Themes in Calendar Art
There is a tendency to restrict art to the elite or the high culture. This culture however constitute a small section of the society. The rest of the society has also its own art form. The culture followed by the majority of the society is the popular culture . This constitute the larger public domain where artefacts like pictorial calendars, posters of film stars, pictures of gods and goddesses are seen as aesthetic and possessing a significance. These pictures can be hand painted or photographed. They can represents religious or secular figures. they have allegories to realist depictions. The calendar on the wall of a home is a window to conceptions of art, religion and politics in everyday life of a nation. By studying these artefacts, information about the major section of the society can be gathered. A look on the calendar art from the colonial and post-colonial period gives various themes and subthemes which are as follows: ( TRY TO GIVE YOUR OWN VIEWS IN EACH SECTION AND GIVE MORE EXAMPLES IF YOU CAN) NATIONALISM
During the colonial period there was the need to provoke the feeling of patriotism among the people. The love for the 'Motherland' was aroused. Example 1- Om Arya Calendar (1919)- the calendar depiction of Tilak and Lala Lajpat Rai with 'Mother India' at the centre. It gave quotations every month:
i) Indians should now give up their natural humbleness...we must avoid expressing or demands in doubtful and ambiguous manner. ii) Arise, mother India! Awake mother India! Wipe the tears from your face! Do not be anxious. your sons have determined to give their lives for your sake, if you require it. iii) Be ready with body, mind wealth and strength to obtain your birth right. NATION BUILDING
Securing the borders, development, progress and prosperity Post independence period was chaotic if we look upon the incidents of riots within the nation. On the question of securing countries frontier there were wars and riots. There was war on border dispute with china in1962, war with Pakistan in 1965 and a second war with Pakistan over the liberation of Bangladesh in 1971. Nehruvian period focused on development for which industrialization was seen as the way. The next prime minister Lalbahadur Shastri gave the slogan, "Jai Jawan Jai Kisan". So, it was believed that for development it was essential to invest in both agriculture and industry. During this period patriotic iconography within the calendar art was an important category. In this regard there was the visualization of truck and tractor art in Punjab. Unity:
At the same time to make India a strong state it was very important to bring all the religious communities in India together. It was essential in order to put an end to the communal problems which resulted after partition. When one look on the calendar art one can find many signs deployed in this regard. A look on the calendar art gives the idea that during the post independence period the focus was on uniting India on religious grounds. The idea of secularism was essential to create unity out of diversity. It was important to bring different religious communities together to form a homogeneous society. So the idea of "secularism" was promoted through this mean of popular culture. But it has to be analysed whether it was actually aiming at secularism? To answer this various calendar pictures have to be looked upon and analysed. Example2: "Hum Sab Ek Hain"
It comes in print from early 1990s. The theme of unity in diversity is expressed through the coassociation of four male children, each bearing the sign of his particular community. In the pictures of such themes communities are linked with national emblem, mother India , flag, map of India. The neutral sign of mother India had religious connotation of goddess durga related to Hindu culture. Example 3: "Gita aur Granth ismen Bible aur Quran, bolo bacca hai mahan"
The image portrays an infant surrounded with four medallions containing images of Guru Nanak, Krishna, Jesus and the Muslim holy structure, the kabah. There lies an open book in the lap of the child. It could have given the message of commitment to learning but a praise of the religious text is made as the quotation signifies. In both these examples there is the depiction of the male boy. Women could have been similarly deployed. Example 4: "O Lord, the different paths which men take through their different tendencies, various though they appear, crooked or straight, all lead to Thee"
The image with the given quote shows women of different religion getting grace in the form of light. This quote has been taken from the Upanishad (Hindu Scripture) to endorse the idea that Indian culture is, and has been tolerant of other faiths. Example 5: The image of Mother India.
There are various depictions of "Mother India" in the calendar art. The image of Mother India which is portrayed is similar to that of goddess durga. Why there is a similarity of "Mother India" (which is portrayed as a neutral icon) with that of a Hindu goddess? There is an image depicting submission of all women to motherland. Example 6: The image of Mother Cow
There is also a tendency of depicting 'Gau Mata' (Mother Cow) or 'Jagat Mata' (Mother of the Universe) as the universal nourisher. There is a depiction entitled "Chaurasi Dev Darshan " ( Vision of the eighty four deities) published in Delhi in1967. Patricia Uberoi mentions, there are several aspects of this print. The cow figure
unites the many strands of Hinduism. There is also an idea that the cow has provided a unique rallying symbol for Hindu "religious nationalism". There is another picture depicting mother cow with the slogan "Desh Dharm ka Nata Hai, Gay Hamari Mata Hai" (The country and religion bond us; the cow is the mother to all). In the picture the male representatives of the Hindu, Christian, Sikh and Muslim communities, distinguished by costumes and headgear and their respective places of worship, receive cow's milk directly from the udders of the mother cow who dominates the prints upper foreground. The idea of 'unity in diversity' is again subverted in the image by the appropriation of all communities under the "sacred sign" of "mother cow". These kind of portrayals depicting cow as universal nourisher or making it sacred is against the sentiments of the Muslim and S.C./ S.T. communities or the beef eaters. So, the question arises, how can such images aim to establish harmony in the society? It certainly aims to unite the divided Hindu community but not all the religious communities. Apart from the image of the universal nourisher, Mother Cow is used to define Indian Citizenship too in terms that are at once democratic and Hindu-hegemonic. Does these kind of iconography aims at the subversion of various religions (by 'Brahministic tendencies')?
A calendar painted by Sikh artist bears, a line of Gurubani (scripture)- 'People were searching for amrit , and found it in the gift of the gurus'. A bowl of the cow's milk portrayed in the picture is identified as 'amrit' . The cow's body in the picture is peopled by the ten Sikh gurus, other saints, bhagats and martyrs and the Sikh scripture. It is also noteworthy here that the militant face of Sikhism has been put on abeyance. Patricia Uberoi mentions the opinion of some Sikh scholars about the print. One set of opinion takes it as 'Hinduism getting into Sikhism'. Another believes that it is 'A Sikh using Hinduism to say something' to the non-Sikh audience. There is also the view that the RSS is distributing such pictures in the villages of Punjab. There is an effort by the 'saffron brigade' (RSS/VHP) to reabsorb Sikhism into the mother-body of Hinduism. A close attention at the 'Sikh-Hindu' prints raises further questions - who is and who is not, included in the maternal body of the 'Sikh' cow. Apart from the Sikh gurus the belly of the cow is clustered with the figure of three poets- Kabir, attired as Muslim, Bhai Gurudas, the literary assistant of Guru Arjan the compiler of Adi Granth and in middle there is the picture of Sri Chand, son of Nanak and founder of Udasi ascetic order. A different sort of gesture is made by the inscription in the bovine body(hind leg) of the bhagat Ravidas, an untouchable leather worker by caste, whose composition (like Kaibir) are also included in Adi Granth, One might wonder on the depiction of Ravidas on the lowliest position in the cow's body. It is visible that the 'Sikh cow' figure envisages a reconciliation of several strands of sanatan and popular Sikh faith. It can also be inferred that such images tries to eliminate Sikhism as a separate faith through its reabsorption within the fold of all-embracing Hinduism. Militant Hinduism/ Hi ndutava
write about the depiction of Ram as a furious male ( by RSS/VHP)
militant Hinduism in the context of the Babri Masjid- Ram Janmabhumi controversy (December 1992) how nationalism was associated with Hindu nationalism Bharatmata/ Mother India similar to Hindu goddess Gaumata/ Mother Cow : associated to Hindu sentiments.
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