YOU CAN PAINT BETTER THAN MASTERS!

V.S.Gopalakrishnan


What in the first place is the justification for making paintings? If you take dancing, it comes naturally to us all and often as a spontaneous response to music. Lord Nataraja danced. And as for music, we all like it, in different ways, whether it comes forth from Saraswati or Narada or Gandharvas or Kinnaras or Himesh Reshammiya. But Gods and goddesses, partial to music and dancing, have ignored paintings. Perhaps the heaven and hell have really no building-walls to be decorated with paintings. It is only the mortals who go for paintings! They live in walled houses, and don't like barren walls and so they go about decorating them with coloured objects called paintings! 
Although our appreciation of dance, music and art has a subjective element, paintings are the hardest to judge. Music and dance can be judged for excellence within reasonable parameters although there is no definitive yardstick available like a stop-watch for judging, say, a competitive sprint event. As for appreciating art or paintings, what is one man's food is another man's poison! I am sure that more than half the visitors to a gallery/museum get puzzled by abstract paintings.    
Personally, I have been a very keen student of art from my youth. And I became fond of all genres of paintings and could 'appreciate' them all. Whatever be the kind of painting -realistic, impressionistic, expressionistic, surrealist, fauvist, cubist, abstract - I liked them all. And I developed a very high regard for painters of all genres. But when I myself formally learnt painting in 1999 and became a painter with seven one-man shows to my credit since then, my awe in respect of the works of very many top painters has vanished. I could just see them only as some kind of products made by those who would be termed by many as charlatans or frauds. 
TYEB MEHTA (1925-2009):
Born in Gujarat and brought up in Bombay, he went to the JJ School of Art. He was regarded as a top Indian painter, only next to MF Husain. In recent years, each of his paintings went for more than a crore of rupees!
 Tyeb Mehta
 Mahishasura
  diagonal series
 Kali (sold in auction for more than Rs.1 crore)
Till a decade ago I used to treat Tyeb as a big name but now his recent canvases seem to me like something I would not wish to own even for free!You may feel that you can paint better than Tyeb in the above paintings! Why on earth they had to paint Hindu deities, and that too most crudely, passes my comprehension.  
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S.H.RAZA (b.1922)
He made a name as a painter in Mumbai and began to live in Paris from 1950. He comes to Mumbai in December every year to avoid the European winter. I have met him. I have conversed with him in French for the heck of it! Now, let us look at his recent paintings.
 Syed Haider Raza
 Tree
 
 Kundalini
Raza is regarded as the third top-most modern Indian painter, after M.F.Husain and Tyeb Mehta. His paintings sell for a price between Rs.50 lakhs and Rs.1 crore. The work show some circles, squares, triangles etc. The central dot, the "bindu" is often a recurrent theme. I am sure many feel that they can paint equally well or even better!
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JUAN MIRO (1893-1983) OF SPAIN:
He was a celebrated Spanish modern painter. There was a special show of Miro's work in the Grand Palais, Paris, about 40 years ago which I visited. When I visited Tate Modern Gallery, London, three weeks ago, again there was a special show of Miro's paintings. What are his paintings like?
 Juan Miro
   
Was he a fraud? Can most people paint better than him? The answer to both the questions would seem to many people as "yes" indeed!
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 ELLSWORTH KELLY (b.1923) -AMERICAN PAINTER;
He is a well-known painter and is known as a minimalist. Let us see some of his paintings.
 Ellsworth Kelly



Many of you may rightly think that you can perhaps paint better than Kelly! Just please try!
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PAUL KLEE (1879-1940) OF SWITZERLAND:
He was a great and celebrated painter. Very fancifully, the names Klee and Kandinsky used to often go together. What were his paintings like?
 Paul Klee
 
Now, which of the above paintings would you like to display on your drawing room wall? "None", many of you may answer!
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It is sad that there are hardly any norms to judge the real worth of a painting. A painter is often made by his agents and the media. Lack of application and an effort at quick turn-over for getting large earnings, seem to be the driving many painters to compromise with quality. Renaissance masters spent years or months to finish one painting. In today's art-world, as a painter's age advances, acquired skills often seem to vanish and the quality regresses. Some jingoistic modernism takes hold of many painters who begin to produce crap. Painters like Jean Dubuffet, Barnet Newman, Philip Guston, Mark Rothko, Victor Pasmore, Gerhard Richter, Henri Matisse, Ernst Kirchner, Francis Picabia, Paule Vezelay, Robert Motherwell - they all disappoint me nowadays. My old admiration for them is now gone. After I tasted the apple myself, I experience disenchantment with many, many Masters!
Let me give just one example of the work of the above painters:
 by Jean Dubuffet (French)
 by Barnett Newman (American)
 by Philip Guston (American)
 by Mark Rothko (Russian-born American painter)
 by Victor Pasmore (Bitish artist)
  by Gerhard Richter (German)
 by Henri Matisse (French) - not bad, passable!
 by Ernst Kirchner (German) - very many paintings are bad, and very many are passable.
 by Francis Picabia (French) - but many are passable too.
 by Paule Vezelay (she was born in England)
  by Robert Motherwell (American)


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Recently, my son in London got his two year old child some paints, brushes and a large white sheet to paint upon. I was to be a guide and a help for him. But the little fellow needed no help. Below is an "abstract" painting made by him. It is as good as a Jackson Pollock or even better! You can see two foot-marks of his on his work!

 
 (Kindly ignore wrong dates on photos)
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So, please go and get some canvases, brushes and colours (preferably acrylic). You can perhaps try to prove that you are better than many Masters!
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THE MYSTERIOUS ORIGINAL KING VIKRAMADITYA

Whoever may not have heard of the "Vikram-Betal" stories, the fascinating tales about the great King Vikramaditya and Betal, the vampire? Was he a real king or was he only a legendary, imaginary figure? If anything gets my goat, it is the seamless intertwining of the two, the truth and fiction. Let us take this guy under our microscope. After all, very few human beings are known as creators of eras named after them! We all know about Vikram Samvat.

Somewhere in wikipedia, you find the date of King Vikramaditya as 102 BC to 15 AD, but in the same sentence it is mentioned that he was a legendary emperor of Ujjain, India, known for his wisdom, valour and magnanimity! Where does history end and legend start? I am flummoxed!

However, the Vikram Era that starts from 56 BC is not legend but is historical, and is real even today. That year marks the defeat of the invading Sakas (powerful Central Asian Tribes) by King Vikramaditya when Ujjain was invaded. The Vikram Samvat calendar is popular in Northern India and in Western India. It is a lunar calendar and the year starts with the day after the new moon in Chaitra. While the Government of India has adopted the Saka Calendar (starting 78 AD) for official purposes, the Government of Nepal has been officially following the Vikram Samvat, which they call Bikram Samvat. One must remember that the Saka Era (starting 78 AD) is a misnomer in a sense since really speaking it also celebrates the defeat of Sakas, at the hands of the Satavahana King Shalivahana in the year 78 AD. The Saka era is also called Shalivahana era.

The Saka people (also called Scythians) of Central Asia did however settle down in North India from 2^nd century BC to 4^th century AD, and they gave rise to Indo-Scythians. Sakas occupied and ruled Western India too and the rulers were called Western Satraps. Large sections of the Rajasthanis (kshatriyas) are descendants of the Sakas. There is an amazing combination of foreign blood in the Hindus. Similarly, sections of Rajasthanis and Gujaratis are also considered the descendants of the fierce, formidable and cruel Huna tribe (also called the Huns) of Central Asia which over-ran and ruled North India, under their leader Toramana and later his son Mihirakula in the 5^th and 6^th centuries AD. The two father and son Hun rulers were cruel to the subjects and particularly destroyed Buddhist cities, monuments etc. Mihirakula became a Hindu towards the end of his life.

KATHA-SARIT-SAGARA:

Coming back to the ancient King Vikramaditya, we find accounts about him in “Katha-Sarit-Sagara” (meaning Ocean of Tales) written in Sanskrit by a Kashmiri Pundit called Soma Deva Bhatta in the middle of the 12^th century AD. Soma Deva wrote it for the entertainment of Queen Suryamati, wife of King Anantdeva of Kashmir. It is said that it consisted of 350 stories in 18 books, 124 chapters, 21000 verses and prose too! This is the biggest compilation of Indian tales ever.

Accounts and stories about King Vikramaditya that are found in the Katha-Sarit-Sagara were written 1200 years after his time, and the problem will be one of what is history and truth and what is fiction and legend. There sure must be some admixture of both! The 25 stories of Vikram-Betal form part of the work, as also accounts of Vikramaditya’s life.

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HIS LIFE:

As per Katha-Sarit-Sagara, Vikramaditya was the son of King Mahendraditya of the Paramara Dynasty. However, the Paramara (also known as Pawar) Dynasty came into being around 800 AD only, founded by Upendra. The most significant Paramara Ruler was Bhoja I and the capital city was Dharanagara (present Dhar). Thus, the Ocean seems to be off the mark. However, the Betal story in the Katha-Sarit-Sagara does go with the original Vikramaditya of the first century BC!

BHAVISHYA PURANA:

“Bhavishya Purana” in verse form has a lot to say about the life of Vikramaditya. It is one of the major 18 Puranas and is said to have been written by Vyasa several centuries before Christ. The work literally means “History of the Future”. The Purana starts with the greatness of Shiva, Vishnu, Surya etc. It has uncannily predicted, believe it or not, the following – Jesus Christ, Muhammad, fall of Sanskrit, Chandragupta, Ashoka, Chaitanya, Akbar, Jaichandra, British Rule, Hitler etc. The events are written as having already taken place.

The following account owes itself to the "Bhavishya Purana" as for Vikramaditya, whom we may call Vikram here for brevity. Vikram’s father was Gandharvasena, son of Lord Indra. Are we not into myths here? Once, while Apsara Mohini was on her way to meet Siva on Mount Kailasa, Gandharvasena (Vikram’s father) happened to obstruct her way. Enraged at this, Lord Indra cursed him (his own son Gandharvasena) and turned him into a donkey with certain riders. We may omit portions regarding the donkey becoming a human again. Vikram was only 5 years old when he entered a penance for 12 years. He was bestowed with extraordinary power and insights. His elder brother Bhartuhari renounced his throne and the kingdom came to Vikram. King Vikram was known for justice, sagacity, wisdom, valour, charity and generosity.

I will not go into any aspect of the twenty five Vikram-Betal stories known as “Vetala Panchavimshati” which are fascinating to say the least. Some years ago, Doordarshan telecast the stories in a serial. I shall try to attempt a separate blog about the stories. There are also 32 stories relating to Vikramaditya Simhasan (throne) and they are called “Simhasana Dwatrimshika”. King Shalivahana of Paithan after whom Saka era is named, is said to be Vikram’s grandson.

KAABA AND KING VIKRAM:

Of late, an excitement has been aroused among the people with the alleged discovery of King Vikram’s inscription inside the Kaaba at Mecca. It is alleged that there is a Shiva lingam inside the Kaaba. Thus, Arabia came under the vast extent of King Vikram’s empire. Prophet Mohammad, it is said, took the crescent moon emblem for Islam from Shiva’s adornment. There are quite a few articles in the Net on this subject. However, the Net is hardly the place where you get to really read scientific or highly scholarly papers. I am personally unable to judge the authenticity of all the claims about Kaaba. The readers may throw light on this giving links.

OTHER VIKRAMADITYAS:

The title “Vikramaditya” was adopted by some well-known kings of India in later times. Notable examples are the Gupta King Chandragupta the second Vikramaditya and Samrat Hem Chandra Vikramaditya (also known as Hemu). The former, the great Gupta King, who was the son of Samudragupta, and who ruled from 375 to 413 AD, defeated the last king Rudrasimha III of the Shaka Satrap Dynasty in Gujerat and annexed that kingdom to his vast territory. Hemu (1501-56), the son of a Brahmin priest, became a trusted Army Chief and Prime Minister under the Suri Dynasty (Afghans). The Afghans (Suris) and Mughals (Babar and Humayun) were at loggerheads for the Delhi Throne. Hemu benefited by this and took the Delhi throne in 1556 for a short time and ruled as a Hindu Emperor after 350 years of rule by Muslims.   

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