I was present at The Xavier Centre of Historical Research (Alto Porvorim, to witness the opening of the exhibition of paintings by Dr. Jose Pereira on 26 July.
As Dr. Delio Mendonca wrote:"Epiphanies of the Hindu Gods is a unique suite of pastel paintings conceived by the artist as a tribute to his Hindu ancestry, and to the Indian classical tradition to which he has devoted a lifetime of prodigious scholarship. Each beautiful painting in the exhibition is based directly on descriptive passages in the original Sanskrit texts, and each figure is derived in minute detail from existing temple carvings, sculptures and paintings. It is a unique body of work, made even more impressive by the fact that the artist has executed them at the summation of a magnificent scholarly career, despite the setback of Parkinson´s disease." "Alongside Epiphanies of the Hindu Gods, the XCHR is delighted to present a retrospective exhibition of previous paintings by Dr. Pereira, including a rare self-portrait from 1946, and a collection of superb oil paintings based on the artist´s Catholic heritage. Among these are three monumental Pietas, each of which lay damaged and forgotten for decades before being restored by Dr. Pereira at the XCHR just this week. Seen together with his luminous recent work, all these paintings make an undeniable case for Dr. Pereira to be included among our greatest artists." Padmashree Dr. Maria Aurora Couto, gave the keynote address on this occasion, recounting the selfless search for knowledge that Dr Pereira had exhibited all his life and Dr. Nandkumar Kamat who presided over the event, praised the octogenarian as being the greatest living polymath of Goa. Subsequently I was astonished to read reports such as http://news.outlookindia.com/item.aspx?688665 This report says that "Hindu Janajagruti Samiti (HJS), a Hindu organisation, had objected to the paintings by Dr Jose Pereira, which had shown Hindu deities in nude." I was astonished because any sane person who had seen those paintings would have said that this was an expression of great reverence for his Hindu ancestry. Dr Jose Pereira had another talk as well on 28 July at XCHR entitled Folk Plays of Salcette. The almost 90 year old Dr. Jose Pereira kept the small audience spell-bound as, even as his hands shivered as a result of Parkinson's disease, he re-enacted a khell called "Konk Mauxi." which he had noted down some six decades ago. This event was presided over by Dr. Rafael Fernandes, a Professor of English at Goa University, who is an expert on tiatrs. However after the discussion where Dr. Jose Pereira took questions from the audience, the Director of XCHR Dr Delio Mendonca of the Alto Porvorim- based Xavier Centre of Historical Research made the following announcement regarding the controversy over Dr. Jose Pereira's exhibition of paintings there. http://www.mail-archive.com/goanet@lists.goanet.org/msg64908.html "The XCHR regrets to announce the temporary withdrawal of three paintings from its latest art exhibition, 'Epiphanies of the Hindu Gods' by the eminent Sanskrit scholar and wide-ranging intellectual giant, Dr. Jose Pereira." "For the last twenty-four hours, the Centre has come under sustained pressure from the Hindu Janjagruti Samiti and its members, who have filed a police complaint against Dr. Pereira's paintings, and indulged in a non-stop campaign of telephone threats and warnings to the point of disrupting normal communications for the XCHR. The anonymous telephone calls have included many threats of violence, including a threat of decapitation of the 80-yr-old artist, who incidentally suffers from Parkinson's disease." "Dr. Pereira's 'Epiphanies of the Hindu Gods' are based entirely on original Sanskrit scriptures, and their imagery is derived entirely from the most characteristic iconography of ancient India." "He has compiled a small encyclopedia of references to classical Indian sculpture and painting that back up every aspect of every painting in this exhibition, which have been rendered in the same artistic spirit in which Dr. Pereira paints nude images of Christ (also on display in the same gallery). Contrary to the claim that these images are against Indian culture, they actually embody the highest cultural ideals of our great civilization." "Though the XCHR is co-operating with the police request to temporarily withdraw these paintings, it strongly condemns the threats and disrespect shown to this great Goan scholar." "We also regret the inconvenience caused to the art and culture lovers of our state, and take the opportunity to apologize to Dr. Pereira on behalf of the people and society of Goa, which has again demonstrated a systemic failure in its capacity to honour, appreciate and stand by its greatest artists and intellectuals.s would have called them a tribute to the Indian tradition of the highest nature that anyone could have paid: whether Christian, Muslim, Hindu, agnostic or atheist." But there was still more astonishment to come for this erudite octogenarian. ( Dr José Pereira was born in Bombay in January 1931. He studied painting at the Sir JJ School of Art, and Sanskrit at Siddharth and St. Xavier's College, where he was awarded a Ph.D. degree in Ancient Indian History and Culture. Dr Pereira then did research and taught at the Instituto Superior de Estudos Ultramarinos in Lisbon, the School of Oriental and African Studies in London, the Institute of Archaeology, also in London, The American Academy of Benares in Varanasi, and Fordham University in New York – where he was Professor of Theology, and lectured on History of Religions.) A group of activists of the Hindu Janajagran Samiti, which seems to have links to the Sanatan Saunstha, the terrorist organisation which had planned the botched up Narkasur bombings last year (which had it been successful would almost certainly have led to some bloodiy riots in Goa) and which is one of the many front organisations of Sangh Parivar came upon the scene. They first went to the exhibition of paintings and then returned to have a 'dialogue' with Dr. Jose Pereira. Frederick Noronha filmed them: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0uHkFqo2VGc http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ncM67jAlcg The discussion, parts of which are available on the youtube clippings above, was also astounding. The HJS spokeswoman a sweet but tunnel-visioned person said bluntly: "Your paintings have hurt our sentiments." In reply Dr Pereira gently started reciting Sanskrit slokas from Jaideva who wrote wrote Geeta Govinda, and began explaining them to the Janajagranists, who apparently had no knowledge of Sanskrit, or at any rate chose not to question Dr. Pereira's on those slokas. But one woman went on insisting on her interpretation as being the correct one. Dr Rafael Fernandes tried to explain to those who chose to disrupt this function, that all literary texts have multiple interpretations, and those texts that are most rich are the ones that lend themselves to multiple interpretations. After a while Dr Delio Mendonca, probably feeling that the aged Dr. Jose Pereira needed some respite from the unsavoury goings-on then officially wound up the meeting. Floriano Lobo, and Adv. Antonio Lobo, then intervened saying that they objected to the manner in which the HJS members had behaved. In the meanwhile Frederick Noronha, who had been involved in organising the event, being the publisher of Pereira's book, 'Song of Goa' started pointing out that the intruders belonged to an allied association called the Sanatan Saunstha, which had been involved in attempts to disrupt Goa's communal harmony, by for instance attempting explode bombs on the day of the Narkasur celebrations last year. They were also involved in trying to disrupt Subodh Kerkar's exhibiton of paintings of Ganesha last year. He said that they had in their newspaper, the Marathi, Sanatan Prabhat, provocatively provided the phone numbers of the XCHR and suggested that their readers should ring up this number and threaten them. The intruders who could be seen to be becoming increasingly uncomfortable by the gandhigiri displayed by the organisers, as well as the fact that they were being shown up to be an irrational trouble fomenting group, then beat a hasty retreat. * * * Encounter hints (and more) of the Goan life in Zanzibar, Poona, Mombasa, Basra, Dubai, and even Nuvem and Colva, Sanvordem and colonial Goa. Learn of experiences that shaped Goans worldwide. Selma Carvalho's *Into the Diaspora Wilderness* now available at Broadways Book Centre, Panjim [Ph +91-9822488564] Ask a friend to buy it, before it gets sold out. Price (in Goa only) Rs 295. http://selmacarvalho.squarespace.com/ * * *
