Voices of Bengal, British Museum, London
'Armed with the sword, the spear, the club, the discus… you are terrible and also more pleasing than everything else and exceedingly beautiful.' This extract from the Devi Mahatmya is featured at the Myths of Bengal exhibition, which is part of the Voices of Bengal season at the British Museum.
Voices of Bengal consists of events and exhibitions throughout the museum highlighting the artistic and cultural heritage of undivided Bengal, the area covered today by West Bengal in India and Bangladesh.
The main exhibition - Myths of Bengal - explores the important narrative traditions of the region through the museum's extensive collection of scrolls, artefacts and religious stories.
These are displayed using a variety of media including embroidered textiles or Kantha; polychrome woodblock prints; watercolour and scroll paintings; sculpted forms of basalt, brass and schist; painted clay artefacts; and even a brass sacrificial knife or ramdao, which is depicted as being held by the goddess Kali in images.
The exhibition is divided into thematic sections of the story and cults of five Hindu gods and goddesses - Durga, Kali, Rama, Krishna and Manasa - and the legends of the Muslim saints, Gazi and Manik.
The show starts with a dramatic representation of a stark white tableau of a classic image of the goddess Durga at her annual festival, killing the demon Mahishasura, flanked by the goddesses Lakshmi and Saraswati. This was made from pith from the inside of the shola reed during the 1982 Festival of India when Bengali craftsmen visited London to demonstrate their work.
The displays are attractively mounted against a mainly maroon backdrop and are well lit. The effective exhibition design and the use of colour and lighting of the temporary display galleries creates an alluring setting for the exhibition. Descriptions of the artefacts and information about their context and display are provided by labels at the front of each case.
The titles of each section are written on yellow panels in English and Bengali. Large print, tactile drawings and braille information are available for visitors to borrow in the galleries and refer to while viewing the show.
The exhibition is a visually appealing and informative display of the rich tradition of storytelling in Bengal. The local Camden Bangladesh Mela Committee has helped by contributing stories and interpretation of the designs on Bengali textiles displayed on panels alongside the embroidered textiles.
These Kantha depict images describing life in Bengal, and the Mela committee's comments provide an alternative angle of interpretation to standard curatorial labels.
The strength of this exhibition lies in its strong narrative structure and content. The highlight is a section of the finest storytelling scrolls housed in the British Museum - the 13-metre-long Scenes from the Legend of Gazi (1800).
This exhibit, acquired in 1955 with support from the National Art Collections Fund (now the Art Fund), is an exuberant example of the rural painting tradition of eastern India illustrating war elephants, tigers, miracle-working heroes and monsters. The exhibition ends with displays about the story of the well-known snake-goddess of Bengal, Manasa.
As part of the Voices of Bengal season, the museum also put on a small display of rare paintings from its collection of 20th-century modern Indian art by the renowned Bengali poet, dramatist and Nobel Prize winner, Rabindranath Tagore. Visitors gained easy access to this display, which closed in November, because it was located just inside the museum's main entrance.
It is not widely known in Europe that Tagore was an accomplished painter, so the display of excerpts from his better-known literary works in Bengali and English and a short extract from the 1961 film Rabindranath Tagore by Satyajit Ray lent by the British Film Institute provided something more familiar.
But the works, although unusual in showing Tagore's approach to colour and his stylistic portrayal of dark animal paintings and abstract works, were not enough to present a comprehensive account of Tagore as an artist.
One of the highlights of the Voices of Bengal season was the spectacular tableau of the goddess Durga slaying the buffalo-headed demon. It was created by Bengali craftsmen from Krishnanagar using straw, clay and paint and constructed in the museum's Great Court.
The tableau was produced in association with the Crafts Council of West Bengal and the London Durga Puja Dusserah Committee and prepared for the worship of the goddess during the Durga Puja festival. It was then immersed into the River Thames where the images disintegrated - a ritual known as Visarjan.
A note in the comments book stated: 'To see the artists working is inspiring - usually, we just see the end product.' Indeed, I entered the museum's Great Court to the sounds of traditional Bengali drummers surrounding the imposing image of Durga vanquishing the demon while the eyes of the goddess were being ceremonially painted onto the image.
Once the eyes are painted on, the goddess is said to inhabit the tableau. Bengali musicians and dancers staged traditional Indian drum and dance performances as the event reached fever pitch when the cloth covering the face of the Durga image was pulled back to reveal her in full realisation. The event culminated with conch blowing and flower offerings to encourage the spirit of Durga to descend and occupy the Durga image.
Needless to say it created an impact, all in the name of raising awareness of the arts and cultural heritage of Bengal and building relations with the Bengali community, which the Voices of Bengal season seems to have successfully achieved.
Jasleen Kandhari is an Indian and Asian art, heritage and events consultant
Project data
Myths of Bengal
Cost: £25,000
Exhibition design: Aaron Jones
Exhibition graphics: BM
Exhibition build: Blueprint Exhibitions
Graphic production: Service Graphics
Exhibition ends: 7 January 2006
Durga
Build cost: £80,000
Exhibition design: Free Practic
Exhibition graphics: BM
Exhibition build: Quay Expo
Graphic production: Service Graphics
Durga sculpture: Nemai Chandra Pal, assisted by Biswajit Chakraborty and Madhu Sudan Pal
Funders: Brayton Wilbur Foundation, Luigi and Laura Dallapiccola Foundation, Tabor Foundation, Helen Hamlyn Trust
'Armed with the sword, the spear, the club, the discus… you are terrible and also more pleasing than everything else and exceedingly beautiful.' This extract from the Devi Mahatmya is featured at the Myths of Bengal exhibition, which is part of the Voices of Bengal season at the British Museum.
Voices of Bengal consists of events and exhibitions throughout the museum highlighting the artistic and cultural heritage of undivided Bengal, the area covered today by West Bengal in India and Bangladesh.
The main exhibition - Myths of Bengal - explores the important narrative traditions of the region through the museum's extensive collection of scrolls, artefacts and religious stories.
These are displayed using a variety of media including embroidered textiles or Kantha; polychrome woodblock prints; watercolour and scroll paintings; sculpted forms of basalt, brass and schist; painted clay artefacts; and even a brass sacrificial knife or ramdao, which is depicted as being held by the goddess Kali in images.
The exhibition is divided into thematic sections of the story and cults of five Hindu gods and goddesses - Durga, Kali, Rama, Krishna and Manasa - and the legends of the Muslim saints, Gazi and Manik.
The show starts with a dramatic representation of a stark white tableau of a classic image of the goddess Durga at her annual festival, killing the demon Mahishasura, flanked by the goddesses Lakshmi and Saraswati. This was made from pith from the inside of the shola reed during the 1982 Festival of India when Bengali craftsmen visited London to demonstrate their work.
The displays are attractively mounted against a mainly maroon backdrop and are well lit. The effective exhibition design and the use of colour and lighting of the temporary display galleries creates an alluring setting for the exhibition. Descriptions of the artefacts and information about their context and display are provided by labels at the front of each case.
The titles of each section are written on yellow panels in English and Bengali. Large print, tactile drawings and braille information are available for visitors to borrow in the galleries and refer to while viewing the show.
The exhibition is a visually appealing and informative display of the rich tradition of storytelling in Bengal. The local Camden Bangladesh Mela Committee has helped by contributing stories and interpretation of the designs on Bengali textiles displayed on panels alongside the embroidered textiles.
These Kantha depict images describing life in Bengal, and the Mela committee's comments provide an alternative angle of interpretation to standard curatorial labels.
The strength of this exhibition lies in its strong narrative structure and content. The highlight is a section of the finest storytelling scrolls housed in the British Museum - the 13-metre-long Scenes from the Legend of Gazi (1800).
This exhibit, acquired in 1955 with support from the National Art Collections Fund (now the Art Fund), is an exuberant example of the rural painting tradition of eastern India illustrating war elephants, tigers, miracle-working heroes and monsters. The exhibition ends with displays about the story of the well-known snake-goddess of Bengal, Manasa.
As part of the Voices of Bengal season, the museum also put on a small display of rare paintings from its collection of 20th-century modern Indian art by the renowned Bengali poet, dramatist and Nobel Prize winner, Rabindranath Tagore. Visitors gained easy access to this display, which closed in November, because it was located just inside the museum's main entrance.
It is not widely known in Europe that Tagore was an accomplished painter, so the display of excerpts from his better-known literary works in Bengali and English and a short extract from the 1961 film Rabindranath Tagore by Satyajit Ray lent by the British Film Institute provided something more familiar.
But the works, although unusual in showing Tagore's approach to colour and his stylistic portrayal of dark animal paintings and abstract works, were not enough to present a comprehensive account of Tagore as an artist.
One of the highlights of the Voices of Bengal season was the spectacular tableau of the goddess Durga slaying the buffalo-headed demon. It was created by Bengali craftsmen from Krishnanagar using straw, clay and paint and constructed in the museum's Great Court.
The tableau was produced in association with the Crafts Council of West Bengal and the London Durga Puja Dusserah Committee and prepared for the worship of the goddess during the Durga Puja festival. It was then immersed into the River Thames where the images disintegrated - a ritual known as Visarjan.
A note in the comments book stated: 'To see the artists working is inspiring - usually, we just see the end product.' Indeed, I entered the museum's Great Court to the sounds of traditional Bengali drummers surrounding the imposing image of Durga vanquishing the demon while the eyes of the goddess were being ceremonially painted onto the image.
Once the eyes are painted on, the goddess is said to inhabit the tableau. Bengali musicians and dancers staged traditional Indian drum and dance performances as the event reached fever pitch when the cloth covering the face of the Durga image was pulled back to reveal her in full realisation. The event culminated with conch blowing and flower offerings to encourage the spirit of Durga to descend and occupy the Durga image.
Needless to say it created an impact, all in the name of raising awareness of the arts and cultural heritage of Bengal and building relations with the Bengali community, which the Voices of Bengal season seems to have successfully achieved.
Jasleen Kandhari is an Indian and Asian art, heritage and events consultant
Project data
Myths of Bengal
Cost: £25,000
Exhibition design: Aaron Jones
Exhibition graphics: BM
Exhibition build: Blueprint Exhibitions
Graphic production: Service Graphics
Exhibition ends: 7 January 2006
Durga
Build cost: £80,000
Exhibition design: Free Practic
Exhibition graphics: BM
Exhibition build: Quay Expo
Graphic production: Service Graphics
Durga sculpture: Nemai Chandra Pal, assisted by Biswajit Chakraborty and Madhu Sudan Pal
Funders: Brayton Wilbur Foundation, Luigi and Laura Dallapiccola Foundation, Tabor Foundation, Helen Hamlyn Trust
