Dr.R.Nagaswamy
#708090
Museum of Poetic Beauty
If the art of display could be raised to the status of sublime poetry, it has been successfully achieved in the Museum of Indian and Eastern Art - Berlin. It has been acknowledged all over the world, that it is in the Berlin Museum of Indian Art, objects are displayed in a most fascinating way. As the visitor enters the Museum, he is transported immediately to a world of beauty. Here nothing but the art object captures the eye. Each object is so thoughtfully lighted that its aesthetic beauty - the curves of the bodily lines, the charm of the face, the delicious of jewellery and costumes - stand out vividly, each vying with each other to show the claim of each piece to artistic excellance.
The selection for display in a museum calls for highest aesthetic perception, for there are likely to be several hundreds from which one has to chose. And equally challenging is the task to introduce the object to the visitor (in countries like Germany) who knows little of the mythical and cultural background of the place from where the objects come. (Indian Museums are likely to face from where the objects come. (Indian Museums are likely to face the same challenge for have we not lost the understanding of our own cultural background?). The credit of having transformed the Berlin Museum into such a place of visit goes to Prof. Heartel, who was greatly interested in Indian Art', told Dr. Yaldiz, the present Director of Museum, during my recent visit to this Museum. "It was wholly Prof. Heartel's conception, hard labour and execution, that we have one of the finest Indian Museums in the world" (Prof. Yaldiz told me). She took me around the Galleries. Heartel excavated at the famous site of Mathura, and brought to light remarkable antiquities of the Gupta age, which are now in the collection of Archaeological Survey of India. As the Director of the Berlin Museum he reorganized the whole Galleries. Some of the good specimens of Indian Art are on show. Besides the Museum also houses far Eastern Art consisting of both Hindu and Buddhist themes.
Dr. Yaldiz, the Present Director, is a specialist in Central Asian Art - mainly Buddhist frescos. The Museum, has virtually a very rich collection of Buddhist frescoes, very carefully removed from some ruined sites in central Asia. The removal of these painted plasters from the walls and transportation is a tribute to German scientists. Considerable part of the frescoes are exhibited in the Gallery. In addition to bringing out excellent publications and display, the German Museums offer great facilities for research scholars.
Inspite of the fact, it was a holiday for the Museum, on the day of my visit, Dr. Yaldiz was kind enough to open the Museum and show me the reserve collections. For I was interested in knowing whether the Museum had any Buddhist Bronze from Nagappattinam - Tanjore District - Tamil Nadu.
It may be recalled that nearly 350 Buddhist bronzes were found at Nagappattinam in 1935. The then British Government considered it wise to distribute them to the leading Museums in the world to Burma, London, Lahore and other. When I enquired about Nagappattinam Buddhist bronze, Dr. Yaldiz was not aware of one in the collection. As we went inside the reserve collection room, I was amazed at the way the reserve collection was arranged. Inspite of being a large collection, each object was so well stored with full data, that I can assure the readers, that such a storage cannot be even dreamed of in our Museums.
To my joy I found one seated bronze Buddha - 13 c.m. in height. The Museum records were not sure about the provenance, but mentioned it as "South India?". Clearly it is a Buddha image from Nagappattinam, obviously distributed by the then British Government.
As we were going through reserve collections, two other objects attracted my attention. One was an ivory box about 36 c.m. long and breadth 23.5 c.m. It was an exquisite box, with ivory work on a wooden support. It carried the figures of number of deities on all sides, with birds and floral designs at other places. The Museum records mentioned that it could have come from Mysore region. So it further aroused my curiosity and I closely examined the box. The writing was in Tamil language and script. The deities represented are mainly Subramanya as the presiding diety of the six 'Padai-vidus' which are interestingly given serial numbers and each place named in order. Thus we have (1) Aavinankudi, (2) Thiruccendur, (3) Thirupparam-kunram, (4) Palani, (5) Thiru Eraham and (6) Palm-udir colai. Avainankudi and Palani are held identical according to tradition. Hence Kunru-Tor-Adal is considered the sixth Padai-vidu of Subramanya. There are differences of opinion about the identity of the place "Thiru Eraham". According to some it is the modern Swamimalai, near Kumbhakonam. It is interesting in this context to see Subrahmanya of Thiru Eraham, portrayed, with six arms, holding Sakti and Vajra, sword and shield, and abhaya varada - in this ivory box. He is also shown with his two consorts Valli and Devasena.
In addition to the images of six Subrahmanyas, the ivory box portrays Meenakshi Sundaresvara and Ganesa. Lord Sundaresvara is shown as a linga beneath the Kadamba tree and the Goddess Meenakshi standing by the side. The attendents of Subramanya - Virabahu are shown on the other side of the box.
The presence of Lord Meenakshi Sundaresvara, and the six Subrahmanya images and the Tamil letters clearly indicate that the box comes from Madurai region of Tamil Nadu. The letters and the style of the figures indicate early 18th cent. date perhaps in the reign of Queen Mangammal. It is one of the best ivory boxes of the age well preserved.
The reserve collection of Berlin Museum, had another suprirse. A lovely bronze image of a seated child was found in the collection. The Museum record read, "Thiru Jnana Sambandha" with a question mark and the provenance is noted as 'South India'. The bronze is ot certainly Thiru Jnana Sambandha, but decidedly 'Skanda' (the child Subramanya) belonging to a Somaskanda group. The figure seems to be a hollow cost and probably is from Sri Lanka and not from Tamil Nadu.
Any Indian visitor to Europe should never feil visit this Museum of Berlin.