( Kashmiri Tonga 1959 By Ratan Parimoo....)
DR RATAN PARIMOO ( born 1936).
“ For me , painting Kashmir more specifically its culture
and life has always been satisfying. It fills the heart with a different charm
and satisfaction "
Dr Ratan Parimoo (Born 1936 ) is a leading Artist and more
specifically an Art Historian of the country . He belongs to the illustrious
Baroda Group of Artists and served as Professor of Art History and Aesthetics
at M S University of Baroda . A 1974 Rockefeller Foundation Scholarship holder
for his work on Buddhist Art, Dr Parimoo is a wonderful Painter , Scholar
Extraordinary and an Acknowledged Art Historian World over .
( vegetable vendor By Ratan Parimoo )
Having written hundreds of articles for national and international journals and delivered similar number of lectures on art and history of art, Dr. Parimoo has published more than 20 scholarly books on art
and history of art . Some books written by him can be listed as under:-
1. Paintings of the three Tagores, Abanindranath,
Gaganendranath, Rabindranath - Chronology and Comparative Study (Ph. D. Thesis)
M.S. University of Baroda 1973
2. Studies in Modern Indian Art
3. Life of Buddha in Indian Sculpture
4. Sculptures of Sheshashayi Vishnu
5. The Pictorial World of Gaganendranath Tagore
6. Studies in Indian Sculptures
7. Studies on the Art of Raja Ravi Varma
8 Vaishnavism in Indian Art and Culture
9. Ellora Caves - Sculptures and Architecture
10. The Arts of Ajanta - New Perspectives
11. Creative Arts in Modern India
12. The Legacy of Raja Ravi Varma -
13. Historical Development of Contemporary Indian Art 1800 –
1947.
Born at Habba Kadal
in Srinagar city in 1936, in 1951, he came to Baroda at a young age of 15 to
study painting under Prof. N S Bendre. In 1960, he travelled to England on the
prestigious Commonwealth Scholarship, to study art history.Prof Parimoo was one of the youngest painters to respond to the 'abstract style' of the first modernist movements of the country after independence. He has been a life-long teacher of art history and aesthetics .
Dr Ratan Parimoo's work is on display at many Art Galleries world over. In India , His work is also on display at :
National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi
Punjab University, Chandigarh
Air India, Mumbai
Shyamal Builders, Vadodara
Gujarat State Lalit Kala Akademi, Ahmedabad
Sahitya Kala Parishad, New Delhi
Madhavan Nair Foundation, Cochin
Cymroza Art Gallery, Mumbai
Welcome Group of Hotel, Vadodara
( Donkeys returning Home By Ratan Parimoo)
A popular book on art written by Dr Parimoo bears BADAM-WADI
or BADAM-WAARI as it's title.Badaam Vaari is the name of the famous almond garden near Hari Parbat in Srinagâr city.This garden is a part of Kashmiri
culture and life .The spring festival (with full blooming almond trees )
attracts Kashmiris of all shades to this garden.
( Dr Parimoo with his wife and noted artist Naina Dalal )
His wife ,Naina Dalal is also a well known artist of the country.Trained by Prof NS Bendre and K G Subramaniam , Naina's work is on display in the art galleries of Berlin, New York and London apart from Lalit Kala Akademi , New Delhi.
( 'Maa Mujhe Jeene Do' or Mother allow me to Live ...A Painting by Naina Dalal wife of Dr Ratan Parimoo )
Dr.Gauri Parimoo Krishnan , daughter of Dr Ratan Parimoo ,
is a well known art historian and curator. Gauri Parimoo Krishnan has authored
more than 6 books on art and art history out of which two books cover works of Ratan Parimoo and Neena Dalal ,her father and mother respectively. She has
been honoured by Govt of Singapore for her role as curator of 'The Asian
Civilizations Museum'. About influence of her parents ,Dr Gauri Parimoo Krishnan adds :
“ My parents believe in creativity and they have never shied
away from following their artistic calling and not be dictated by external
forces. They are gentle but resolute, I guess I have followed in their
footsteps somehow! “
Prof Parimoo lives at Baroda..Last year while being
felicitated by J&K Academy of Art Culture and languages, he said this :-
“ No man forgets his roots ; my paintings like Maej Kashir, Kashmiri Dancers, Habba Kadal, Fish Selling Women, Dal Lake, Kashmiri Family
and Tongas reflect my inner emotions and nostalgia .”
( 'Kashmiri Fish Selling Women' shows a Kashmiri Pandit woman buying fish )
Remembering
his Mother , Prof. Rattan Parimoo writes
:
“ As
a kid , I have heard my mother , the grandmother , Kakien or my father’s mother , reciting “Indrakshi Namsa Deevi “ every morning . I
also remember as a child during the late 1940s the highly emotional Chants let
out by elderly Kashmiri women at Chakreshawer Temple, Hari Parbat “ Maejji
Maejji “ and uttering ardent prayers concerning troubles plaguing their families at that point of time. I was named as Saeba. My mother was born as Kamla however she was named as Soomavati
in her in law’s house. Remembering mother is impossible without bringing in the character of the elder mother ( Kakien or my father’s mother ) with whom she remained
entangled through her married life. Kakien would often taunt Maej ( my mother )
for her parents’ s family , what little
they gave as dowry and what training she was given as a young girl to face the
responsibilities after her marriage and
assuming the role of a daughter in law. The heaps of humiliation flung at her ,
of which I am a witness , still haunt me . But she hardly complained , nor did it show on her beautiful face. It
was in Baroda that my wife Naina ( Naina Dalal , a well known artist ) and I discovered that Maej ( mother ) had developed acute
diabetes . Her legs had become rickety and deformed and it was difficult for
her to walk. She would also get into what doctors called diabetic coma. On many
occasions , I observed that she was talking to herself in an incoherent manner
. In the monologues , she would often
repeat the taunts hurled on her by Kakien
, something like , “
That day you shouted at me for my dull headedness . … You accused me of being
slow . You abused my parents , brothers and so forth .” Those days , the 1970s , acute diabetes could
be managed by insulin injections . Thus we arranged a nurse to come in the morning and in the evening to administer insulin injections It was our second
opportunity to live with my parents at Baroda , but under circumstances when both
of them were sick.And once again father and mother expressed their
keenness to return to Srinagar and stay
with my bother Bhaijan . It was in 1978 that I received the news about Maej’s death.I reached Srinagar to
join the mourning as well as the post cremation rites . The lady relatives
gathered in our house were heard commenting that “ Maej” had met with a
fortunate death . She died before her
husband and had thus escaped the humiliating status of widowhood . I could not
help thinking ; perhaps a lucky death for a woman who otherwise was unlucky for whole of her life
.She must not have been more than 60 years old .My current obsession nervously makes me aware
of my guilt feelings towards my mother (
Maej ). She died so long ago and the thought pinches me so much that I hardly
did anything for her as a grown up son with a good career to boast."
“Hum khasta tanon se mohtasibo,
kiya maal manaal ka poochhte ho
Jo umr se hum ne bhar paya
sab samne laye detay hain,
Daaman me hay musht-e-khake-jigar,
saaghar me hay khoon-e-hasrat-e-mai
Lo hum ne daaman jharr diya,
lo jaam ultaye detay hain.)
( “We are the Enfeebled ,
What is there to ask about our
assets O Censors ,
All that life has proffered us ,
We are holding up for scrutiny :
In the hem of handful of Heart’s
dust ,
In the goblet the Blood of yearning’s wine.
Look , Here we empty our hem ,
And here we upturn the wine glass .”)
( Translation from Urdu by Shiv K Kumar )
( Avtar Mota )
CHINAR SHADE by Autarmota is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 India License.
Based on a work at http:\\autarmota.blogspot.com\.
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