Bring the periphery to the centre
It was the final day of the week-long Rongali Bihu celebrations to mark the beginning of the Assamese new year and sowing season. Guwahati was dressed in festive finery, with vibrant japis (hats) and gamosas (white-and-red handwoven fabric) adorning every pause and turn. Assam State Museum was celebrating its 86th Foundation Day, recalling the contributions of many, especially Rai Bahadur Kanak Lal Barua, who had spent their lives collecting, documenting, and disseminating the tangible and intangible heritage of the people of Assam.An invitation to Guwahati in end- April felt like being in the right place at the right time. Earning one's pitha (rice cake) and laru (a sweet) by speaking on the sculptural heritage of Assam to an august assembly can be daunting. But delectable larus and the beauty of Assamese sculptures make for a heady combination that can embolden an art historian to let her thoughts flow with the Brahmaputra.
The Brahmaputra valley is a connected-yet-distinct geographical space nestled within the eastern Himalayas, Patkai, and Naga hills, and the Garo-Khasi-Jaintia and Mikir hills. Its natural beauty finds mention even in ancient inscriptions that extol its golden hills in the likeness of Kailash, with gushing waters of the grand Lauhitya River resembling the silvery rays of the moon.
Brahmaputra, lifeline of the valley, is known by 'Lauhitya' in some early inscriptions and texts. The ancient name of Assam best corresponds to Kamarupa in some historical records, such as Samudragupta's famous Allahabad pillar inscription, and Kautilya's Arthashastra. The other name, Pragjyotisha, of the epics and epigraphs, also included territories corresponding to ancient Assam. Assam's remote antiquity goes back to the Stone Age. But written records in the form of inscriptions begin to offer insights into its early history only from 4th c. CE. Substantial art and architectural remains in stone have survived from 6th c. CE, most notably, a grand temple doorway at Da Parbatia in the Tezpur-Sonitpur region (photo).
Often explained in terms of a 'Gupta art'-inspired door frame, its own localised aesthetics have remained unsung. The personified river goddesses, Ganga and Yamuna, are conceptually aligned with 'Gupta' temple doorframes. But their iconography and stylistics at Da Parbatia reveal refined local artistic sensibilities. The presence of Lakulisha on the door lintel and, beneath him, a majestic garuda (eagle) in combat with nagas (serpents) is distinctively rendered, even if a coin of Gupta king Skandagupta Kramaditya reveals similar iconography. That ancient Kamarupa was connected with the great Gupta empire of central India is well-known. In the Allahabad pillar inscription, the king of Kamarupa is addressed as a 'pratyanta nripati' (frontier king). But even if Kamarupa was peripheral to the Gupta empire, centre and periphery are relative to one's vantage point. In its regional interactions with eastern Indian kingdoms too, from the time of King Shashanka of Gauda (circa early 7th c.) to the Palas of Bengal and Bihar (c. 8th-12th c.), Assam's contributions to regional, national, and Asian histories have remained underrepresented, if not eclipsed. It is a truism to say that West Bengal, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Nepal, Assam and Northeast Indian states formed culturally contiguous zones of contact with shifting political boundaries before the establishment of modern nation-states sharply segregated their identities. Perhaps less obvious is how such shared pasts are sculpted in stone. The artistic imagination of a multi-armed dancing Shiva (Nritteshvara) astride Vrishabha-Nandi (bull) is an east-northeast Indian creative innovation that had travelled to neighbouring and distant lands as far as Champa in ancient Vietnam. Perhaps nowhere is he as evocatively visualised as in a large 10th c. stone roundel housed in the Assam State Museum at Guwahati (photo). The northeast and its artistic achievements deserve to be relocated from the periphery to the centre. It's high time.
The writer is professor of art history, Department of History, University of Delhi
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We believe that since we are primarily using the vessels not for personal pleasure, it should be charged at the 5% duty that is charged for excursions,' Gupta said. 'The import duty on a private plane is 0%, why can't it be similar for yachts?' he asked. This isn't to say there is no manufacturing locally. Captain Dilip Dhonde, a Navy officer and the first Indian to circumnavigate the globe under sail and Commander Abhilash Tomy, the first Indian to solo circumnavigate the world non-stop undersail, did so on a sailing yacht — the INSV Mhadei — that was built at the Aquarius shipyard located at the Divar Island in Goa. Another sailing yacht — the INSV Tarini — was used by the Indian Navy's all-women sailing team to circumnavigate the world and is currently on the high seas as part of Navika Sagar Parikrama II, in which two women Navy officers are attempting to circumnavigate the world. That the Indian Navy's Ocean Sailing Node is located in Goa has only served to buttress the state's claim as one of the country's premier yachting hubs. The fishermen aren't pleased It's a title that has earned the ire of the state's fishing community who believe that the yachting business will come at the cost of the community. In a petition filed before the National Green Tribunal, two local fishermen belonging to traditional fisher communities and who depend on depend on fishing using traditional methods by using cast net, gillnet by using canoe in rivers for their livelihood have sought the declaration that 'the nine private standalone jetties used for yachting by private persons/ tourists are impermissible in fishing villages and ward as notified under the Coastal Zone Management Plan and that allowing the continuation of such jetties has resulted in them suffering heavy losses due to over exploitation by tourism business in the river'. 'The only activities permissible in a designated fishing village (fishing ward identified as per the Draft Goa CZMP prepared by NCSCM) are those required for fishing and fishery allied activities,' the petition alleged. The National Green Tribunal has issued notices in response to the petition. In April this year, when the Inland Waterways Authority of India approved a private jetty to be set up at the cost of ₹8 crore, it was quickly opposed by the local panchayat, who believed the village didn't have the capacity to host larger activity without displacing local populations. But the industry is not fazed. 'Goa currently has around 45 operating boats, while Dubai has 2,000. We are operating only in one of the state's rivers whereas the state has the capacity to host cruises in others as well, particularly in the Chapora and Sal rivers,' Gupta added. 'A yachting trip has now become an important aspect of tourists' Goa itinerary. What would take the experience even further is if there was a common jetty from where all the operators would set sail. In that way the consumer would have a wider choice and be able to choose his/her boat based on what he sees in front of him,' he said. 'For a business that promotes the sunset, we're rising on the horizon,' he added.
