The mind and the intellect (manas and buddhi) are the two-primary means by which a man perceives the world and lets himself be perceived.
The eyes, the ears and other senses, and the parts of the body that shelter them become the instruments for the above two.
Training in arts strengthens the mind through refinement and the intellect acquires a refined strengthening through the knowledge of śāstras (roughly translated as ‘sciences’).
Most parts of the Vedas are allegorical and metaphorical in style. Knowledge of this symbolism is the only avenue through which the meaning of the hymns can be accessed. It was necessary for the ancient sages to employ symbolism because of the esoteric content and also because it predates the evolution of systematized language as we now know it. For the same reason everyday words were made to perform multiple tasks: allusions to natural phenomena were mythologized.
Books written and institutions established by Dr. Padma Subrahmanyam for the promotion of Art and National Integration
The following sections describe how Padma Subrahmanyam’s art presentations and research suggest the inclusive nature of sanātana-dharma and all regional variations as an integral part of the classical mārga tradition.
The current paper attempts to explore the contributions of Dr. Padma Subrahmanyam, an artist and scholar, in the context of the Dravidian movement and her artistic rebuttal of the same.
Several people have the tendency to find parallels between Bhūtārādhana and Yakṣagāna. They classify Bhūtārādhana as ‘folk’ (Jānapadīya) and as a corollary, conclude that Yakṣagāna is ‘folk’ as well. However, Yakṣagāna’s allied forms of art such as Terukkūttu, Kūcupuḍi, Bhāgavatameḻa, Dūḍālapāya, Doḍḍāṭa and Keḻike are not influenced by Bhūtārādhana at all. Among these, one can say that only Kathakali has faint reflections of Bhūtakola in it. When this is the case, how can the argument that Yakṣagāna is also ‘folk’ be substantiated?
In his insightful essay titled ‘Uparūpakas and Nāṭyaprabandhas’, Dr. V Raghavan classifies these (i.e., the lyrics/ scripts used for different theatrical/ Yakṣagāna-like presentations) as ‘Kāvya’ or ‘Citrakāvya’, a kind of Uparūpaka. (Refer –
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Dr. V. Raghavan[/caption]
The word ‘Śāstra’ refers to a well-structured presentation with novel insights (Śaṃsana Śāsana-prajñā). Anything that has these characteristics can be said to be ‘Śāstrīya’. A Śāstra usually is in the form of a written set of rules as well as unwritten but traditional practises that come along with the community conciousness. Although folk forms of art might not conform to a set of written rules, they are the products of the tastes of people belonging to the particular community and have come down with time.