Shifting Paradigm: Indian Art and Environment

Byline: Sushma Bahl Nature and environment, a creation of some celestial source with its infinite and ever changing splendor and power, has been a perennial spring and a central theme of creative engagement. Recognized in India as panchtatva, the five elements - air, water, earth, fire and ether that sustain life, their awesome beauty and unbridled power that en-livens, commands and prevails over the universe, is underlined in various Indian literary texts and classics such as Ritu Samhaara by Kalidasa. In visual iconography its manifestations appear in the ancient cave paintings of hunting scenes at Bhimbadker in Central India and stone carvings at Sun Temple in Bhubaneswar or the 'tree of life', a recurrent image in sacred, folk, tribal and living arts.