6 south pole: a deep dive into politics, society and...
TRANSCRIPT
South Pole: A Deep Dive Into Politics, Society And Culture6 THE TIMES OF INDIA, CHENNAIWEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2014
Margazhi marks a comeback for artist
after loss of form
State Focused on Grand Temples, Monuments; Vandals, Quarrying Threaten Ancient Sites
Tamil Nadu does a fine job of protecting its monuments and tem-ples, which give the state and its people a
contemporary identity. But pre- and proto-historic rock-art sites are neglected, facing vandalism and ruin, and the state hasn’t re-ally made them its own. These sites give crucial insights into how ancient people of this region lived their lives.
There are more than 100 rock-art sites in Tamil Nadu, and many are deteriorating due to lack of care and vandalism. None is under the control of the ASI, and a few are under the state archaeology department. If immediate action is not taken, heritage experts be-lieve most rock-art sites may disap-pear soon. This means records giving information about people who lived many thousands of years back are on the verge of be-ing destroyed.
Keeping this in mind, the Rock Art Society of India (RASI) organ-ized its 19th congress recently in Puducherry. This is the first time RASI is organizing its conference aiming at the preservation of rock-art sites across Tamil Nadu. The papers presented raised concerns about the plight of rock-art sites in the state, particularly those in Nilgiris. “Both the state and cen-tral archaeology departments should take care of the rock-art sites immediately,” said K T Gan-dhirajan, who has explored at least 20 cave-art sites in TN.
The three-day event witnessed fascinating insights from various scholars on how to preserve the rock-art sites in the state. Rock-art represents philosophy, thoughts and beliefs of prehistoric society, according to M Nambirajan, direc-tor, monuments, ASI. “It’s an im-portant source material for us to understand ancient social and cul-
tural life. It has attracted the attention of scholars ever since ACL Carlleyle discovered paintings on the walls and ceilings of rock shelters in Sohagihat in Mirzapur in 1867-68. Even though some good studies are being done in the field, areas like geographi-cal distribution, socio-cultural contexts, themes, chronological evolution are to be studied in de-tail,” he said. Raising concern over the threats rock-art is facing from vandals, he said, “We need to be apprehensive of threats to rock-art sites in the form of quarrying and natural causes and ponder over how to preserve the sites.”
Paintings on rock shelters mostly belong to the mesolithic period and the subjects are lively
scenes from everyday life, with warriors, hunters, dancers and animals. “The subject matter of pre-historic cave art is predomi-nately animals, especially large herbivores. The hunted animals are portrayed realistically in their customary attitude. There are many rock paintings in Alampadi village in Villupuram that have a 3,000-year old heritage,” said J Soundararajan, assistant profes-sor, department of ancient history
and archaeology, University of Madras.
The Nilgiri mountain range in the western ghats is a significant region when it comes to rock-art “Eight rock paintings sites and two petroglyph sites have been identified in this region. A vari-ety of subject matter and symbols have been painted in a naturalis-tic and abstract manner with red and white pigments. Among these sites, there are a lot of similarities
and variations found in style, forms and compositions. It shows the vibrancy of the people and its landscape,” said Gandhirajan.
“Creating awareness alone is not enough. Rock art should be introduced in the curriculum of schools and colleges,” said Gan-dhirajan. At least 40 papers were presented in the three-day event on rock-art jointly organized by the department of history, Pon-dicherry University and ASI.
M Kalyanaraman & Aarvalan
Carnatic music has infinite possibilities for artistic imagination but within a strongly defined framework. It typically takes years and years of immersion to achieve the level of expertise that makes the big stars what they are. Thankfully enough, Carnatic music boasts of several promising younger artists who have the dedication and training to launch into the big league. The series on these musicians kicks off with a profile of vocalist Kunnakudi Balamuralikrishna
I t seems Carnatic music has been laid out in all its myriad details already. The artist’s job is to embark on an
inward journey — plumb the depths of the music so he or she imbibes its es-sence so totally that she becomes that essence.
When Kunnakudi Balamuralikrish-na took up Thyagaraja’s ‘Vinaradhana Manavi’ in Devagandhari at the Pad-dhathi Fest 2014 at Arkay Convention Centre on Dec 6, it seemed he needed to just sing the song as laid down without any great effort. And the extraordinary sweetness of the raga captured in the song would come through automati-cally. Balamuralikrishna needed to forget himself, leave his individuality outside the hall, and Thyagaraja’s me-lodic appeal to the divine would shine through. He did exactly that and the raga and the appeal did shine through.
Kunnakudi Balamuralikrishna ex-emplifies a long standing tradition in Carnatic music. Mild-mannered and slightly built, Balamurali doesn’t at-tempt to be physically conspicuous. Passionate but understated, his music aspires to adhere completely to the well worked out Carnatic system.
Balamurali’s strength is his training and eager embracing of musical knowl-edge from stalwarts. One has seen him during his teens sitting close to the per-formers, reflecting on the music he was
hearing.Starting his training with his fa-
ther Meenakshi Sundaram, he laterlearned from Neyveli Santhanagopa-lan and V Sundaresan. He is now un-der the tutelage of P S Narayanas-wami and has been learning from himfor the past two decades. He joinedPSN when he was eight years and histeacher, a Padma Bhushan recipient,was at the Arkay concert to encouragehis favourite student.
Balamurali is an accomplished mri-dangist as well. After training underNagai Bashyam, he is now under theguidance of Karaikudi Mani. He givespublic performances on the mridangamand has developed the rare skill to sing
customarily fast-paced songs inslower tempos.
Balamuralikrishna’s con-cert means, without exception,the inclusion of the ragam-
taanam-pallavi. This segment does notfit into the short-format concerts suchas the one at Arkay centre where hetook up the expansive Varali and Kara-harapriya for raga alapana.
Balamuralikrishna is staging acomeback of sorts after a period whenhe seemed to lose his voice. And itshowed. He took time to settle down andhis singing couldn’t reach the consist-ency he had demonstrated a few yearsback. As someone rediscovering hisvoice, Balamurali has to keep pluggingaway, continue honing his craft andskills, and keep training to reach thevery top. Since perfection is his chosengoal, his concerts need to be perfectthrough and through — so he moves tothe big league where he belongs.
CRYING FOR ATTENTION
BELOW ARE SOME LANDMARK ROCK-ART SITES THAT NEED URGENT ACTION FOR CONSERVATION
KURINJI NAGAR, USILAMPATTI Human figures and animals seen in white and black on Madurai-Theni road. Drawings of elephants, birds and deer and a couple of hunting scenes are a speciality of this site. The paintings are
vanishing due to lack of care
ALMOST FAMOUS
MALLACHANDRAM, KRISHNAGIRIHuman figures, animal and other
decorative motifs in mostly white ochre. Vandalism is rampant here as miscreants demolish the ancient dolmens found near the cave paintings
THIRUMALAI, SIVAGANGAIEven though there are only five or six
drawings here, they belong to the neolithic period. Figures of human and animals are drawn using red ochre. Lack of care rings a death bell to this art work
ARTISTIC RETURN: Balamuralikrishna is rediscovering his voice
THIRUMAYAM, PUDUKOTTAIFigures of human and animal in red ochre. The site is facing threat from vandals as it’s an easily accessible one.
PORIVARAI, NEAR
KARIKAIYUR
Near Kothagiri in the Nilgiris. Drawings of deer, bull, mongoose,
elephants and figures of human beings dating back to 5,000 years. Today, the paintings face threat from vandals, who have defaced many of the works here
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Chennai: Police recovered thebody of an infant from a dustbinin Royapuram on Tuesday. A few
passersby found the body,suspected to be that of apremature baby, wrapped in a
polythene cover in a dustbin onVelayudhapandi Street andalerted police, who sent the bodyto Government Stanley Hospitalfor postmortem.
“We are checking the list ofrecent deliveries in governmenthospitals to trace the parents,”said an investigating officer. Acase has been registered. TNN
Body of newborn found in dustbin