Golden Age of Greek Dramatists

Aeschylus (525-455 B.C.) His "Oresteia" is the only trilogy of the classical period to have survived intact. His lyrical dramas, out of which only seven (including the three mentioned above) have survived, pioneered the Greek drama & cultivated an audience, who were cultured enough to judge & award prizes to the best dramatists of the Golden age.

Euripides (484-406 B.C) 19 plays of his have survived. His "Medea" introduced a realism that shocked audiences. His "Electra" is quiet different from Aeschylus & Sophocles versions. She lives not in a palace, but in a peasant's hut & is obsessed with babies & nurses. She is motivated more by her envy of her mother than loyalty to her father.

Sophocles (496-406 B.C.) is the greatest but  with only seven tragedies extant. His "Antigone" celebrates sibling love in these immortal lines.

Had I had children or their father dead,

I'd let them moulder.

One husband gone, I might have found another,

Or a child from a new man in first child's place,

but with my parents hid away in death,

no brother, ever, could spring up for me.

Aristophanes (450-385 B.C)  With his 11 irreverent plays was the most creative, with the largest range of comedy. His "The Clouds", an attack on the Sophists, makes unfair fun of Socrates. But when he was impersonated by an actor wearing a mask, & the audience applauded, Socrates (who was in the audience), stood up so that the likeness may be better appreciated, like the true philosopher he was.

So contemporary were his plays that in his "Frogs", Aeschylus & Euripides characters appear on stage to debate who is the better tragedian!

Founding texts of Western Literature

Homer's "Iliad" & 'Odyssey" (Greek) are the most famous ancient books. "Iliad" deals with the consequences of the abduction of Helen, wife of King Menelaus of Sparta (one of the Achaeans) by Prince Paris, son of King Hector of Troy (one of the Trojans). The resulting Trojan war regained Helen, after valorous feats by Achilles, who fought for the Achaeans.

The "Odyssey" deals with the adventures of Odysseus, King of Ithaca (one of the Achaeans) on his way home after the Trojan war, to his faithful wife Penelope, who patiently awaited his return through long years.

The third great epic, Virgil's "Aeneid" (Latin) deals with the adventures of Aeneas, one of the Trojans, & son of Goddess Aphrodite. Like Homer who began his epic with the words "Sing, O Goddess, the anger of Achilles", Virgil begins by saying "I sing of arms & a man".

If the above three appeared before the advent of Christ, the epic written in Tuscan (Italian), which appeared in the middle ages, was Dante's "The Divine Comedy". This incorporated the Christian theology of the soul's ascent from Hell through Purgatory to Paradise.

The influence of these in shaping western civilization is so profound that none can understand the western psyche without a study of these.

Golden Age of Children's Literature

Though not as famous as the Golden Age of Detective Fiction, (which was roughly the first half of the twentieth century & was remarkable for the many feminine practitioners of the genre), the Golden Age of Children's Literature, also occupied the same time frame, may be starting a little bit earlier.

Humphrey Carpenter, who compiled the authoritative Oxford Companion to Children's Literature with his wife, felt the need of a more comprehensive study of the key authors of this genre & prepared the scholarly "Secret Gardens - A Study of the Golden Age of Children's Literature." He started with Charles Kingsley's "The Water Babies" & Lewis Carroll's "Alice in Wonderland." Incidentally both authors were clergymen.

He also thought George McDonald & Bevis as influential, but both are now not very popular. Louisa Alcott with her "Little Women" was a pioneer, still relevant as evinced by the recent film. Kenneth Grahame, with his evergreen "Wind in the Willows" never allows us to forget his animals, anthropomorphized as Edwardian gentlemen.

Edith Nesbit, with her Kafkaesque vanished father of "The Railway Children" was a unique voice, as was Beatrix Potter, with her self-drawn beautiful animal pictures of Peter Rabbit & other endearing animals. James Barrie, with his age-defying Peter Pan & A. A. Milne with his two prose volumes of Winnie the Pooh are still alive through their never aging works.

Meanwhile, Carpenter's "Oxford Companion" has been updated by Daniel Hahn to include Tolkien & Rowling. The book fittingly contains notable illustrators also, with the surprising omission of Inga Moore, who in addition to being an author of children's books herself, is an outstanding illustrator in the transcendent impressionist style, having produced best-selling magnificent editions of "Wind in the Willows" & "The Secret Garden" by Frances Hodgson Burnett.

Crabby aunts & their poor nieces

A poor niece from a large family is taken by well-to-do aunts at the age of ten in both English Jane Austen's "Mansfield Park" (1814) & American Kate Douglas Wiggin's "Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm" (1903). In both cases, the girls have to live with two aunts, one tolerant & one hostile.

Austen's demure Fanny Price is taken for granted by her valetudinarian aunt Bertram, but put down at every opportunity by aunt Norris, who contributes nothing for her upkeep. 

Wiggin's lively Rebecca is disliked by her aunt Miranda but supported by aunt Jane, who herself is in awe of her elder sister Miranda.

However, the girls get recompensed at the end, of course after many trials & tribulations. Cousin Edmund, a clergyman, realises the worth of the self-effacing Fanny Price & marries her. Strict aunt Miranda leaves all her property to Rebecca at her death.

In both novels, there is perfect evocation of the milieu of 19th Century England on the one hand & early 20th Century USA on the other.

Pippi Longstocking & Magic Realism

Pippi, created by the Swedish Astrid Lindgren in 1950, is a nine year old girl with gravity-defying pigtails, size-defying strength, a suitcase full of gold coins, a monkey named Mr. Nilsson & a horse. She lives alone in a house, looking after herself, living a dream life with no grown-up telling her what to do.

Like Alice in her Wonderland, Pippi also devises strange semantic usage to confound the people she comes across. But Alice is surrounded by queer people & animals, whereas Pippi lives amongst normal people. 

Like in Gabriel Garcia Marquez's quintessential Magic Realism pioneering novel "One hundred years of solitude", where among normal life, characters suddenly sprout wings & fly, Pippi also in the midst of the humdrum life of a town, suddenly disorients a visiting circus, drives away ruthless burglars, breaks social norms in coffee parties & paralyses policemen & flummoxes firemen.

Ragini Todi - Some Varieties

The Ragini Todi has a "Thaat" all to herself in the 10 "Thaat" classification system of Hindustani Music. The Iconography of Ragini Todi in the Ragamala Paintings show a lone lady with a musical instrument accompanied with a couple of Deers. The ragas called Miya ki Todi & Darbari Todi are so close to it as to be practically indistinguishable.

One common variant of Todi is Gurjari Todi, which drops the Pancham of the parent Ragini.

Another variant, Bhopal Todi, drops both Madhyam & Nishad to make it a pentatonic raga.

Bilaskhani Todi actually uses the swaras of Bhairavi, but with a zig-zag movement in the descent, the ascent being the same as Bhopal Todi.

Pandit Jasraj has popularised a rare variety called Jaiwanti todi, which also uses the notes of Nat Bhairavi, but in a zig-zag way both in the ascent & descent.

Another very rare variety, Lachari Todi is used in Ray's "Apur Sansar" to denote the Apu - Aparna relationship.

Reformers & Work Ethic

Martin Luther (1483-1546) started reforming the Christian Church in Germany. His contemporary, the French John Calvin (1509-64) also started a similar venture. In addition to the religious ideas, Calvin also proposed the idea that work is a means through which Christians can express their gratitude to God. (Incidentally the three major branches of Christianity, Roman Catholic, Protestant & Calvinism were parodied by the Anglo-Irish Satirist Jonathan Swift (1667-1745) in his "Tale of a Tub", by naming the three brothers who squandered their patrimony (Christianity) as Peter(Catholic), Martin(Luther) & Jack (Calvin).

Much later, Max Weber, in his seminal work on the Protestant Work Ethic (1905), attributed the rise of Capitalism to the work ethic preached by the Protestants (see Calvin's idea above). Of course "Wealth of Nations" by Adam Smith (1776) was also a founding text of Capitalism.

But these ideas of religious reformation coupled with the ethics of work, were anticipated far earlier by Saint Basaveshwara (1105-1167) in Karnataka. He was a religious reformer who tried to unify a divided society. Also more to the point here, he said "Work is Worship" (Kayakave Kailasa in Kannada), thereby promoting a work ethic. In fact, Girish Karnad (1938-2019), the Kannada polymath, who also wrote an acclaimed play on Basaveshwara & his times, called "Taledanda", opined that his teaching had caused a large rise in productivity, both in agriculture & commerce.

Vita Activa vs. Vita Contemplativa

The above Italian phrase, which means the active life vs. the contemplative life in religion refers to a passage from St. Luke, where Christ was invited to her home by Martha for a meal. While Martha was busy in the kitchen, her sister Mary listened to Christ. When Martha asked Christ why He did not ask Mary to help her in the kitchen, Christ replied "Martha, you are anxious &  troubled about many things; one thing is needful. Mary has chosen the good portion, which shall not be taken away from her." Here Christ seems to prefer the inner life of Mary.

In "Quranic Sufism", (published by Motilal Banarasidass), Mir Valiuddin argues that Sufism, the contemplative branch of Islam, derives its validity from the Quran itself. He differentiates between God, the "Knower" & the ideas of God, as the "Known." He also postulates that God is both immanent in His manifestations & transcendent in his Essence.

Of course in Hinduism, the contemplative life has always been accorded priority over the physically active life. The scriptures are replete with sages meditating in forests, not to speak of Patanjali Yoga Sutras & Narada Bhakti Sutras. Whereas, the contemplative life as exemplified by the mystics is a numerically minor phenomena in Christianity (Julian of Norwich) & Islam (Rabia of Basra), it is a more widespread feature of Hinduism.

Synesthesia - Scriabin & others

This is defined as a condition in which the stimulation of one sensory modality automatically evokes a perception in an unstimulated modality. (Oxford Handbook of Synesthesia, O.U.P)

The Russian Composer, Alexander Scriabin, was alleged to be subject to "chromesthesia" a specialised form of synesthesia, dealing with colour - sound associations. He composed music, assigning different colours of the spectrum to different notes of the musical scale. The recorded versions of his Piano Sonatas & Symphonies are available.

His fellow Russian, Modest Mussorgsky, envisaged musical notes of the Piano when he saw the pictures painted by his friend, V. Hartmann in an exhibition. But the most often heard version is the orchestral one of these pieces by the Frenchman Maurice Ravel, called "Pictures from an Exhibition."

The eminent neuroscientist Dr. V. S. Ramachandran (with David Brang) has also co-authored a contribution "Molecules to Metaphor - Outlooks on Synasthesia Research" in the above handbook.

England - France Rivalry: Historical Repercussions

When these two countries were colonial powers, they necessarily came into conflict at many places. Two countries which bore the brunt/benefits of this rivalry were India & what later came to be known as the United States of America.

To consider the case of India first, many native rulers tried to shake off the Imperialist yoke of England by taking the help of the French, who also had colonies here. One of them was Tipu Sultan, who was ruling the state called Mysore then. Though he offered stiff resistance, he was eventually defeated. As a reminder of the French presence here, there was a town called "French Rocks." Now it is known as "Pandavapura." The spiritual leader, Sri Aurobindo, was also hounded by the British for his part in the freedom struggle then. He took refuge in Pondicherry, which was a French colony then.

In America, the man who judiciously used the French support for American Independence was Benjamin Franklin. Though the French were reluctant to concede the whole of Canada to the British, he conducted successful diplomacy to enlist the French support to dislodge the British. He made repeated trips to France & was lionised there, whereas he was heaped with vituperation in England. Actually, in his lifetime, he was more popular in France than even the USA! It should be remembered that the iconic Statue of Liberty at New York harbour (metal framework made by Eiffel of the Tower in Paris fame) was a gift of France to USA. All these details are recounted in the definitive biography of Franklin by Walter Isaacson.

Cricket & Music: Types & Comparisons

Here it is proposed to compare the three forms of Cricket, namely Test, 50 over games & T20 games with Classical Music, Light Music & Popular Music respectively.

The basics of cricket are the same for the three versions as are the twelve semitones of an octave common for all types of music. 

The purest form of cricket, test cricket is the connoisseur's delight like classical music &  appeals only to the cognoscenti. It brings out the best in the performers as well as the viewers/listeners. It brings out the beauty of defensive shots also when the situation demands it.

The 50 over form of cricket, is watered down to provide some artificial excitement by limiting the duration & providing cheap thrills by coloured clothing & encouraging innovative shot making. So is light music like Sugam Sangeeth or lieder in Western Classical music or thumri in Hindustani music, by providing verbal help to the emotions of music.

The least artistic form of cricket is the T20 format as is the film songs of India & the Rock music of the west. Both appeal to the lowest common denominator & are hence most popular & commercially profitable of the three types. Both appeal to the instant gratification of a populace with extremely limited attention span.

To end the essay with a remark by George Eliot in her "Daniel Deronda":

"Popular music is a form of melody which expresses a puerile state of culture, the passion & thought of people without any breadth or horizon. There is a sort of self-satisfied folly about every phrase of such melody; no cries of deep, mysterious passion - no conflict, no sense of the Universal. It makes men small as they listen to it."

Similarly with the shorter forms of cricket.

"Painting in the Kangra Valley" by Vijay Sharma - An Appreciation

This recently published book has a unique distinction of being authored by a professional artist, himself having painted more than a hundred miniature paintings.

The first chapter gives the general background of the subject, paying due tribute to the first art historians who brought it into the limelight, like Ananda K. Coomaraswamy, William George Arthur, M. S. Randhawa, Karl Khandalavala & others. 

The second chapter deals with the influences on Kangra Painting, like the natural beauty of the valley, Lord Krishna, Vaishnavism & the Bhakti Cult.

The third & fourth chapters differentiate between the Guler & Kangra schools, pointing out the individualities of the two.

The fifth chapter deals with the subject matter of these schools like Portraiture, Ragamala, the Hindu Epics, Baramasa & Devi Mahatmya.

The last chapter deals with the predominant rasa of the Kangra Painting, namely Sringara as depicted in classical Love Poetry.

An Appendix gives details of a few examples of the entries in the Bahi registers of the Pandas at Haridwar.

With 143 colour plates, this beautifully printed & produced volume makes a noteworthy addition to the existing literature on the subject.

Jan Vermeer & Jane Austen

Both confined themselves to a very limited scope & quantity of work & excelled at it.

First, Jan Vermeer (1632-75) Dutch painter, produced only 35 paintings of which only two were landscapes & the rest interiors. Half of his paintings show a solitary woman, the best known being the "Girl with a pearl earring." When Michelangelo said "Little things done to perfection, build up into Great things or Art", he might have spoken of Vermeer's Art, yet to come.

Jane Austen (1775-1817) wrote only six major novels, confining herself only to the miniscule section of society, to which she belonged. Her masterpiece was "Pride & Prejudice." She herself spoke of her work in these words "The little bit (two inches wide)  of ivory on which I work with so fine a brush as produces little effect after much labour."

Different varieties of Raga Bhairav recorded by noted Sitarists

The most popular variety, Ahir Bhairav has been recorded by Ravi Shankar, Vilayat Khan, Nikhil Banerjee, Balaram Pathak & Debu Chaudhuri.

Nat Bhairav, popularised by Ravi Shankar, uses the Shuddha Rishabh instead of the Komal Rishabh of the parent raga Bhairav. It is also recorded by his guru bhai, Nikhil Banerjee.

Ananda Bhairav, with Shuddha Dhaivat instead of the Komal variety, & occasional use of Komal Nishad, is recorded by Ravi Shankar.

Bhairav Bahar, a blend of the two ragas, has been recorded by Vilayat Khan, notably in a live concert in Stuttgart. He has also created his own mix of Mand Bhairav, mixing the light raga Mand with the austere morning raga Bhairav.

The most melancholy of all is Kaushi Bhairav, using the Komal Nishad instead of the Shuddha Nishad of Bhairav & recorded by Ravi Shankar on a 6 minute extended play record of 45 rpm.

Lastly, a rare variety, using both Rishabhs in a convoluted way, is Asa Bhairav, brought out by Ravi Shankar.

"Rishyasringa" - Kannada film (1977)

This film has a remarkable resemblance to Mani Kaul's "Duvidha", both in form & content. Both are based on folktales with ghosts & exorcisms & filmed in a subjective style. There is also a preponderance of rich folk music. However, Director V. R. K. Prasad avoids the drawbacks of "Duvidha", (mentioned by Satyajit Ray in his book). The cast perform their roles with normal dramatic acting, (avoiding the non-acting imposed by Mani Kaul & his mentor Robert Bresson) & colour & costumes have been used for reasons other than merely cosmetic.

The opening sequence of a group of villages witnessing a man possessed, is reminiscent of the opening shots of Antonioni's "Zabriskie Point" in the use of the continuously panning camera to catch the fleeting expressions on the faces of the people. The girl's dream sequence is  brilliantly conceived & filmed, the visuals & music being paired well. Balappa's triumphant entry into the village captures the 'feel' of the village very effectively. It is well contrasted later of his being rejected & spat at by the same villagers.

The first 'fight' between Balappa & Gowda is a good example of ellipsis. From a shot of Balappa grasping the collar of Gowda & Gowda calmly snuffing out his beedi, there is a straight cut to the injured Balappa lying prostrate with his clothes torn & blood smeared.

Mention must be made about the evocative folksongs & background music, using only folk instruments (by B. V. Karanth). Shots of Balappa tossing the necklace & the girl catching it are poorly synchronised. The lighting in some supposedly continuous sequences changes abruptly, jarring the viewer.

Not withstanding these shortcomings, this film remains a landmark in Kannada cinema as it may be considered to be the first 'personal' film in the language, in the tradition of the European masters.

Wonderful Worlds of Mary Ann Evans

It is hard to believe that Mary Ann Evans (aka George Eliot) & Charles Dickens were contemporaries. While Dickens was more popular with his mainly black & white characterisations, Eliot dived deep into the psyche of the human soul, exploring its variegated hues.

Starting with the trilogy of novellas, the self explanatory "Scenes of Clerical Life", she took up next the idealistic affection between brothers  Adam & Seth in "Adam Bede". Moving on to another aspect of sibling love, she wrote "The Mill on the Floss", movingly subtitled "In their death they were not divided" referring to the siblings Tom & Maggie, whose pure love, this novel celebrates. This was followed by her shortest novel, the enchanting "Silas Marner", where the unbreakable bond between the old Silas & the foundling Eppie is described. These are especially relevant in the current times, when only romantic love is written about.

After these, she suddenly dived into her only historical novel, "Romola", set in 15th century Florence at the time of Savonarola. Though the least read of her novels, she herself wrote "There is no book of mine about which I more thoroughly feel that I swear by every sentence as having being written with my best blood." 

Then she wrote about a political election at the time of the Reform Bill of 1832, called "Felix Holt, The Radical." It is curious to note the similarity between Felix & Dickens' Stephen Blackpool in his "Hard Times", both idealistic men of the working class.

These were her preparations for her magnum opus, "Middlemarch", one of the greatest novels with a panoramic sweep of English Society. The heroine, Dorothea Brooke, is introduced in these unforgettable lines, emphasising her spiritual beauty. "She had that kind of beauty, which seems to be thrown into relief by poor dress. Her hand & wrist were so finely formed that she could wear sleeves not less bare of style  than those in which the Blessed Virgin appeared to Italian Painters." After reading the novel, the reader may feel like Frank Kermode, who wrote that she is "a missionless St. Teresa (of Avila) or an Antigone (of Sophocles) with no brother to bury."

In her final novel, "Daniel Deronda", Eliot simultaneously explores the protagonist's delving into his Semitic roots & the "Spoiled Child", Gwendolen Harleth's spirit broken by her willfully chosen husband.

This is the writer about whom Virginia Woolf wrote "When asked to speak about women & fiction, I may say a few remarks about Jane Austen; a tribute to the Brontes; & a respectful allusion to George Eliot." This respect is due to the fact that Eliot was more widely read than Austen or the Brontes & moved in intellectual circles all her life. It is a pity that now more readers do not have the literary stamina to read & enjoy her novels.

Pandas & Pahari Paintings

In many pilgrimage centers like Hardwar in the north, visiting
pilgrims also perform the ceremonies of worshipping their ancestors. For performing these, a professional class called Pandas, maintain "Bahi" registers where the genealogical tree of the pilgrims & their ancestors is built up. On account of the competitiveness of their occupation, many Pandas are considered unfavourably by many pilgrims.

Unlike the European painters, who would sign their work & also leave behind historical records of their lives, even the greatest Indian Painters like Manaku & his younger brother Nainsukh of Guler left almost no record of their lives. Many Indian Painters were content to remain anonymous. Hence, unearthing their identity & the time in which they worked was well nigh impossible.

The eminent art historian B. N. Goswamy hit upon the idea of collecting their birth details & family tree from the Pandas' "Bahi" registers as the painters, like pious Hindus had visited these pilgrimage centers to pay oblations to their ancestors. He mentions that without this information shared by the Pandas', his scholarly tome "Pahari Masters" could not be written.

So an ancient system devised for ancestor worship has become a research tool to identify & reconstruct the lives of eminent painters!

Appreciation of Indian Painting

Many books have been written to help connoisseurs navigate the wonders of Indian Painting. The early influential (but dated) "The Dance of Shiva" by Ananda K. Coomaraswamy & the concise "Indian Painting" by C. Sivaramamurti are early examples.

M. S. Randhawa also produced learned monographs, especially on Kangra School, but they are hard to find & expensive. The first comprehensive exhaustive book on Ragamala Paintings (an enchanting, unique branch of Indian Miniature Painting) was painstakingly researched & produced by Klaus Ebeling.

More recently, B. N. Goswamy has contributed notably to the genre, his magnum opus probably being the magisterial "The Spirit of Indian Painting", printed by Penguin Books in an edition, luckily subsidised by certain organisations. Dr.Daljeet has also produced many volumes, notably "Ragachitra" dealing with Ragamala Paintings. The latest to join the shelves is Vijay Sharma's "Paintings of the Kangra Valley", an opulent book.

Mention should also be made of Niyogi books who are printing & publishing many of the above books at an affordable price.