The God next door

Vishnu: Hinduism’s
Blue-skinned
Savior
Editor: Joan Cummins
Mapin
Rs 3,500; Pp 296

A little-known fact about Hindu religious practices is that no priest can possibly start any ritual worship of any deity without invoking Vishnu or his hallowed memory. Even when the priest, irrespective of the school to which he belongs, worships the other two members of the Hindu Trinity of Gods — Brahma, the Creator, and Shiva, the Destroyer — he has to start the process by paying obeisance to Vishnu. There seems to be no getting away from Vishnu, the Preserver, or the one who maintains order and balance in the cosmos by means that are both violent and peaceful. Such is the primordial importance conferred on Vishnu by those who wrote the Hindu religious scriptures.

The importance of Vishnu in the Hindu way of life arises for another reason. Of the three members of the Trinity, Vishnu appears to be the most real, infinitely more human, more balanced, present in many more forms and incarnations than the other two, and certainly better understood by most practitioners of the Hindu religion over the ages.

Brahma is the most remote of them all. You can count the number of temples at which you can worship Brahma. Shiva is more popular, but his bohemian way of life and mercurial behaviour inspire awe and fear, and do not make him easily acceptable. Therefore, Shiva remains a distant God. In sharp contrast, Vishnu is the God next door, manifesting all the qualities including the virtues and the minor foibles that a Hindu householder has no qualms in identifying with. He is like the Shakespearean tragic hero — who does not hold an ordinary position in life, but whose hubris helps ordinary folk empathise with him. For Shiva, there is reverence and fear. For Vishnu, there is reverence, but hardly any fear. In addition, there is affection and empathy.

Full report here Business Standard 

Mapin(g) a tale of two book lovers

It was no bright morning on a special day when the inception of a publishing house to document Indian art and culture took seed. It was the most obvious decision for its promoters Bipin Shah and Mallika Sarabhai to start a publishing house dedicated to illustrated depiction of Indian tradition, arts, crafts and culture.

Mapin Publications was born as a commercial venture of their common passion — books and Indian tradition. 25 years ago, they met when Mallika was looking to distribute a magazine of Indian origin in the US. A few years later, there was nothing more exciting than to bring together two passions on one platform.

“We never sat down and thought — ‘so what business should we pursue together?’ Mapin was a natural choice. It was a mission, not a business. We believed that it was something that needed to be done, and needed to be done fast. Back then there were a lot of myths about India. Our culture was not projected to the world. We wanted to show India to the world as we understood it, and also to Indians," Mallika recounts with a distinct spark in her eye.

Full report here DNA

REVIEW: Raja Ravi Varma

REVIEW

Raja Ravi Varma
Rupika Chawla
Mapin
Rs 3,950
Pp 360
ISBN: 978-81-89995-08-9
Coffee Table

Blurb
Ravi Varma (1848–1906) was closely connected with the erstwhile royal house of Travancore. He was one of the first Indian painters to successfully adopt Western painting techniques and adapt academic realism to the visual interpretation of Indian mythology. His genre of paintings, which eventually lead to  chromolithographs (oleographs), has maintained a lasting effect on the Indian sensibility, making him
the best-known classical painter of the modern era.
This book is an account of Ravi Varma’s traditional background and environment and the manner in which they related to the modernization of colonial India; his profession as an aristocratic itinerant painter, his royal patrons, his portraits and the analysis of his mythological and iconic paintings; his influence on the Indian mindset, the sources used by him and his controversial status from the late 19th century till today even while contemporary painters continue to be inspired by his art and his attitude. The book is lavishly illustrated with pictures taken from princely and private collections and museums. These also appear in the book among the works that have never been seen before, previously undisclosed maps, letters, photographs and other archival material.

Reviews
Going back in time with Raja Ravi Varma DNA
Oh my God!” muttered the budding writer to a socialite-friend, “you look so different, well, I mean so nice and…” And then she stopped abruptly midway through her sentence, realising that she was about to stray into blunder-land with the OMG hype.

You see, the amply-endowed friend usually wears ill-fitting designer western clothes or designer saris with rhinestones and loads of other semi-precious stones that hurt the eyes, like full-on headlights. All of which makes her appear quite gauche, when not gaudy.

This evening she looked like a heavenly beauty who had just stepped out of a Raja Ravi Varma portrait — courtesy a traditional South Indian silk sari with a resplendent border, set alight by the kind of jewellery that adorns Raj Ravi Varma’s women. Mercifully, she was following the dress code of the evening.

It was the Delhi launch last Saturday of Rupika Chawla’s book, Raja Ravi Varma — Painter of Colonial India (Mapin Publishing), for which the guests, both men and women, had been requested to wear clothes inspired by the painter’s canvases. Sportingly, a large number did, with flowers craftily incorporated into the coiffures of several enthusiastic women.
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The invention of India Outlook
Raja Ravi Varma (1848-1906) is to a hundred years of Indian visual language what Shakespeare is to four hundred years of English. If, as claimed, forty per cent of an English speaker’s common usage is derived from the Bard, Ravi Varma provides approximately the same quotational base for the popular Indian visual lexicon.

Even in 21st century India, it is difficult not to encounter on a daily basis the iconometrics of the two-dimensional pictorial code that Ravi Varma drilled into the subconscious of a people waking up to the idea of a self-image as part of their claims to cultural uniqueness and identity in the face of colonial/ imperial subjugation. It was accompanied by, as art historian Ratan Parimoo has pointed out, “a newly awakened taste for the luscious”.

Calendars, posters, greeting cards, book covers, oleographs (oil prints), cinema hoardings, match and fire-cracker labels, multi-colour prints of gods, goddesses and other dramatis personae from mythology—commonly found in restaurants, offices, trucks, buses and household pooja rooms—have so naturalised these otherwise Western approaches to the pictorial narrative that these have become the signature stereotype of ‘the Indian look’.
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An artist for the masses Scholars without Borders
A new book from MAPIN, Ahmedabad, Raja Ravi Varma: Life and Times in Colonial India celebrates the career of Raja Ravi Varma (1848 - 1906) who, arguably, was the first major Indian artist to adapt western techniques to paintings on Indian themes... His portraits, as well as the images of familiar stories from mythology in the late 1880's captured the imagination of Indians awakening to the possibility of Independence... Then modern techniques of mass production, via oleography, brought these paintings to the common man- and there is probably not one middle-class home in South India that did not have a reproduction of Saraswati, or Krishna and Yashodha, or some similar image...

His influence- and reputation- was huge. Ravi Varma's work "has maintained a lasting effect on the Indian sensibility, making him the best-known classical painter of the modern era.
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A painter, a prince TOI Crest 

A good biographer is supposed to be a good detective, sniffing out secrets and filling in the gaps in the life and work of her subject. Rupika Chawla would probably get an appreciative nod from Hercule Poirot for her luscious and painstakingly-researched book on the life and times of Raja Ravi Varma, considered by many to be India's first modern painter. Paradoxically, he was also responsible for the faces of gods and goddesses and mythical figures that figure in our collective visual imagination. 


The sleuthing Chawla has given us the portrait of a man in full by doggedly following the most ephemeral of clues across India, ferreting out unknown Ravi Varma paintings, burrowing into dispersed archives, digging up provenances for scores of work, tracing his scattered descendants in pursuit of bits of information or some forgotten and damaged Ravi Varma canvas — even making the most obscure of connections coalesce into fascinating revelations. 

For a fresh look

For the publishing troubled, the focus on India seems to be an ongoing story. Frankfurt and Paris had the spotlight on India last year, and London follows is following it up with an ambitious line –up of India centric events at London this year.

The London Book Fair, on at the British capital’s Earls Court from April 20-22 this year, is focusing on India as an emerging market and literary hub. This trade fair will look at not only English writing from the south Asian nation but also other vernacular languages, Alistair Burtenshaw, group exhibition director of the event, says during a recent visit to India to promote the fair.

Burtenshaw admits that the global publishing industry is reeling at the moment. But he is confident of the rebound for the sector as well. “Publishing is a very forward looking industry,” he says. “Even in a challenging economic environment, they are going to look ahead. Out industry relies on great writing, and that is not going to stop.”

The London Book Fair, part of Reed Exhibitions, is one of the largest trade fairs in the world for the sector. While leading publishers, distributors, exporters, agents and writers are present, since 2004, each year, the fair has also selected a ‘market focus’ country. A major area where Burtenshaw hopes LBF will see activity is the sale of copyrights, especially for new authors. While Indian literature has already made deep inroads in the western markets, Burtenshaw feels the fair will help the industry look at India through fresh eyes.

The fair sees about 75-100 seminars over three days and usually draws about 25,000 attendees. Last year, there were about 1,800 exhibitors, from 36 countries and 413 companies. This year, publishers, booksellers and industry representatives from 67 countries will be present at the fair. The growth of the LBF in recent years has also meant the fair has a more international flavour, with about half the exhibitors coming from overseas.

About 45 writers, including major names like Vikram Seth, Amit Chaudhuri, Anita Nair, Javed Akhtar, Amartya Sen and Ramchandra Guha are among the writers scheduled to attend the fair. Already 78 Indian exhibitors have signed up, far exceeding expectations, says Burtenshaw. About 40 cultural events, including seminars and workshops, are planned. “It will help Indian publishers to sell rights of works by Indian authors to other markets,” he says.

The fair aims to focus on different aspects of Indian publishing. With India already the world’s third-largest producer of English language titles, and a still growing economy compared to negative growth rates in most of the OECD economies, the country offers considerable marketing opportunities.

“This will see writing not only from Indians writing in English, but also from the other languages spoken in the country,” says Burtenshaw. The British Council is putting together the programmes, and Sujata Sen, Director, East India, British Council, points out, there are 32 languages in India with over a million speakers, and there is great scope for translation. She points to Sahitya Akademi’s programme, and hopes more translation rights will be discussed.
And the events will not be limited to LBF alone but will also form part of the Edinburgh, hay, Norwich and Newcastle literature festivals. As part of the build up, the Kolkata Book Fair this had its spotlight on Scottish writers, and BCL organized about 50 events during the festival, points out Sen. “It is all about long term sustainability and engagement, adds Burtenshaw. “The rationale is to create greater business opportunities.

With a going rate of £254 per square metre to rent place at the fair, participation does not come chap. But Capexil is giving financial assistance to participants. LBF has also been helping out potential Indian exhibitors through workshops and seminars, conducting workshops for agents on how they can make a book successful, on participation guidelines, how to set up appointments, which titles to promote, how to present stands, preparing the right publicity material etc. While many of the subsidiaries of international publishing houses have been participating in their global stands, many have also taken stands in the India pavilion, Among the participants from India at the fair are Roli, Rupa, Macmillan India, Mapin, Niyogi, OUP India, Penguin India, Sterling, UBSPD, Zubaan, Wisdom Tree, Ratna Sagar, Research Press, Pearson Education, Palgrave Macmillan, McGraw Hill, IBH, Cambridge University Press India besides a host of printers.

Whether the fair is able to achieve its goals remains to be seen, but what already seems guaranteed is the greater visibility of the India in one of world’s global financial capitals desperately in need of some succour.