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**** http://www.GOANET.org ****
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The Rape of Goa - A photo documentary
by
Rajan P. Parrikar
Venue: Menezes Braganza Art Gallery, Panjim, May 21-24, 2008
http://www.parrikar.org/misc/doc-notice.pdf
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I think I would like to restate my position, at the cost of repetetion. I fully
accept that nudity in art is part of Hindu tradition. I fully accept that some
Hindu gods and goddesses have been depicted in the nude. I fully accept that
erotic art is part of Hindu tradition. But I DO NOT accept that depiction of
Hindu gods and goddesses in nude is part of Hindu tradition.
Krishna as a child is very often depicted in the nude. But Krishna as an adult
is not. Krishna is called "makhan chor" (butter thief). But the word 'chor'
will always be qualified with 'makhan'. This aspect of Krishna is celebrated
not only in a visual form, but also in devotional songs. There are many such
visual and audio images, and hence they are a rule.
Krishna as an adult, to the best of my knowledge, has never been depicted in
the nude. And he is not depcited in erotic positions. If at all such visuals
exist, then I would say they are exceptioins. I, however, acknowledge that he
is depcited in an embrace with Rahda - but I do not think that Hindus consider
this as an erotic embrace.
Krishan as an adult is known, amongst other things, for the Gita. Hindus do not
reject his sayings in the Gita because he was a 'makhan chor'.
I have not seen Ram as a child being depicted in the nude. Nor have I seen
Radha or Sita as children being depcited in the nude. But if they are, then I
would say that they are exceptions.
Hindus accept Kama Sutra as part of their heritage. Just as they accept the
Gita, the Vedas, etc., as part of their heritage. And they are proud of them
all.
This is the position from where I come. So, when Santosh Helekar says that
there are "many" images of Hindu gods and goddesses in the nude, I would like
to respectfully disagree with him. He has given a link to his message of 2
years ago where there are photos of nude and erotic temple art. This link is
really the same as he had posted earlier - namely that of the pictures taken by
one Kamat.
The word 'many' is, of course, problematic. One out of two would be many. One
out of ten would be a borderline case. One out of a hundred, that is one
percetn, would not be many. However, what about one perecent of one lakh? That
would come to one thousand. Would it be classified as 'many'? In the context of
one percent, I think not.
I would remind Santosh that in his earlier post he said that he found two
temples in Goa with erotic images, but he did not say whether they are of gods
and goddesses. I would also like to remind him that said that he had to search
for these images.
Sachin Phadte
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