is another painting from Lothal (fig. 1. 5), which narrates the story of the “The Cunning Fox.”
In this picture are seen two birds sitting on the branches of a tree, each holding a fish in its mouth. A fox is seen in the bottom-left corner. The fox was hungry and thought that if she praised that these birds were great singers they would open their mouth to sing and, in the process, drop the fish. That is exactly what she did. She praised them and encouraged them to sing, as soon as they opened their mouths, the fish dropped, and the fox ran away with it. This is again an example of “folk art.”
From the foregoing examples it is clear that “high art” as well “folk art” both flourished side by side in the Haṛappan civilization.
There is yet another kind of art tradition, called “tribal art”, a form of folk art, which is available in the form of rock paintings. These occur in many parts of the country, but particularly in the mountainous regions south of the Gaṅgā basin in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, and in Madhya Pradesh. This
fig. 1. 5: Painting on another pot from Lothal, depicting the story of “The Cunning Fox”
art has a very wide range in time, from the Stone Age to the modern. In this context one may easily refer to the World Heritage site of Bhīmbeṭkā. The dating of these paintings at a number of places presents a challenge since even to this day the tribals keep on making additions.
However, I will now refer to a case where the dating was almost a cakewalk. This is the site of Gupteśvar near Gwalior.
In early 1970s when I was a professor at the Jiwaji University, Gwalior, I undertook exploration and excavation in the Gupteśvar Valley, which lies on the outskirts of the town. The excavation brought to light Lower Palaeolithic and Upper Palaeolithic tools from the open terraces. However, during the Mesolithic times the habitation pattern changed. Now the people started living in natural caves which abound in the rocks on both sides of the valley. These caves are full of paintings.
Pl. 1.6: Gupteśvar (Gwalior): Cave paintings, Mesolihic
I took up one of these for excavation. On the wall of the cave there were paintings in red ochre, which depicted many animals (Pl. 1.6). On the floor of the cave, there were the Mesolithic tools along with which there also occurred very small bits of ochre. The bits evidently fell on the floor while the paintings were being drawn on the wall and got mixed up with the Mesolithic tools. Thus, this was a foolproof evidence, where we can safely date the paintings to the Mesolithic times.