Lighting changes everything.
Last week I visited the Indian Museum in Kolkata after more than a decade, and I was struck by the way in which an improvement in the display of exhibits could bring about a qualitative change in the way people relate to them. It make you stop and observe more carefully, to spot variations in style that were missed out earlier, and to spend more time marvelling at the milieu, the social and cultural environment that enabled these artists to flourish. So much so that even a random visitor like me could begin to see clearly, for the first time, the differences between the various schools of art.
I was fascinated in particular by the earthliness and realism of sculptures created during a period that is known as the Golden Age of Indian Art - the Gupta Period (~ 100 to 500 CE). Quite unlike the idealised, supra-human versions of gods that are popular in modern iconography, here we see figures that look like earthly, familiar, just like the the ordinary people who were walking past these exhibits in the museum. Sometimes the similarity is so striking it is hard to believe that these sculptures were created more than 1800 years ago!
Take for instance this panel of three pillars excavated from Bhuteshwara, near Mathura, in North India. On one side we have three lovely ladies representing three Yakshis, and on the reverse you see scenes from the Jataka stories about the life of Bodhisatvas in their various incarnations.
Also unlike my visit a decade earlier, this time I was armed with the power of the internet on my mobile, so it did not take long to expand on the display tags, and learn that one panel depicted the Jataka tale about Sibi, a king once celebrated for his righteousness. This story is told in just three blocks on a single pillar - a little bird seeks refuge from a hawk, perched on the lap of the king; the hawk demands compensation from the king for having to give up its food, so the king cuts a part of his own to flesh to feed the hawk.
The other two pillars seem to be from other stories though, featuring elephants and monkeys. Wonder where I could find some more details, not only about about the stories that have been sidelined here but also about the Gupta Period in general.
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REFERENCES & LINKS
* Indian Museum, Kolkata - Virtual Gallery - https://indianmuseumkolkata.org/cmspages/virtual-gallery
* Google Arts and Culture - Life of Buddha in Indian Art - https://artsandculture.google.com/exhibit/the-life-of-buddha-in-indian-art/uwLycg_jrsTeKg
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