The Social Function Of Art

Description

The Social Function Of Art Music, lyrical poetry and painting pooled their inspiration in India from the 15th to the 18th centuries. These sought dramatically to reveal and consolidate certain universal attitudes and emotions of man that were appropriate for the season in the procession of Nature. Here is a musical mode depicted by Rajasthani painting viz. Ragini Madhumadhavi or Honey sweet belonging to the raga Hindola sung in autumn and the rains. The note and the sentiment (rasa) of the melody are embodied in the person of the Nymph (Nayika) incarnating herself in visual image and auditory form to the painter and the musician respectively. The scene in the courtyard is full of the joyous suspense of tryst amidst the gathering of rain clouds, illumined by lightning flash. The lovely, Nymph (the beloved Madhumadhavi) is waiting with her cup of life-giving honey for the Eternal Lover (Hindola).

The peacock, which is the bird of the rains, and sometimes addicted to drink in the household, swoops down from the tree to sip the honey from the cup held by her responsive attendant. Even the plantain tree with its flower participates in the excitement. The placidity inside the house where the Lover’s cot lies empty, is underlined by the verticals and horizontals and contrasted with the eager expectancy of nature and of the human heart. The skilful treatment, characterised by a plastic organisation of formal elements, the rhythmic interplay of palpitating colours and oval patterns produces a deep sense of poise in a scene of extraordinary animation. In another painting of the same ragini we find the Nayika seeking her Lover in a dark stormy night, while this peacock sips the rain drops.