Revisiting Sittannavasal

Why ‘troublesome’? Because consolidating the weakened pieces of paint would be painstaking and would require experience, training and time. For those who do not care enough, it is far easier to get the bother out of the way, sweep the flaking pieces of paint away and neaten the place up. The fact that all those bits of paint, when joined, would constitute segments of great art seems to be of no importance. Properly-trained conservators would have taken the fragile Sittannavasal paintings and restored them with care and caution, saving every bit of paint where they could. How unfortunate it is then that the opposite seems to have been done by the Archaeological Survey of India, the organisation that ‘protects’ most of India’s immovable great art.

It can be argued that an unnecessary fuss is made over classical art and heritage sites and that India has problems of far greater importance. To make things worse for heritage, today’s upwardly mobile Indian is lured by technological advancement and consumerism’s new attractions and finds art and culture boring.

Perhaps, at best, it is a good background for an outing or a picnic. The point unfortunately, has been missed totally.

India’s long history that has brought us to today has frequently produced creative minds of awesome ability and imagination. These artists had understood nature, mankind and animal life with great intimacy that they combined with artistic skill and devotion. They had the capacity to go into the depths of their being to understand how to create things of timeless beauty. It is because of this capacity that they were able to transcend time and touch us today while making us aware that we are incapable of doing what they have done.

Heritage is proof of a certain process that is not possible anymore. By protecting our heritage we actually preserve that creative magic which is personified in that heritage. It is a kind of creativity that is not often found today.