Dear Prof.Swaminathan, We are all looking forward to read your interesting articles on Ajantha. I'd like to raise the following questions to you, so that you can touch upon them in your series:
- If painting had attained such a high profile treatment in the north, why we don't see any comparable specimens in south india? As far as I know, we have Tanjore wall paintings, sittannavasal and may be few more - but nothing comparable to ajantha...Have they been lost over time or did we not venture out at such lengths at all?
- If they had used herbal combinations to produce such paintings, they should have had some school which taught these methodologies? Do we find any evidence to such schools?
- What is your impression on Tanjore paintings and how would you compare them with that of Ajantha?
- Like sculptures, were there different schools of art ?
- Were buddhist groups more versatile in these painting techniques than others of that age? If so, how ?
More questions will follow, after you begin the series....
Prof. Swaminathan,In addition to Gokul's questions, I have a couple of questions on Ajanta: 1. The ajanta paintings were fresco paintings, a form of mural applied on wet lime. The prehistoric era artists painted on the limestone walls of the caves (from what I understand, I havent seen Ajanta). I read somewhere that the technique requires a dry climate, and thats why it was popular in the mediterranean belt and not in Northern Europe. My question is: How did the paintings @ Ajanta survive so long? Wont it be hot and humid inside a cave? Apart from the pure plant pigments they could have used, is there any sign of a preservative used in the paint? 2. Ajanta caves were painted during the gupta era (if I am right). Did it have any influence on the art in South India, during the Chola or Pandiya period, or later, during the renaissance? ( This question is similar to Gokul's)More to come after you start the series... Waiting...... Thilak
Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts.