Hill of the Lamp; Amaravati (Part IV)

(Continued from)

What makes Amaravati sculptures stand apart from the other contemporary works in the Deccan plateau, as displayed in rock cut temples of Karle'n, Bhaje, Nashik, earlier works at Ajanta and Pitalkhore, is the great attention paid to detailing and subtle suggestions conveyed to the spectator. When compared to Amaravati sculptures, the sculpturing in the other contemporary rock cut temples with possible exception of Karle'n, appears much inferior without any doubt. One of the reasons could be the material used. Unlike the basalt stone available in most of the rock cut temples of Deccan, Amaravati sculptors have used stones available in quarries near Nagarjunkonda. Whatever may be the reasons, the fact remains that Amaravati sculptures clearly suggest that by the time this great Stupa was finished and completely decorated in 200CE, sculpturing had come of age in the Deccan. No wonder that Mr. C.Sivaramamurti, former curator of the Chennai museum says and I quote.

“There is a freshness here, which invites study of the material with greater joy and zeal. The hackneyed theme, which has to be repeated is given an artistic twist to make it appear lively. Everywhere the sculptor has devised his own way of presentation. When one knows the mind of the sculptor and the way of his portrayal it becomes easier to understand and follow his method of approach. The charm of his effective language has compelled the attention of subsequent schools not only in India but even in far off places.”

Floral garland being pulled out of a Yaksha's mounth

Let us begin with the motif of floral garlands supported by bearers. This motif became popular when Mahayana school of Buddhism became prevalent in India. The Avatamsaka Sūtra (Sanskrit: महावैपुल्यबुद्धावतंसकसूत्र >Mahāvaipulya Buddhāvatamsaka Sūtra) is one of the most influential Mahayana sutras of East Asian Buddhism. The title is rendered in English as Flower Garland Sutra, Flower Adornment Sutra, or Flower Ornament Scripture. No one knows, if this Sutra is the reason for the garland motif, initially picked up from Greco-Romans, to become popular, over a large area from India to China where Buddhism was practiced. In Amaravati, floral garland motif appears at least at two places; on the frieze encircling the Stupa itself and on the coping of the outer rail. The outer rail coping pieces are about 2 feet high and are curved on one side. As we have seen, the outer rail is pierced at four cardinal directions by gates. This means that the floral garland would break at the gates and could not form a continuous chain around the Stupa as seen everywhere else. Amaravati sculptors came out with a really ingenious solution for this anomaly. They placed special coping pieces carved with images of a floral garland being pulled out from the mouth of an either a colossal Yaksha (a divine dwarf) or a Makara (Crocodile), meaning thereby that at the places, where railing was pierced by gates, the garland can not be seen because divine dwarfs or Crocodiles had swallowed it and it was being pulled out from their mouths. Further, the dwarfs appear towards left in the coping pieces, whereas, the crocodiles appear to the right side. This indicates that the coping pieces with dwarfs were carved towards the right side of the gate and ones with crocodiles, were carved towards left of the gate. ( Remember that the sculptures on the coping were on the inside surfaces (towards Stupa drum) and not on outer surfaces.)

King Bandhuma and his daughters

Now we turn to a wonderfully detailed bass relief that appears on a cross-bar of the outer rail. The sculpture depicts the story of the presents of king Bandhuma who was the king of Bandhumati. He received two presents, consisting of a costly wreath and a precious sandal-wood. He distributed them to his two daughters. They in the turn, offered them to the Buddha, in his previous incarnation Vipassi. As a result of this, in their later rebirth, the elder of the two princesses was born as Mayadevi, the mother of Gautama, and the younger attained sainthood. In the sculpture the king is shown on a throne, attended by chauri-bearers. To his right are his two daugthers, the first seated and attended by maid servants and the second standing near the throne. Below the king's throne are pages offering the presents. Some men are shown on the right coming through an arched gate adjoining the palace. A horse and an elephant are also seen. The king's throne with rearing lions, the pages in tunic with curly hair, the coiffure of the maid servant at the feet of the seated princess and the archway are all noteworthy.

Mayadevi's dream

Another equally detailed panel is known as Mayadevi's Dream and Interpretation given to the king. Here on the left panel, Maya is shown reclining. Below the couch four women attendants are shown half asleep. Four turbaned men of rank stand as guards at the four corners of the couch. In the right panel, Maya is seen seated on a small wicker seat in front of the King while a Brahmin is seated to the left of the king. The Brahmin holds up his two fingers suggesting two possibilities regarding the future of the child to be born. The two possibilities are that either he would be a monarch, if he adopted the life of a house-holder or he would become the Buddha, if he renounced the world.

 Buddha meditating near a Stupa

This panel is from the last phase of construction, when Buddha's image was allowed to be shown in human forms. The broken slab is from the Stupa casing and shows the Buddha seated on a lion throne opposite the gateway of a miniature Stupa. Below him are two Naginis worshipping him. A group consisting of a standing nobleman, a seated lady and a dwarf carrying a tray is seen on either side of the gateway.

 Deaparture of Goutama from Kapilavastu

This fragment is from earlier period, when Buddha's image was not allowed to be shown. It is known as the departure of Sidhartha from Kapilavastu (Mahabhinishkramana). The arched gateway in the sculpture indicates Kapilavastu. The horse, Kanthaka comes out of the gateway. An umbrella is held over it by a man, suggesting the presence of the prince. Above them are the Devas who opened the gateway. There is a rail pattern below.

 Gods infatuated with  Rohini fight each other

Lastly we come to another detailed panel depicting the story of a celestial nymph Rohini Khattiyakanna from the Buddhist work of 'Dhammapadatthakatha.' In this panel the nymph is seen with four Devas or Gods, who are infatuated with her and trying to press hard and even coerce her in accepting one of them and are also quarreling amongst themselves. Finally one of them carries her to the super God Sakka, shown seated in his palace 'Vaijayantiprasada' with a lovely damsel behind.

These and other sculptured panels from Amaravati were copied and repeated by many artists in the subsequent and later periods. The beauty and glory of Amaravati is that, it was here that the art of story telling by means of sculptures seems to have taken birth. I can well imagine thousands of devout Buddhists walking along thirteen feet wide processional circular path paved with slabs of grey limestone that lay within the outer rail and monks explaining to them the stories embedded in stone by the Amaravati sculptors. It was perhaps world's first audio-video show.

There is however some confusion regarding the exact role of Satvahana kings in the construction of this great Stupa. Two historical inscriptions have been found on the fragments of the Stupa. The first one mentions the name of king Sri Pulumavi (c.110-138 CE) and the second mentions the name of the King-

Shivaskanda Satkarni (c.145-175 CE) meaning thereby, their active support to the construction in the last phases. However, if Satvahana kings had annexed Andhra in as late as first half of the first century CE, or during the reign of Satvahana Kings Apilaka and Meghasvati, the Stupa was already under construction then as archeologists believe that work on Stupa had began much earlier, around second century BCE. If that was the case, question remains as to who actually started the construction of Stupa in the first place? Shunga Kingdom or King Kharavela of Odisha? Perhaps we shall never know the answer.

After having spent few hours with the Amaravati stones, my mind as well as my legs are really tired. I decide to call it a day and return to the hotel for some hard earned rest. Later, reflecting upon my visit to the museum, I come to the decision that I have to visit the site of the great Stupa at Amaravati, even when there is not much to see there. The stones tell their own stories but the big picture can emerge only at Amaravati. Till then there will be no real closure for me.

To be continued

28^th July 2014

Hill of the Lamp; Amaravati (Part III)

(Continued from)

The stone slabs displayed in the special Amaravati enclosure of Chennai Museum are all sculptured with finest bass reliefs. Such good is the workmanship, that it becomes quite apparent that the job has not been done in a decade or even a century. The work must have continued for a much longer period. The designs, themes also change, from which we can estimate the time, when these must have been created. As an example, one can consider the famous theme of a continuous string of garlands carried by bearers, a theme that is influenced directly by Gandhara art, which clearly shows its later sculpturing. However, before I go into some finer details of some of the bass reliefs, I think that it might be worthwhile to know, how the Stupa actually looked like.

From the history of the site, which we have seen earlier, when Mackenzie discovered the Stupa, it was covered completely with earth. He however made detailed notes of what he saw. As I have explained earlier, in the subsequent period there were repeated excavations at the site, further demolishing the structure. It was Mr. Percy Brown from Indian Educational service and former curator of Victoria memorial hall in Kolkata, who first managed to reconstruct the great Stupa on paper using three sources, Detailed notes left by Machenzie and Sewell, other Stupas excavated carefully in Andhra region and finally the most authentic source, 'Selfie' kind of bass reliefs sculptured on the stone slabs of the Stupa itself. Here is how the Stupa was constructed.

A fragment of outer rail coping; the scene is known as Mayadevi's dream

At the outermost perimeter, the Stupa was enclosed by a circular railing constructed out of stone, measuring 192 feet in diameter. Along the four cardinal directions, this railing was pierced by gates, which consisted of stone pillars about 9 feet high and 3 feet wide. The pillars had on top of them stone copings 2 ½ feet high and a foot thick. The entire perimeter of the Stupa was covered with 136 pillars and about 800 feet of coping resting on top of it. To support the vertical pillars, three rounded crossbars of about 3 feet diameter were joined to the pillars. All stones were joined with perfect Mortis and Tenon joints. The coping on top of pillars was carved on both faces throughout. The decoration of the outer face consisted of a continuous floral garland carried on the shoulders of bearers. The inner face of the coping was reserved for scenes from the life of Buddha and from stories of his previous births. Thus as the devout circumnavigated the Stupa within the rail, the texts of their faith were unfolded in stone. The vertical pillars were mostly decorated with Buddhist motifs like a blown lotus, Bodhi Tree, Wheel of Dhammachakra and Stupa. The round cross bars also were carved on both outer and inner sides. Outer sides mostly with lotuses and inner surfaces carved with some great events from Buddha's life. Experts consider the bass reliefs on cross-bars as the best specimens of sculptor’s achievements. At the four gates, the coping was crowned with four seated lions at each gate, two facing each other and two facing outward.

 A fragment of a frieze; floral garland with bearers

Within this outer rail lay the processional circular path thirteen feet wide and paved with slabs of grey limestone; Along the inner circle of this path, stood another circular rail about 4 feet high and 162 feet diameter along the drum of the Stupa with entire circumference covered with stone slabs carved with some of the finest sculptures. 

  

A fragment of a pillar: Asitas visit Syuodhana

Between the slabs, Pillasters with elaborate carvings were placed and a circular frieze adorned the top of the stone slabs. Two copings, one between the stone slabs and the frieze and another one above it also were provided around the circumference to separate out the stone slabs, frieze and the dome wall. Burgess describes these in following words and I quote.

 A fragment of Stupa casing slab; king with is two consorts

“ The slabs composing the inner circle are remarkable for the beauty of the sculptures upon them, which are small and consist of figures, festoons and a variety of ornaments very neatly executed. On the side are the pillars. On the sides are pillars, which are either finished with figures of lions and horses, or of men and women; and over the top is an entablature replete with figures in various acts of devotion or amusement. These inner slabs have been cemented to each other with strong mortar, and supported by a wall of masonry rising to a moderate height (4 feet) in the rear. Slabs are either 6 or 9 inches thick and of rectangular shape. Most of the slabs are at British Museum, yet a few finest in Madras.”

 A fragment of a pillaster; Yakshini

The drum of Stupa was about 6 feet in height and along the perimeter were placed the 4 feet high stone slabs described by Burgess. Above the drum, the dome wall rose vertically to a height of 20 feet or 14 feet above the drum, totally cased with large sculptured slabs surmounted by two friezes. The lower of running animals and the upper with “Trishula” symbols. Above the dome slabs began the curve of the dome, which was stucco plastered and decorated with friezes of lotus filled vases and dwarfs carrying garlands. At the top there was another square railing with each side measuring 26 feet. From the centre of the railing rose an octagonal pillar and some smaller pillars. The entire dome was probably painted white with friezes painted gold making a splendid show.

 A fragment of a frieze; running animals

At the four cardinal points and facing the gates were projections to the drum about 32 feet long and 6 feet wide. On these projecting platforms stood five pillars, about 10 to 14 feet high with rectangular bases and octagonal shafts. The slabs here were decorated with Buddhist motifs like arches and stupas.

 A Model of the great Stupa

I sincerely hope that readers would be able to imagine in their minds, how grand and spectacular, this monument must have looked in its glory days. I shall now try and describe few of the stone carvings, which once decorated the mighty stupa of Amaravati. 

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26^th July 2014

Hill of the Lamp; Amaravati (Part II)

(Continued from)

Egmore, located on the northern banks of Chennai's so called Cooum river (Considered as the the most polluted river of India) is one of the busiest neighbourhoods of the city. My three wheeler 'Autoriksha' keeps moving through unfamiliar small roads and lanes with one common factor. They are all jam packed with late morning traffic. Soon, I can see a board declaring that we are on Pantheon Road. I really do not know why this road has been given a Roman name but I am told that this is probably so because of the presence of a large estate known as Pantheon Complex, that once existed along this road. The Egmore Museum was one of the first notable monuments to be constructed in this Pantheon Complex in 1854. The Connemara Library, which still functions, was created as an annex housing the Museum's vast book collection and became operational in 1896. Many additions to the original museum building were constructed between 1864 and 1890.

The Autoriksha stops near the gate and I get down, directly in front of me, is a large complex consisting of several buildings. I buy entry tickets for my self and my camera, which requires an entrance fee of Rupees 200 against entrance fee of Rupees 10 for myself. There is cloak room nearby with lockers. You are not allowed to carry anything inside the museum. I slowly walk towards front building. A red coloured circular building with Pillars all around. The facade is superb and reminds of the federal parliament building in Delhi. A building on the left has a facade, reminiscent of a typical Mughal architecture structure, unbelievably grand. The grandeur of the front building looks completely spoiled because of a large billboard hung from two pillars. The billboard is in Tamil but I do recognize the smiling face of the chief minister. I can see number of old cannons used in historical wars all along the perimeter of the main building.

In a typical bureaucratic way, the grand front entrance to the front building is locked and sealed. The building carries only a small section on Indus civilization, which can be approached from a small gate at the rear and which mainly consists of replicas of original objects, displayed in National museum New Delhi and another wing, which consists of some arms and guns displayed. The present day museum entrance is further to the right of the front building, but eventually leads to the main museum building, located right behind the front building (Reads highly confusing but it is not.) The facade of this building has a huge red coloured wall with white painted animal and birds on it, creating a garish kind of appearance. The entrance again has metal detectors and security guards, however things appear quite lax. There is a book shop right at the entrance and it leads to the Archeology wing, which is divided in number of individual wings with displays of Hindu Sculptures, Buddhist Sculptures, Jain Sculptures, Hero Stones, Memorial Stones, Sati Stone, Inscriptions and Copper plates, quite a mouthful I feel.

 The facade near the entrance; bold and garish

I walk along a long corridor with many stone sculptures, adorning otherwise a drab corridor. At the end of the corridor is the wing that displays the Hindu sculptures. I walk through and the next wing consists of Buddhist sculpture displays. In this wing, there is a separate enclosure made with polished wooden panelling. This enclosure consists the Amravati Stones. I have come all the way really to seen them.

There is an interesting bit of history, how these stones finally landed in this museum. I quote from the museum handouts.

“The collection of the early Buddhist sculptures includes the large group of sculptures received from the ruined stupa at Amaravati in the Krishna valley in the Andhra country wherein an excavation was conducted in the 1801 and later. Colonel.Colin Mackenzie of the Trigonometrical Survey of India first heard of the mound in the area and visited the site and found it was very interesting as it had specimens of early Christian era art. Then he drew sketches of the site and left. Later in 1830 some of the sculptured slabs were brought to Masulipatnam to beautify a square named after Robertson, the District Collector. During the course of his visit to this place in 1835, Sir Frederick Adam, Governor of Madras, saw the slabs and ordered that these to be sent to Madras for preservation in the Museum of the Madras Literary Society. Dr.Balfour, soon after taking charge of the Madras Central Museum, began his efforts in getting the aforesaid slabs and the first batch arrived here in 1856. Other batches of sculptures were secured during Dr.Bidie's time and they were set up in their present location in the Museum. On the question of the arrangement and display of these Amaravati marbles in the Madras Museum in 1884-85, Dr.Bidie had to cross swords with no less a person than Burgess of the Archaeological Department of the Government of India, but while the distinguished archaeologist demonstrated more of dogmatism and heat, Dr.Bidie showed himself that he was the master of the situation and what he did was only practicable way of dealing with the sculptures.”

 Departure of the Buddha( shown symbolically by a horse without a rider) from Kapilavastu

I feel like thanking Dr. Bidie, because only his efforts had made the marble slabs removed from grand Stupa at Amaravati, remain at Chennai and we can see them even today. There was every possibility otherwise that these would have been sent to England as was done with a few others. (Actually the number is not a few but a huge quantity of 121)

So how did the great Stupa looked like? Just like the Taj Mahal, it could be described as a poetry in marble. Standing tall, this ninety feet high marble-encased cupola surmounted by big stone umbrellas, the series of tall slender marble columns on the platforms marking four cardinal points, the four festooned gateways flanked by lion-topped columns and the fourteen feet high, sculptured railing round the stupa, all of which, together, must have been a sight of glory! The Stupa perhaps was the biggest symbol of the grandeur and wealth of the Satavahana empire.

The sculpturing around the central cupola and the fourteen feet high railing were done in four periods that can be roughly put in a time span as Period I - 200 to 100 BC; Period II - 100 AD; Period III - 150 AD and Period IV - 200 to 250 AD. This means that it covers both the Hinayana and Mahayana periods and that is why, images of Buddha appear only at certain places, probably sculptured during Mahayana phase.

A king on his throne

Museum had arranged the display of Amaravati stones rather well, There are number of glass enclosed show cases on pedestals as well as those mounted on the walls. There is also a huge partition that touches the sealing, with number of open gaps. Many of the smaller stones have been displayed in these open gaps.

Looking at the exhibits from the entrance, I feel sad because such a fabulous monument was destroyed by the over enthusiastic British officers, keen of excavating the stones and sending them to other places instead of rebuilding the Stupa to its past glory. It could have been as glorious a monument as Taj Mahal is considered today.

I heave a sigh and start walking towards the first exhibit. 

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25^th July 2014

Amaravati all set to gain its past glory

Amaravati is a tiny town, situated 35 Km north of the city of Guntur on the right or the south bank of river Krishna, in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, which has been bifurcated very recently. In local language it is known as “Dipaldinne,” which means a Hill of the Lamp.

Amaravati and the adjoining areas have had been great seats of Buddhist learning and religion at the beginning of our era. The famous Chinese monk and pilgrim, Xuel Zang mentions in his travelogue from 7^th century that at Amaravati, though many Buddhist monasteries were deserted by then, at least twenty were still in use with a thousand monks living there.

Few readers would be able to imagine that this obscure tiny town in the interior, once boasted of a grand monument that could be compared or perhaps was even grander than the famous Taj Mahal and was visited by thousands of Buddhist pilgrims every day. The monument in form of a great Buddhist Stupa, was however lost in the passage of time and all that remained was a mound of earth. This mound was eventually called the 'Hill of the lamp' by local people and the town got its name from this hillock.

In the year 1796, a local landlord wanting to shift to Amaravati, started quarrying rocks from nearby mounds of earth to build his house. He also attempted to dig the 'Hill of the lamp' and to utmost surprise of everyone around found stone slabs with sculptured bass reliefs. The news reached a British officer Colonel Colin Mackenzie, who was a passionate collector and student of antiquity. He visited the spot and immediately perceived that the mound of earth was in fact a great Stupa having about Ninety feet diameter and Twenty feet height. Mackenzie returned to the site in March 1816 armed with a team of draftsmen and surveyors. For next 2 years they made detailed plans and drawings of the monument.

After the great Stupa was discovered, a mad rush began amongst British officers to acquire the stone slabs of the Stupa. Many slabs were also distributed by the officers to various museums within India. In 1845, another British officer carried out excavation in the south west part of the mound and found large number of fragments. He sent them to Madras, where they lay neglected and exposed. In 1856 a new museum was opened in Madras. Edward Balfour, officer-in charge of the museum, decided to collect all the pieces and catalogue them. Finally 121 stone slabs were sent to England in 1859. They were sent from a museum to museum and finally in 1880 they reached British museum, where they are exhibited since.

In 1880, Duke of Buckingham, then Governor of Madras, ordered complete excavation of the site. The site not converted to a large pit. More than 400 fragments were recovered mostly from the outer railing and were sent to museum at madras, where they can be seen even today. A few balance pieces are exhibited at the site in a small museum. This is the sad story, how a great monument built by Satavahana kings, somewhere around first or second century CE, was totally destroyed, after discovery, instead of being renovated and rebuilt for the future generations. From whatever that is left of the great monument, one can easily imagine its grandeur and also the importance and glory that Amaravati must have enjoyed in the past, very well comparable to Taj Mahal itself.

So, how this great monument really looked like? At the centre was a giant solid dome of a Stupa some one hundred and forty-eight feet in diameter. This was surrounded by two highly sculptured stone railings. The inner railing actually almost touched the drum of the Stupa and carried all the decoration on it. The outer railing constructed from limestone slabs, was One hundred and ninety two feet in diameter and was pierced by four gates provided in cardinal directions. The outer railing was also elaborately carved with bass reliefs depicting many scenes from Jataka stories and Buddha's life. It is not knows how such a great monument was slowly forgotten and became totally neglected. It soon became a pile of rubble and in a few centuries of time became a mound of earth and with its disappearence, the famous town of Amaravati also became a forgotten obscure town in the interior of 'Andhradesa.'

It is now reported that this obscure town, will hit the limelight again in future, as it has been selected as the possible site of the new of capital of the bifurcated Andhara Pradesh state. The present Chief Minister of the state is known for his acumen for conceiving and building things, from what he did in the Hyderabad city few decades earlier. He is keen to build the new capital on both sides of the river with all modern facilities and world class transportation.

It seems that after lapse of more than two millenniums Amaravati is all set to gain it's lost glory as it's star is rising again. Perhaps it might become even more famous than in the past.

4^th July 2014

Poverty of Imagination

On the northern boundary of my hometown, Pune, a river known as Mula, winds its way through a shallow gorge, to the East. Any one, who wants to exit the city in that direction, has to cross this river. British rulers had built at least two bridges over this river. One of the bridges was on the main exit route and was built with a proper height so that city never lost communication with other places, even when the river was in full spate. Another bridge also was built on this river towards west of the main exit bridge. This bridge only catered to few villagers at the most and some military establishments. Considering these facts, the British engineers perhaps to cut costs, decided to build a bridge here of a very low height. The result was that this bridge always got flooded during monsoons and cut off this exit. A plan was mooted to build a new bridge here. The bridge was built and also inaugurated with much fanfare by some state minister, but in a typically bureaucratic fashion, no approach roads were built in time. When the approach roads were completed subsequently and traffic started moving on the new bridge, it was found out that the new bridge was just not wide enough for the heavy traffic which now used this bridge. This led to huge traffic jams and it was felt that the earlier low bridge (when not flooded) was actually somewhat better. No sooner, the new bridge was opened for traffic, need was felt for an even larger and wider bridge.

The electrical power provider for state of Maharashtra in India, is a state monopoly and was earlier known as 'Maharashtra state electricity board.' They had signed a contract with ENRON corp. of USA to build a power plant on west coast of India and agreed to buy all the power produced by this plant at a price which was somewhat higher than the rates prevalent in those times. In retrospection, we can say today that it was a good deal. This plant started producing power and then something went wrong. Some politicians felt that the Government was being taken for a ride by ENRON Corp. ( It was proved later, even though ENRON corporation did lot of criminal things, they had done this deal in a right way.) These complaining politicians managed to set up a review committee formulated under chairmanship of an ex- civil service officer. This committee came out with a most amazing finding. They found ( Only God alone knows how! ) that Maharashtra state has big amount of surplus power and there was no need for ENRON power at all. The plant was closed down and plans for building new power plants were all scrapped. As a result of this action, few years later, we have in Maharashtra state, power outages sometimes extending up to fifteen hours on every single day. The life has become absolutely miserable for the people of this state. It became necessary to salvage the same ENRON plant and commission it again at a considerable cost to the exchequer. How these civil servants and politicians failed to realize, what could be envisaged even by a small child, that the power requirement of a growing economy would just continue to grow, is something one can not comprehend and leads to a firm conviction in which I now believe: We Indians are absolutely poorest in imagination! We are unable to envisage the future properly.

Refurbished ENRON plant now owned by NTPC

These are not isolated cases. An unending list of such projects can be produced. One can not therefore find solace by giving a justification, that such errors of commission and omission have occurred because of the lack of quality and quantity of the cerebral gray matter for some odd state planner or a civil service officer or some state politicians have not been gratified to their own satisfaction.. Problem is much deeper and lies in our psyche.

New Delhi city is famous for its magnificent buildings and munificent parks and boulevards. It attracts tourists from all corners of the world. Unfortunately credit for this does not go to Indian Government or people. New Delhi was built by British and even the architect, Sir Edwin Lutyens, was British. The downtown Mumbai, boasts of many quaint and grand buildings, which in my personal opinion, can beat any day, so called famous buildings of Manhattan and London. To take a stroll along the wide boulevards and gardens of Esplanade in Kolkatta is always a memorable experience. The magnificence of Victoria Memorial needs no words. But again all these magnificent structures have been built by the British. We only seem to specialize in devising ways, by which the grandeur and splendor of these buildings can be undermined. Recently I visited one such building in Mumbai. My heart bled to see those wonderful long and well decorated verandas being divided into small pigeon holes with help of horrible looking wooden partitions and the pathetic loose wires and cobwebs hanging from the artfully decorated ceilings.

To my mind, reasons for this lacuna are deep within us. We seem to be incredibly poor in imagining things. We are a very intelligent people. We have super builders, architects and Engineers amongst us. If a plan is given to us, we will execute it superbly. We however fail at the plan making stage itself. When we plan to improve a two lane highway, we think of four or at the most six lane highways. We never think of ten or twelve lane super ways. The result is that by the time the new road is ready, the density of traffic has already increased so much, that the new road can not cope op with it. We never seem to imagine things on a grander scale.

Some of our corporates, seem to be thinking above this imagination poverty line. In 1965, TATA Motors started to build their PUNE factory. The size of the land acquired by them in those days was stupendous. For a decade or so, few lonely buildings stood on this huge tract of land. Many wondered at the wasteful ways of TATA’s. Some one dared to ask the chairman of the company about this huge investment. The reply was “ Do you know what is in our minds ? ” Today, some forty years later, this huge tract of land is full of factory sheds and almost each and every car produced by TATA’s except the little NANO, rolls out of the gates of the once barren landscape. The Refinery planned at Jamnagar by Reliance founder appeared similarly as white elephant. But with the latest petroleum prices, it actually appears a prudent investment and could be considered as another excellent example of such above imagination poverty line planning.

A model of the grand Stupa at Amaravathi in Andhra Pradesh 

History tells us that Indian have built many grand structures in the past and we never needed British to do that as they did in Delhi and Mumbai. In first or second century CE, a grand marble Stupa one hundred sixty feet in diameter and ninety five feet in height was built by Indians at Amaravati in present day state of Andhra Pradesh. It was an architectural wonder. In sixtenth century, a mughal emperor built the grandest building of them all, The Taj Mahal. But later something went wrong and we became afraid, even of planning for the future. It is high time that we give this poverty line thinking up and raise ourselves above of this.

If we fail to do that, I am afraid, that the Taj Mahal would remain as the only grand structure, exclusively planned and executed by Indians, everything else would be heavily overcrowded and we would have perennial shortages of everything; from power to drinking water.