William Durant On Ancient Indian Artistic Heritage
The following inference is an example of how Kalas were treated and encouraged in Ancient India. This is from a book by William Durant.
Durant says, “Every mature workman was a craftsman, giving form and personality to the product of his skill and taste. Even today, when factories replace handicrafts, and craftsmen degenerate into ‘hands’, the stalls and shops of every Hindu town show squatting artisans beating metal, moulding jewellery, drawing designs, weaving delicate shawls and embroideries, or carving ivory and wood. Probably, no other nation known to us has ever had so exuberant a variety of arts.”
Durant further says: “If the vessel was to be made of some precious metal, then artistry could spend itself upon it without stint; witness the Tanjore silver vase in the Victoria Institute at Madras, or the gold Betel Dish of Kandy. Brass was hammered into an endless variety of lamps, bowls and containers; a black alloy (bidri) of zinc was often used for boxes, basins and trays; and one metal was inlaid or overlaid upon another, or encrusted with silver or gold.
Wood was carved with a profusion of plant and animal forms. Ivory was cut into everything from deities to dice; doors and other objects of wood were inlaid with it; and dainty receptacles were made of it for cosmetics and perfumes.
Jewellery abounded, and was worn by rich and poor as ornament or hoard; Jaipur excelled in firing enamel colours upon a gold background, clasps, beads, pendants, knives and combs were moulded into tasteful shapes, with floral, animal, or theological, designs; one Brahman pendant harbours in its tiny space half a hundred gods.
Textiles were Woven with an artistry never since excelled. From the days of Caesar to our own, the fabrics of India have been prized by all the world. Sometimes, by the subtlest and most painstaking of precalculated measurements, every thread of warp and woof was dyed before being placed upon the loom; the design appeared as the weaving progressed, and was identical on either side.
From homespun Khaddar to complex brocades flaming with gold, from picturesque pyjamas to the invisibly seamed shawls of Kashmir, every garment woven in India has a beauty that comes only of a very ancient, and now almost instinctive, art.”
Source: ‘ A Hindu View Of Arts – Why Sanskar Bharati ‘ by Dattopant Thengadi and William Durant’s Book.
Suggested Reading:
Rich Heritage Of Employable Skills Through Kalas Lost in Macaulay Education System
Understanding Chausat Kalas – Various Categories Of Ancient Indian Crafts
Demerits Of Macaulay Education System
India at the Time of Macaulay
Thomas Babington Macaulay – A Brief Biography
