Sure you would not have
heard of : Vereniging van vrienden der aziatische kunst – honestly I was not –
but it has some connection with our heritage !
There is hot news about the result
of X ray of a rare statue at Amsterdam
Museum which has
surprised everybody. The website of the
Museum has the following entry : - http://www.rijksmuseum.nl/nieuwsenagenda/dansende-shiva-doorgelicht?lang=en
Research recently revealed
that the Rijksmuseum’s monumental bronze statue of Shiva was cast in solid
bronze. The thousand year-old temple statue was X-rayed, along with the lorry
transporting it, in the most powerful X-ray tunnel for containers of the Rotterdam customs
authority. It is the first research of its kind on a museological masterpiece.
At 153 cm x 114.5 cm, the Rijksmuseum’s
Shiva is the largest known bronze statue from the Chola Dynasty (9th to 12th
century) kept in a museological collection outside of India. Given
its weight (300 kg), the statue has always been suspected of not being hollow,
as has been common practice in Europe since
the Greek Antiquity. As part of an earlier investigation, an X-ray was taken of
the statue in a Rijksmuseum gallery in 1999 while visitors were evacuated as a
precaution against radiation. Unfortunately, the equipment used at the time
(280 KeV) was not powerful enough to determine anything definitively. The
Rotterdam X-ray tunnel of the Rotterdam
customs authority offered a solution.
Complete surprise : The
Rijksmuseum renovation project has provided conservators and curators the opportunity
to carry out in-depth research on special pieces from the Rijksmuseum
collection, including this masterpiece from the Asian Art Collection. The
statue was created ca. 1100 in South India.
Each temple had its own set of bronze statues which were carried through the
city during major temple festivals. This gives the statues their name: Utsavamurti,
which is Sanskrit for ‘festival images’. Chola bronzes were considered
masterpieces of Indian bronze casting.
Anna Ślączka, curator of South
Asian Art, comments, ‘We had expected that the statue itself would prove to be
solid, but it was a complete surprise to discover that the aureole and the
demon under Shiva’s feet are also solid.’
The Rijksmuseum is a Dutch national museum in Amsterdam,
located on the Museumplein. The museum is dedicated to arts, crafts, and
history. It has a large collection of paintings from the Dutch Golden
Ageand a substantial collection of Asian art. It also displays the stern of the
HMS Royal Charles which was captured in the Raid on the Medway, and the Hartog
plate. The museum was founded in 1800 in
The Hague to
exhibit the collections of the Dutch stadtholders. The Museumplein is a square in Amsterdam,
the Netherlands.
The square is called "Museum
Square" because four museums are located
around the square: the Rijksmuseum, the Van Gogh
Museum, the Stedelijk
Museum, and the Diamond Museum.
The
12th-century Shiva Nataraja is on loan from the Vereniging van Vrienden der
Aziatische Kunst(Association of Friends of Asian Art). This association was founded in 1918 with the
aim of increasing awareness of Asian Art, the interest in it and to promote the
science in this field. The collection
has approximately 1730 objects and is internationally known. Through purchases
and donations and bequests expands the collection still further. The collection
of the Society consists of "scattered highlights, good representatives of
the major art forms in Asia.
That is factual News : is there anything to celebrate on this… in
fact one should be worrying ! This
statue of dancing Nataraja is not unique – there have been reports of idols
stolen from Temples. In some cases, the idols of some temple are
kept elsewhere without appropriate Pooja & rituals as there is no
protection. What is the action taken by
the administrating HR & CE in protecting these temples ? Have they ever taken any action in protecting
or any action in trying to recover the idols ?
There is a dedicated Idol wing of Tamilnadu Police Force ? Does the Department closely liaise with this
and other authorities for protecting and recovering lost idols ?
Our Nation was rich – still
possesses rich heritage. Over the years
by systematic exploitation and plundering, Hindu artefacts have been smuggled out of the
Country to famous museums in Europe, America and elsewhere. Many prestigious museums display Statues, Hindu religious
sculptures and artefacts as owned /
acquired by them. Hindu sculptures and
other artefacts and many were planning to acquire. To any devout person these are not mere
sculptures or statues – they are GOD in themselves… what should have been in a
Temple whether famous or not so famous and be the subject of reverence and
daily Pujas, had been looted / burgled and smuggled out by unscrupulous thieves
and are now attracting Tourists elsewhere.
All temples attract huge crowds
and devotees are contributing lakhs of Rupees to Temples…….. but does the money
go to God or to the Temple
or for any activity connected with religious purpose ? In Tamil Nadu, we have had Temples administered by atheists and
non-believers who have looted money and property of the temple systematically. The management and control of the temples and
the administration of their endowments is one of the primary responsibilities
of the State . Way back in 1925 an
entity called Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments was created purportedly
for efficient control and supervision of the administration of the Temples. The Department is headed by IAS Officer and
has Commissioners of various ranks.
Depending upon the earnings (!) from the temples, the rank of the
Administrator and the no. and salaries
of staff would vary. The collection from
the Temples
become the property of the State Govt and are utilized for various schemes of
the Govt which includes non-religious and sometimes activities against the very
purpose of such offering to temples.
Many a temples are not properly maintained; people have encroached temple
lands and those who have acquired lands on lease do not pay rent properly, even
where such amounts are measly. Thus any
repair / renovation work at a temple does not occur immediately and not much
spent on the Lord – but the cash flows elsewhere.
Is it not a great irony that a secular Government should deeply
embroil itself in the administration and running of Hindu temples and
institutions in the guise of supervising the secular aspects of temple
administration. There are thousands of temples, mutts and others controlled by
bureaucracy whereas the place of worship of other religions are managed on
their own.
Some of the most important temples
are under complete control, many century old traditions and religious practices
have been stopped or altered by Administrators who have knowledge or concern
for the worship and conduct of rituals.
Our anguish is not directed at any particular Executive Officer or any
other high official, but there have been unscrupulous some who have interfered
with the time-honoured rituals and some corrupt bureaucrats which is always
detrimental to the bakthas and the Temple. The EO or other Official have no powers to
introduce innovations concerning the time, place or mode of worship in the temple
or stop or discontinue any religious practice followed in the temple.
Another matter of great concern is
‘the increased charges for darshan’ – why should a devotee pay to worship or
come near the God and how can there by a system which discriminates and
distinguishes devotee on the paying capacity.
It only enriches the coffers or some.
There can only be voluntary offering of bakthas and that should be spent
only for improving / maintaining / preserving and renovating temple and temple
related activities. Temples in Tamil Nadu own thousands of acres of agricultural and commercial lands
donated by believers to the Temple. There should be enactment that such lands
should never be allowed to be sold to any individuals and individuals
subletting / sub-leasing the property, paying a small amount to the Temple and gaining huge
should be declared illegal and strong action initiated against such
persons. Jewellery and other property of the temple
should be properly recorded and kept under public audit to ensure that there is
misappropriation.
In a Secular State,
where the Govt has no religion, the Govt. should not be managing the affairs of
the Temples,
more so when the same Govt exerts no control from other places of worship. The Shiva
idol being solid bronze at best can make one-time reading but a sacred idol
lying in a foreign country without any rituals or offerings should make one’s
heart bleed
With concern – S.
Sampathkumar.
