T8-NCERT-XI-Living Crafts TOI -Ch 9,10

Chapter 9

Painting

Men and women, through the ages, found satisfaction in creating multiple forms through colours and textures to tell their own special stories. The human impulse to paint is related to the need to communicate, express and make sense of the world around. 

In India, community painting reflects the identity of a region or a particular culture and follows common characteristics. 

Why Snakes? 

ìWhy do traditional paintings, particularly in Gondi and Mithila art have so many artistic and respectful representations of snakes?î
This was a question asked by a German visitor 

at an art exhibition in Frankfurt.
ìSince there are usually many snakes in the 

fields and in our village, we propitiated them in this manner to prevent ourselves from being bitten,î the artist from Mithila explained. 

ìWestern society is aggressive and would think only of attacking the snake, but in a spiritual and non-violent society like India, this was a beautiful way of living with nature,î responded the German visitor. 

She was so inspired, that she bought all the snake paintings at the Indian stall at the exhibition! 

Colours and images often represent meanings and concepts. Red and yellow are auspicious. The Panchavarna murals are in five coloursó red, yellow, green, black, blue. A fish depicts fertility. 

• It was India that first invented the technique of printing or painting on cotton cloth by using a fixing agent termed a ëmordantí. The most common type of mordant used is myrobalam which is made from unripe karaka fruit and mixed with fresh unboiled milk. The cloth is bleached with sheep or cow dung dissolved in water before it is dyed.
  
• Inorganic Colours: Inorganic or chemical colours such as arcylic, emulsion etc. came into existence as a result of industrialisation. They are commercially sold and since they are easily available, they are widely used.
  

Adhesive or Glue: A painting is said to be permanent if an adhesive is used to fix it to the ground. For centuries, in western countries (Europe), oil was used to fix colours and the paintings were called oil paintings. When water is used it is called water colour paintings. 

Making a Kalamkari: Kalamkari or vrathapani from Andhra Pradesh demonstrates the variety of natural materials used to create a work of art. Kalamkari means pen work in Persian and refers to both printed and painted cloth. 

What is most interesting is that this cloth painting process involves no chemical product and the excess dyes that flow into the rivers while washing do not pollute it. 

Wall Painting 

The tradition of wall paintings has been passed down from pre-historic times to us today. As society moved from forest dwellings to agricultural-based communities, the art of painting continued as a part of their life and to transmit their traditional beliefs through their art. 

India has the largest number of art forms, call them styles or schools, anywhere in the world, mainly because it ís cultural heritage is rich, many-layered and a vibrant, 

living one. 

10,000 – 8000 BCE 

Prehistoric paintings in rock shelters and walls of caves show early life and activities of human society.

1–1000  

Buddhist viharas or monasteries and chaitya or prayer halls in Ajanta in Maharashtra, Alchi monastery in Ladakh, and in Bagh in Madhya Pradesh have murals depicting the life of Buddha and other religious stories. 

1000–1700 

Wall paintings can be found in the temples of Kailashnath Temple of Kanchipuram in Tamil Nadu. Recently wall paintings were found in the Brihadesvara Temple of Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu. Early examples of Jaina paintings were found in Sittanavasal in Pudukottai District of Tamil Nadu. At Virubhadra Temple in Lepakshi are examples of the Andhra style of mural painting. 

1600–1900 

Mural paintings also adorned palaces. Excellent examples are found in Bundi, Jaipur and Nagaur and the fortified palace in Patiala in the Punjab. 

1900–2000 

Mural paintings continue today in many of our village communities especially Bihar, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Gujarat. Artists of today, like Jatin Das and M.F. Husain, have created paintings for contemporary building interiors. 

Wall Painting 

In a wall painting or mural, the ground is the wall or the stone of the cave. Paint is applied on to the wall plaster. To bind the paint to the plaster the colours are often put on wet plaster so that it fuses with it. 

In many villages in India women apply wet lime paint to the dry mud walls. Lime is a natural disinfectant and prevents ants and termites inhabiting the walls. As they use no adhesive the paint flakes and has to be redone every season, especially after the monsoons just before Dussehra and Diwali. 

All paintings done on walls are not necessarily called mural paintings. This term is usually reserved for classical styles used for temples, churches and palaces. Sometimes these are called fresco paintings. 

It is worth considering why communities that practise their own traditional art forms are barely known and earn very little compared to contemporary artists. 

One answer is that a single painting of an individualís unique expression is worth more than many paintings on similar themes by many people. It is the simple law of economics that defines supply and demand. 

Secondly, individual, urban art explores new themes while community art prefers to repeat traditional subject matter connected to seasons, celebrations, festivals and popular legends. 

Styles of Painting 

Artists in Chittorgarh, Rajasthan make wooden temples with doors that can be opened up to reveal elaborately painted stories of historical or religious importance. These wooden kavads are used for worship and on festive occasions. 

Warli tribals of Thane district in Maharashtra decorate their house walls with paintings depicting their lives: planting saplings, carrying grain, dancing, travelling to market and other routine activities of their daily lives. Symbols of the sun, moon and stars along with plants, animals, insects and birds show their belief in the integration of all forms of life. 

Mithila painting, popularly known as Madhubani art is from the district of the same name in Bihar and is now well-known all over the world. Women decorate the nuptial chamber and the inner walls of their homes to celebrate festivals. The 

return of Ram from exile and
Krishna playing with gopis
are the preferred subject
matter.

Any traditional art can be adapted to contemporary subjects. Recently the United Nations in India decided to display Indian folk paintings for the eighth Millenium Development Goals programme for which Madhubani artists Satya Narain and Moti Karn created a beautiful expression of prevention of child mortality by showing how elephants and other animals protect their young ones. 

The patachitra of Orissa depicts stories from the famous poem, the Geet Govind, and devotional stanzas by ancient poets, singers and writers. 

Chapter 10

Theatre Crafts

In India we have invented many ways of telling stories. A few of them are described below. 

Puppetry: A puppet is a doll or figure representing a person, animal, object or an idea and is used to tell a story. The puppet is made of various materials and can be moved in different ways. Puppets are classified as follows on the basis of the way they are moved in performance: 

string puppets 

glove puppets
rod puppets
shadow puppets 

Scroll Paintings: There are different kinds of scroll paintings in India. Scroll paintings usually done on cloth are narratives on different social and religious themes. The narrators sing and explain these themes, sometimes accompanied by instrumentalists. Especially famous are the scroll paintings from Rajasthan, West Bengal and Orissa. 

Theatre: It is a great form for story-telling in which one or more actors using the skills of dancing, acting, singing, talking, miming and theatre crafts like masks, make-up and costumes create a story world for us. 

Nautanki of Uttar Pradesh 

Tamasha of Maharashtra or the Bhavai of Gujarat 

Yakshagana from Karnataka 

Jatra melodramas of Bengal 

From the delicate pastel coloured masks and shimmering head-dresses worn by Chhau dancers to the demon dance masks of the Buddhist monasteries of Ladakh to the inexpensive animal masks of papier-m‚chÈ available in our cities, India has a vast and ancient tradition of masks and make-up for rituals and theatre. 

How the Chhau Mask Is Made 

The most beautiful masks in our country are made for the Chhau dance form. Chhau is a style performed exclusively by men from the triangular area where Bihar, Bengal and Orissa meet. This is the tribal belt of India ó home to the tribal groups of Bhulya, Santhals, Mundas, Hos and Oraons. The masks they use vary depending on the style of Chhau practised ó Seraikella Chhau or Purulia Chhau. In the third form of Chhau, Mayurbhanj Chhau, masks are not worn. 

Excavations have revealed small hollow masks dating back to the Indus Valley Civilisation. In fact in Bihar a terracotta mask of the fourth century has also been excavated. The Natya Shastra speaks of masks and their use in theatre. Here it is mentioned that masks can be made of ground paddy husks applied to cloth. 

Musical Instruments 

Percussion Instruments: These instruments are struck to produce sound. Often these are used to produce the taal or beat and do not produce all the musical notes manjeera or cymbals. 

Wind Instruments: These need air to flow through them to produce sound bansuri or flute. 

String Instruments: These are instruments that use one or many tightly tied strings that when struck vibrate to create sound the veena or ektara. 

Drums: A drum is made of a membrane stretched across a hollow frame and played by striking ó the dholak or mridangam 

Dholakwallahs belong mainly to Uttar Pradesh coming from Barabanki, Gonda, Allahabad and Kanpur. They are nomadic and travel the length and breadth of the country selling their  wonder drums  wherever they go. A market for dholaks exists all over India, with Delhi, Bombay, Lucknow and Amritsar as the main centres. 

Wind Instruments 

In folk music a variety of wind instruments are popular, for example, flutes played both horizontally and vertically, algoja, pawa, satara, turhi, shehnai, shankh, been (pungi) etc. 

String Instruments 

Instruments in which sound is produced by striking the strings made of iron, steel, brass or other metals as well as goatís gut, cotton, silk threads etc. are known as string or chordophonic instruments. Some of the string instruments such as ektara, ravanhattha and gopijantra are used as accompanying instruments in traditional performances.