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NEW
DELHI: Doordarshan has commenced telecast on its culture channel,
DD Bharati, of two different series of films by the eminent
cameraperson and conservationist Benoy Behl of the ‘Paintings
of India’ and ‘The sculptures of India’.
Both the series are claimed to be the most comprehensive documentation
on these subjects and have been shot in India and all over
the world.
The series on sculptures has been produced, directed, written
and photographed by Behl along with Associate Director Latika
Gupta and Assistant Cameraman Gopal Prajapati.
The
programmes are telecast at 7 am, 10.30 am, 2.30 pm and 10
pm.
Benoy
has now won a place for himself in the Limca Book of Records
for traveling more than 80,000 km all over the country and
in museums overseas filming the 26-episode series.
The 26-episode series on ‘The Paintings of India’
from Ajanta till the present day has documented paintings
of practically every century from all corners of India, dispelling
long-held earlier views of a fragmented development of painting
in India. These films established the fact of a pan-Indian
heritage of painting, coming from 2,200 years ago.
The Prasar Bharati Calendar in 2003 was based on the theme
of ‘The Paintings of India’ and carried photographs
from this series.
Benoy told indiantelevision.com that his journey had inspired
him to embark on a new series on ancient Buddhist art in India.
Apart from this, he is also shooting a series on the Cosmopolitan
Life in Ancient India. He hopes to complete both these series
shortly.
He said it was interesting that the second-most revered deity
of Buddhist Japan is Saraswati. Sculptures of almost all Indic
deities are seen in the early temples of Nara. Brahma, Vishnu
and Shiva are regularly worshipped by the Buddhists of Thailand
and the streets are full of their statues. The great stupa
of Nepal has numerous Shivalingas, which are under worship.
Benoy claimed that the series on sculpture was a major landmark
in understanding Indian art, as well as the compassionate
philosophy and history of ancient India, as it revealed there
were no divisions of religions in ancient India.
Elucidating
his argument, he said the earliest Buddhist art of the 2nd
century BC, which was created in the railings of the Bharhut
stupa and the early stupa at Sanchi, were created in the rule
of Sunga kings who worshipped Shiva or Vishnu. The next stage
of Buddhist art was the later stupas at Sanchi. These were
made in the rule of the Satavahana kings, who also worshipped
Shiva or Vishnu. Scores of great stupas were also made in
the Krishna Valley in present-day Andhra Pradesh, from the
BC period into the first few centuries AD in the rule of the
Satavahana and Ishvaku kings.
In later times, hundreds of more Buddhist caves were excavated
in Western India around the 5th century AD. These were made
in the rule of the Vakataka kings, who worshipped Shiva or
Vishnu. The same holds true for the Kushana kings and the
Gupta kings, under whom a great heritage of Buddhist art was
created. These kings also worshipped Shiva or Vishnu.
The inscriptions at all the ancient Indian monuments clearly
show that queens were fully free to worship any deity they
chose to and patronize the art and monuments of their own
choice.
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