The other day I was chatting with a senior bureaucrat on the art scene and the conversation veered towards the role of government bodies, in being repositories of Indian culture in the post Independence era.
His contention was that it was easy to blame the government for everything, but no kudos come its way for the positives. Admitt-edly, there is much to be done, but then handling culture in any country is a difficult task. And in the Indian context, the issue becomes even more complicated. The reasons are plenty. For one, what constitutes culture: The answer is as complex as the definition of Hinduism. The multi levels of cultural ethos where the diverse streams from the desi to the margi, folk to the classical, with the traditional thrown in for good measure, have to all be taken into account, perhaps even be preserved. If culture is part of a living tradition, does it need to be preserved? Is it not part of a flowing river syndrome? Is culture not a living entity then? Must it be mummified? Then how does one allow for growth in these streams? These are the basic premises from where the story has to start.
But then, what is it that we need to preserve? Take for instance folk and traditional painting. If styles have to remain pure, then are we not stilting growth? My favourite example is the Madhubani painting of a polluted Ganga emanating from Lord Shiva’s locks; or for that matter, the celebrated Madhubani artist Sita Devi drawing the roller coaster or the Molela artisan creating an aircraft in the mud tile. The artists were as contemporary as anyone exhibiting in a high-end gallery in Delhi or Mumbai or for that matter, London or New York.
And yet they were following the style, but what if they don’t want to follow the style strictly, do we push them into sticking to tradition? Or do we give them a space? If so, where do we peg them? Or is it merely a debate of our making…Why do we need to put styles into easily definable boxes? The debate might seem as effervescent as Champagne belonging to a certain region of the grape growing part of France, or the Kanchipuram sari belonging only to the sleepy town outside Chennai. But all this assumes importance in the context of regional roots and peculiarities.
Then the question of materials becomes paramount. Given the availability of colours, must the artisan then stick to making the traditional vegetable options like using roots, bark and flowers etc? The Madhubani style has taken on a different hue (pun intended) with the usage of commercial inks and fabric colours to paint saris or other surfaces as opposed to vegetable colours. But still you can’t deny the pos-itioning of the form per se.
Ditto for the miniature style of painting practiced in parts of Rajasthan. They have come a long way from decorating palaces or even chronicling their life and times. The skill is being put to good use to create works that earn them a living and preserving tradition. Same for the Kalamkari artists of Masulipatnam in Andhra, or the Patua painters from Bengal or the Pattachitra painters from Odisha or pietra dura inlay artisans from Agra. The list is long.
Unfortunately or perhaps fortunately, there are no black and white answers. When government melas invite these artists to participate together, they are open to diverse influences and in that context do we keep the purity of the form or not? The question is after we cross such hurdles, there comes a point where the cries for help from the government or private partners have to be heeded to or ignored.
However, it is a reality that culture across the globe needs state intervention to survive. Given the Indian mindset and the multi levels at which culture operates, there can be no clear answers. And governments across the globe have to grapple with issues like this as part of conscious continuum to take sustainable culture a step forward. Blaming the government for everything is a popular Indian game, if one saw the largescale work that has been done, never mind what needs to be done, one would surely be more sympathetic!

Alka Raghuvanshi is an art writer, curator and artist