Gita Press and the Making of Hindu India (22 page)

‘Mechanical reproduction,’ as Walter Benjamin points out, ‘emancipated the work of art from its parasitical dependence on ritual.’
¹³⁶
Ironically Gita Press, while propagating the fourfold caste system and openly supporting untouchability, made these mass-produced colourful images of gods/goddesses accessible to any Hindu home irrespective of caste. However, the visuals often expressed the superiority of brahmins, on which the entire basis of sanatan dharma rested. For example, one image depicted a brahmin having a vision of God while a semi-clad chandala was shown bewildered and struggling below. Sourced from Laxmibilas Press, Calcutta, the picture’s caption spelt out what could have been left for the reader to decipher: ‘
Brahmin Aur Chandala:
Brahmin Ko Pehle Bhagwat Darshan
’ (Brahmin and Chandala: Brahmin gets darshan of God first).
¹³⁷
Gandhi, replying to a letter from Poddar in 1935, incidentally wondered why there was need for so many images of gods in the pages of
Kalyan
. Gandhi mentioned that he had also raised this issue with Raghav Das,
¹³⁸
known as the Gandhi of the east, who had worked for the journal.

While, Poddar does not seem to have responded to this aside, Gita Press had always claimed that the images of gods and goddesses in their publications brought peace and salvation to the reader. Years later, arguing that human consciousness was like the lens of a camera with the power to capture and store even the minutest of details, Ramcharan Mahendra, who penned many books for Gita Press, said posters of films, film journals and mainstream magazines were full of images that drove sexual desire and encouraged immorality, but keeping the images of gods and goddesses in the house fostered positive thinking and warded off dark thoughts and mental illness. ‘Pictures and images of gods are a kind of symbol. For an ordinary person, these are the easiest means to understand the complexities associated with gods. Each picture and statue carries innumerable divine secret messages. They open the door to experience divinity. The mind gets the support of ears, eyes and other organs.’
¹³⁹

Mahendra took readers on a journey through Hindu images, from goddesses like Lakshmi, Saraswati, Durga—symbols of three kinds of power—to gods like Ganesh, the remover of all obstacles, Hanuman, the fearless monkey god, and the most venerated Rama and Krishna. Pictures of gods and goddesses, he said, acted as spiritual gurus and kept the mind, body and soul in control.

For Mahendra the images’ significance lay in the colours, the science of which, he lamented, was lost on present-day Hindus.
¹⁴⁰
Red, Mahendra said, was the holiest of the colours and carried the greatest significance. ‘Red is used during all auspicious occasions. Normally, red tilak is applied on all gods and goddesses. Red sandal paste is considered a symbol of moon. It also signifies valour. By applying a red tilak a man gains energy, becomes brave and proud.’

In case of women, Mahendra stated, the red sindoor (vermilion powder applied by married Hindu women in the parting of their hair) not only enhanced their beauty but signified how fortunate they were. He extended the argument to claim that women with sindoor did not become victims of sexual crimes as even a criminal considered them ‘pious and chaste . . . the red line creates the boundary of a married woman’s dignity’.

Saffron was considered a symbol of renunciation, meditation and asceticism. Mahendra said saffron resembled the flame of fire and had the power to extinguish bad thoughts. By wearing saffron robes seers got closer to God and imbibed qualities of self-control and selflessness.

Green, he argued, was the symbol of nature, peace, tranquillity and life. He pointed out that, apart from red, goddess Lakshmi is also decked in green clothes. ‘The mixture of red and green lends truthfulness, serenity and fortune to goddess Lakshmi. The mix of these two colours is a symbol of enterprise. Therefore, Lakshmi stays with men who are industrious, hard-working, energetic and confident.’ The significance of green in Indian mythology and religion was also illustrated through examples of sadhus going to forests for meditation, and their gurukuls being in verdant settings.
According to Mahendra, yellow was the symbol of knowledge, wisdom and conscience and thus the colour favoured by students and other seekers of knowledge. Two gods—Vishnu and Ganesh—signifying knowledge and wisdom, Mahendra said, were also dressed in yellow.

Blue was the symbol of valour and strength; therefore, Mahendra said, Rama and Krishna—who fought demons—were depicted in blue to signify their heroic deeds. ‘Like the all-encompassing blue sky, Rama and Krishna are known universally. The blue colour highlights their tolerance and stable mind.’ Finally, white, born out of the mixture of seven colours, was the symbol of peace, purity and knowledge, while black signified death and inauspiciousness.

With so much significance invested in the dialectics of colours and their inherent spiritual power, Poddar was often consulted by friends on what colour they should paint their puja rooms. As we saw earlier, Raja Ram Sinh of Sitamau asked his private secretary Shivram Krishna Godbole to inquire about the colours to be used for a meditation centre, on walls, door and windows. Godbole also asked if varnish paint could be used.
¹⁴¹
While Poddar expressed the opinion that colours were not so important as to impede true devotion to God, different colours were used to depict each god. The basic colour of Lord Rama was blue and shades of green and since Ram Sinh was a devotee of Rama, Poddar told Godbole, ‘You can paint the door and windows green. The inside walls should be yellow to depict God’s manifestation as pitambara. Blue could also be used, but ultramarine must be avoided.’
¹⁴²

The response to Gita Press’s religious imagery was largely positive. One criticism, however, came from Goyandka himself. Writing from Vrindavan, he cited a particular illustration in S
hrimad Bhagvat
of a person having a vision of God, in which God’s gaze was directed downwards. Baba Sukhram Das of Vrindavan had disapproved of this portrayal, so Goyandka requested Poddar to have the illustration altered so that God would look upwards.
¹⁴³
Earlier, in 1952, Ranganath Ramachandra Diwakar from Karnataka, an old reader of
Kalyan
and contributor to various special issues, agreed to write for the
Balak Ank
, but pointed out to Poddar the need to ‘attend to the art side of the magazine’ as ‘the pictures are practically devoid of bhava (emotion)’.
¹⁴⁴

Such occasional criticisms apart, Gita Press had evolved a conscious policy on the art to be published and the manner in which gods and goddesses were to be depicted. The larger idea was propagation of Hindu nationalism. Rama and Krishna were always shown as protectors of humanity and very often paintings of Krishna’s raslila were carried in
Kalyan
or other publications.
¹⁴⁵
Pictures of goddesses evoked feelings of the mother among devotees; they were often shown in their protective roles slaying demons. Artists were asked to ensure that their depiction of deities conveyed power, dignity and beauty. Also, the concepts of karma, rebirth and heaven were propagated through pictures, along with images of what awaited a person in hell, so as to make sure people chose the path of devotion and morality.
¹⁴⁶

When Gita Press began to commission original works for its publications, one place where Poddar looked for artists was Nathdwara, seat of the Shrinathji temple, in his home state Rajasthan. Nathdwara’s Pushtimarg sect had ‘supported its own dedicated community of painters since around the eighteenth century’ to ‘paint murals,
pichhavais
(decorative cloth backdrops) and other ritual decorations, portraits of the order’s high priests, manuscript illustrations and various types of miniature paintings’.
¹⁴⁷
The work, mainly souvenirs for pilgrims, by these brahmin painters belonging to the Gaur and Jangir sub-castes, was popularized by ‘mercantile communities poised along the busy western and northern trade routes, particularly the Marwaris’, and from 1927 onwards further popularized as ‘framed pictures by S.S. Brajbasi and Sons’.
¹⁴⁸

The Poddar Papers contain three letters from Nathdwara-based artist Prem Narendra Ghasiram Sharma, son of the most famous Nathdwara painter Ghasiram Hardev Sharma.
¹⁴⁹
The senior Ghasiram Sharma was the ‘chief painter (
mukhiya
) in the Shrinathji temple’
¹⁵⁰
who also did oil and tempera paintings on the walls of Garh Mahal, Jhalawar. He died in 1930 as a result of which Prem Narendra was unable to fulfil his commitments to Gita Press. He wrote to Poddar apologizing for the delay and promised that despite the ‘uncertainty of the physical state, his (Narendra’s) art would continue to serve
Kalyan
’
.
¹⁵¹
However, three months later, Prem Narendra again regretted not being able to send ‘pictures according to the order’. He ascribed the delay to his poor health and subsequent recuperation at a hill station. ‘Now I am able to work properly. My shop is also doing well. Of the two paintings sent to you,
Balakrishna
is priced at Rs 20 and
Pushp
Vatika
Rs 10. If you do not like them please return them as they were sent as samples from the shop.’
¹⁵²
There were delays on new orders as well
¹⁵³
but Poddar bore these patiently out of respect for the artist’s stature.

In 1932 Gita Press advertised jobs for artists, in
The Leader
(Allahabad) and
Amrita Bazar Patrika
(Calcutta). This attracted a flood of applications from all over the country, from artists steeped in modernity with their training in new art colleges of Calcutta, Bombay and other places, to those who had learnt painting as a craft within the family.

Satyendranath Banerjee of Calcutta had trained under Nandalal Bose and Asit Kumar Haldar in Kala Bhavan, Santiniketan for six years.
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He had testimonials from Bose and C.F. Andrews (who had taught him at Santiniketan) from way back in 1923 when Banerjee was applying for a job in Karachi.
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With his experience of working for two institutions, Prem Mahavidyalaya in Vrindavan and Daya Ashram in Karachi, Banerjee was asked to come to Gorakhpur in 1932. Not sure about ‘the nature of work’ he would have to do there, Banerjee demanded a minimum salary of Rs 75 and that he be allowed to do some private work as well.
¹⁵⁶
He agreed to send a few more prints as specimens of his work. Finally, Banerjee was accepted as a freelance artist who would send work from Calcutta from time to time on themes suggested by Poddar and others at
Kalyan
and Gita Press.

Unknown to Banerjee, he had been competing for the job with a senior artist from Santiniketan, Mohammad Hakim Khan. Hakim, along with Banerjee’s teachers Bose and Haldar, were among Abanindranath Tagore’s first batch of six students. Little was known of Hakim as he had disappeared from the Calcutta art scene.
¹⁵⁷
But as the Poddar Papers reveal, Hakim had moved to Lucknow where he worked on illustrations for a host of Hindi literary journals like
Madhuri
and
Sudha
. That may be how he was known to leading Hindi writer Premchand who recommended him to Poddar. Premchand, writing under his real name Dhanpat Rai, said he had known Hakim, who earlier worked for
Saraswati
for eight years. Significantly, Premchand emphasized that Hakim, despite being a Muslim ‘does a successful depiction of Hindu gods’. Recently, Premchand wrote, Hakim had illustrated scenes from the Valmiki Ramayana that were soon to be published in
Sudha.
‘He is also doing an oil painting of Krishna that has been priced at Rs 1,000. There is no element of religious animosity in him. He is a gentleman.’
¹⁵⁸
In his application Hakim also reiterated, ‘although a Mohammedan I can illustrate Hindu characters successfully’
.
¹⁵⁹
These references to Hakim’s faith may have been a result of the intense communal tension in the United Provinces at the time; in 1931, serious riots in Kanpur had led to widespread vandalism of mosques and temples, and the killing of leading journalist-politician Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi.

Though drawing a salary of Rs 140 in
Sudha
, Hakim was willing to negotiate since his job there was soon coming to an end. He was invited to Gorakhpur immediately but could not make it because of his child’s illness. When, he went there a month later, it was decided he too would be commissioned on a freelance basis. It seems Poddar did send Hakim some assignments at his
Sudha
office address, but Hakim could not deliver in time owing to various difficulties—his dues from
Sudha
had not come through, his children were not keeping well and he could not work due to the ‘hot and rough’ weather. Requesting Poddar not to think he was ‘careless’, Hakim promised to send the pictures after carrying out the suggested ‘corrections’.
¹⁶⁰
By July 1932 Hakim started sending his work to Gita Press and sought more assignments.
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Another of Abanindranath’s first pupils at Santiniketan, Sarada Charan Ukil, also sought work at Gita Press. The eldest of three artist brothers who were contemporaries of Amrita Sher-Gil, Sarada had set up Delhi’s first art school in 1918 teaching a ‘watered down version of Bengal school’.
¹⁶²
During his early years Sarada painted ‘oil portraits of wealthy patrons’ and later made a name with his ‘Indian-style paintings’.
¹⁶³
He had also dabbled in films, playing the role of King Suddhodhana in Franz Osten’s 1925 adaptation of Edwin Arnold’s 1861 classic
Light of Asia
.
¹⁶⁴

The beginning of Sarada’s association with Gita Press is not certain but his earliest letter in the Poddar Papers dates to 1935. In response to a telegram from Poddar, Sarada sent three of his original works—
Krishna & Radha
,
Shiva in Meditation
and
Guru Nanak and Origin of Panja Saheb
—with the clear instruction that the ‘honorariums and the cost of sending the pictures’ be sent to him on receipt of the parcel.
¹⁶⁵
Conscious of his standing as a student of Abanindranath Tagore, though he did not mention Tagore’s name, Sarada offered to contribute pictures for the 1936
Vedanta Ank
, and requested Poddar to send him some literature on the subject. ‘I do not want to produce too common and ordinary pictures for fear of my reputation. Hence I am so very anxious for some themes on the subject.’ In the next breath he raised the issue of payment, saying the Rs 75 sent for the last three pictures—probably the ones just mentioned—was less than the earlier rate of Rs 30 for each picture. Asserting his standing, Sarada also said unlike in his ‘former days’ he had stopped giving pictures to monthly magazines but made an exception for
Kalyan
out of ‘personal regards’ for Poddar.
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