India

=Art In India = - Rakhee Bajaj

**Introduction of India **


India, officially the Republic of India is a country in South Asia. With a coastline of 7,517 kilometers, I ndia is the s eventh largest country by geographical area and the second-most populous country. Agriculture is the prime s o urce of food, work and income for most of the country. Major exports include petrol eum p roducts, textile goods,jewelry, software, engineering goods, chemicals, and leather manufactures. The roof of the world, 'The Himalayas', stand as a barrier in the north and have always protected the country from invasion and cold winds of the arctic thereby allowing life to flourish in the north. The geographical area of India has caused the country to be subjected to a number of foreign invasions, and these have contributed to its ethnic and cultural diversities. These foreign invasions helped the Indian society to get exposed to a variety of cultural influences. Indian society has managed to absorb and assimilate the divergent traditions, customs and art forms from its invaders and these in turn have coalesced into a cosmopolitan of many religious practices, art and architecture forms. Four major world religions, Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism originated in India, while Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Christianity and Islam arrived in the first millennium CE and shaped the region's diverse culture. Art has flourished in India since the third millennium B.C. I ndian art has been categorized based on the time period in which it was introduced in, such as the ancient period (3900 BCE-1200 CE), Islamic ascendancy (1192-1757), Colonial period (1757–1947) and independence and the postcolonial period (Post-1947). Different types of art have always been practiced in this culturally vibrant country that include visual arts, jewelry making, pottery, miniature painting, fresco, temple art, sculptu re art, tribal art, modern and contemporary art. India has a lot of poverty and illiteracy and therefore managing education progress can become difficult, sometimes. However, the government puts a lot of emphasis on primary education that goes up to the age of 14 years. Arts, physical education and other activities are all compulsory in India till high schools after which not too much importance is given to these areas in the curriculum. The poverty leads families to choose the areas of studies in the main curriculum in the hope to make a better and more secure future.

**<span style="color: #c53434; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 150%;">Artist of India **


<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 110%;">India has always been a creatively enhanced country and since always art and culture have been the two gems of India. However, modern day India has stopped giving art the importance it deserves. Despite this fact, it has been blessed with some of the most mystifying and talented artists in form of musicians, painters, writers, actors, etc. These artists include Abanindranath Tagore, M.F. Husain, Satish Gujral, Saif Uddin, Emma Ferreira, etc. One of the most brilliant artists have been Rabindranath Tagore, who was the writer of 'Jana Gana Mana', the Indian national anthem and was also referred to as 'Gurudev' (teacher). He was born in 1861 in Kolkatta, British India to parents Debendranath Tagore and Sarada Devi. He was a Bengali polymath who was a poet, philosopher, musician, artist, writer and educationist and therefore reshaped his regions literature and culture. He began writing poems since he was 8 years old and continued to do so his entire life. All his life he was considered a creative genius and given the highest respect in the field of art, science and creativity. It is said by people who research his work that Rabindranath Tagore has so many writings that one person cannot read and translate them all in their lifetime. All his life, Tagore loathed formal schooling and preferred to be trained physically, mentally and philosophically by his brother who took him trekking, boxing, to do gymnastics, karate, etc. He believed that real teaching inspires people to think and ask questions, which was and is still not done right in the country. He also founded the Visva-Bharati University where he donated all his work, the money he received for the nobel prize as well as all his earnings that he got for his books, poems, art and music. At the age of 51 years, Rabindranath Tagore, began to write one of his most famous works, 'Gitanjali', for which he won the nobel prize for Literature when he was 53 years. It was initially written in Bengali, which was then later translated to English, German, Hindi, etc. The word Gitanjali means 'an offering of songs', which is extremely apt for what the book with the numerous poems is and represents. Gitanjali is an illustrious piece of work by Rabindranath Tagore and echoes the true Indian Philosophy. This memorable piece of work is actually to address the rich to serve the poor more then serving God. Some poems involve themes related to nature, but here, the spiritual is subtly present as well:

> <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 110%;">Light, my light, the world-filling light, the eye-kissing light, heart-sweetening light! > <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 110%;">Ah, the light dances, my darling, at the centre of my life; the light strikes, my darling, the chords of my love; the sky opens, the wind runs wild, laughter passes over the earth. > <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 110%;">The butterflies spread their sails on the sea of light. Lilies and jasmines surge up on the crest of the waves of light. > <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 110%;">The light is shattered into gold on every cloud, my darling, and it scatters gems in profusion. > <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 110%;">Mirth spreads from leaf to leaf, my darling, and gladness without measure. The heaven's river has drowned its banks and the flood of joy is abroad.

<span style="color: #c53434; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 150%;">**Arts Organization In** **India**


<span style="color: #000000; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 110%;">There are a number of organizations in India with the goal to enhance and further artistic interest, ability and knowledge in the general population. These organizations work in the hope that more people will start to do art, produce more artistic work and think creatively and 'out-of-the-box'. One such organization is <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 110%;">the 'Art India Foundation'. This foundation targets <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"> <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 110%;">people of all ages, from children to adults in old-age homes. Their purpose is: <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 110%;">They have many different workshops in the program called 'Arts to Schools' that are spread out throughout the year. These workshops include making eco-friendly Ganesha idols, teaching the art of cycling, teaching folk dances of different countries such as Russia, holding art camps for children and teaching pottery, clay-molding, cartooning, tribal art, calligraphy, etc. They also hold sessions in schools where famous Indian artists demonstrate the skills of art, tell children the benefits of pursuing arts and also give the children time to show their skills. A painting demonstration by Chitra Vaidya, a famous watercolor artist, was given in Madhavrao Bhagwat High School, Mumbai, India. In this she demonstrated the skills required to produce watercolor paintings. She started of with a lecture on art and its positives, then she drew and painted in front of the students to show them the exact process of producing great work. After this, there was a question-answer session where everyone was allowed to ask whatever they felt like and finally the kids were provided with drawing equipment and asked to draw whatever they wanted based on the theme that was decided by using a voting system. Once they finished their work, the paintings were hung in the school on display for the parents to look at and appreciate.
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 110%;">To spread awareness of Arts in the society
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 110%;">To deliver value based education to children through medium of Arts
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 110%;">To undertake Art projects for challenged and under privileged children
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 110%;">To organise Art Camps to propagate and further Art knowledge and culture among people from all backgrounds and ages.

**<span style="color: #c53434; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 150%;">School Arts Programs In India **
<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 110%;">Art is not given as much importance as the sciences or the core subjects in India. Students are continuously taught throughout the day and are expected to memorize everything that is taught. The education system does not let one solve problems on their own. One is given all the information already known by the elders and the student is expected to memorize all of it causing them to stop thinking in an analytical fashion. This also causes the students to memorize solutions to problems instead of figuring a way out of a problem to reach the answer. Art is compulsory once a week from K-8 but high school onwards art is more an elective than a mandatory class. This causes students to drop it as they are not taught of ways to make a living by pursuing art. Art is seen as a hobby not a mainstream carrier. Up to eight grade, schools hold art competitions and camps in which students can take part in dance, drawing, painting, pottery, photography, acting, etc. and show their talent in the field they are most comfortable with or also take on a challenge that they have never done before. However, high school onwards when students are thought to be entering the actual world of studies, art is side-casted with no competitions being held for the older kids. Most of the schools in India do not have enough funds to support arts programs and therefore eliminate it from the curriculum believing that the sciences, math, history, literature, etc. are more important. Even in times of economy crisis, it is always the arts that suffer. In 2012, 135 art teachers were eliminated from various schools in mumbai within a period of six months.

**<span style="color: #c53434; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 150%;">Conclusion **
<span style="color: #000000; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 110%;">As I have studied in India from K-12, everything that I found was not news to me. I have always known how the education system works in this country as I myself had once been a part of it. But what did surprise me was the number and variety of art programs that I found that have opened up in the country for children of every age, under-priviledged kids and adults. I never realized that almost every small village was making an effort to spread art in the younger children and had plenty of these organizations and programs doing the same. India has an extremely high population and I believe that the best way to educate the children is through something that every child loves to do; art. Therefore, I was very impressed with the effort some of the organizations are making in order to educate the children of India and make them creative.

<span style="color: #c53434; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 150%;">Sources
http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1913/tagore-bio.html http://www.preservearticles.com/201104085150/rabindranath-tagore.html http://www.iloveindia.com/indian-heroes/rabindranath-tagore.html http://www.indianetzone.com/17/gitanjal_rabindranath_tagore.htm http://asiancorrespondent.com/46337/right-to-education-pratham-survey-reveals-no-impact-yet/india-right-to-education/ http://www.indfy.com/india/culture.html

http://indiaart.org/Painting-demonstration-by-Chitra-Vaidya.asp