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The art of wood carving and sculpting is one of the richest assets of Assamese culture. It is only through the myriad variety of wood art across Assam that we can understand or form an idea of the ethos, the artistic attitude, visual languages and the creative zeal of the artisans as well as of the overall society. Of all the forms of wooden sculptural art we find in Assam, the art of wooden relief sculpting is seen to be the most exquisite, brilliant and subtle in its technique, form and aesthetic as aptly stated by Nilmani Phookan in his book, Lokakalpa Drishti. He says-
“The innate creative talent of the Assamese artisan gets profoundly expressed in the wooden relief sculptures (Chitrarddha)” (Loka Kalpadrishti, P. 35)
The wooden relief panels that now we see adorning the buildings of the Sattras ( Vaishnavite monasteries) like that at Barpeta are the part of a glorious artistic tradition, of a wave of great revolutionary creative temperament that proliferated under the aegis of the great Vaishnavite saints of medieval Assam, Srimanta Sankardeva and Madhavdeva. Both the saints encouraged the various forms of art to serve as an impulsive force towards attaining the acceleration towards leading a virtuous life, a life of creative as well as a spiritual contentment. They understood the universality and liberal nature of the arts and advocated the use of various mediums of artistic expression in preaching their neo- Vaishnavite ideologies and accommodating more people within the fold of the new religion, which focused only on devotion and love. Thus, grew up several ateliers (a workshop or studio) of art making like manuscript painting, wood carving, textile and weaving etc. These ateliers functioned and were commissioned by a particular Sattra and also the royalty.
The guild of artists who worked in these ateliers, mainly in the wood carving ones were the common village folk. They were not formally trained or well versed in the classical art treatises. They followed their folk conventional knowledge, experiences and narratives in creating their art forms. The most significant characteristics of their art are the tendency towards exaggerating forms and a liking for narration. Sankardeva might had seen or understood these characteristics of folk art and their possibilities. He possibly have thought that folk arts emotionally and socially unify a group of people which formed a major objective of the doctrines of his propounded religion.
Turning our attention towards the wooden reliefs of the Kirtanghar at the Barpeta Sattra , they are seen to bear the predominant folk trait and can be categorized into two types- i) the ones that are figurative and ii) reliefs of floral and geometric patterns. The panels bearing the reliefs of icons of deities and narrative scenes are numerous and are juxtaposed or alternating with the panels of intricately cut meandering floral creeper patterns called Lata Kata. Along with the bands of floral creeper patterns, there are also several other floral motifs which are cut with immense precision by deeply incising into the wooden surface closely resembling filigree work.
The floral patterns we see in the Kirtanghar seem as if they are spreading out in all directions by the force of a divine poetic stimulus, reminding us of the enchantment that happened to all the living forms in Gokula when Lord Krishna played on his flute. Also, their slender twined forms seem to correspond to the flow of the Ragas of the Borgeets sung during different times of the day giving us a feeling of proliferating Bhakti.
The predominant subject matter of the figurative panels are the episodes, events, discourses, and iconographical descriptions from the Bhagavata Purana, Vishnu Purana, Garuda Purana, Ramayana, and Mahabharata. The figures seen in the panels are composed in such an order so as to solely serve the purpose of narration. The happenings of the episodes are arranged without any clear distinction of empirical space and time as in all other forms of Indian traditional art. The figures depicted are all in profile except for Lord Vishnu or Krishna in some panels, who is depicted frontally. The human figures have fish shaped eyes drooping little downwards, faces round and plain and bodies.
The most elaborate of all the panels seen in the Kirtanghar are the ones depicting the seven Vaikunthas or abodes of Lord Vishnu. These panels adorn the tops of the arcades of the doors of the Kirtanghar and its adjoining buildings. They are remarkable for their lucid visualization of the divine concepts and immense ornamentation which seem to have been inspired from the play Chihna Yatra where Sankaradeva in his youth, drew several pictures of the Sapta Vaikunthas on long scrolls of Tula Pat or cotton to serve as an aid for the play. He elaborated the concepts of the scriptures on the scrolls through clearly comprehensible ornate forms so that even the most deprived man could understand and derive its eternal pleasure. The top of the Simha Dwar or the principal entrance door of the Kirtanghar is crowned by an elaborate, imposing relief depicting eight armed Lord Narayana on the lap of the personified Ananta or the cosmic world serpent who in turn rests on the back of the Kurma or the world turtle might be symbolizing Maha Meru or the world axis.
The figures and other motifs in the relief are carved out with delicate precision and their features are infused with a monumental perfection. The whole composition seems to converge in a centripetal as well as radiate in a centrifugal motion instilling it with meditative buoyancy. If we observe carefully at the compositional structure of the relief, it gives a feel of a gradual progression from weightiness to weightlessness and a feeling of sublime expansion; a feel much akin to the Yogic practice of Pranayama.
The series of figurative panels adorning the outer walls of the shrine though carved very crudely (as compared to the standards of the ‘classical sculptures’), the forms harbor an excellent expressive quality; they are simple, direct, their contours and edges brisk, sweeping and choppy and all carved in shallow relief. The correct physiognomies of the figures are not attempted at but they bear the requisite evocativeness. The overall compositional structures of narrative panels are made by the artisans by the force of an intuitive imagination guided by the experiences of the visual elements of their respective folk cultures. Under the influence of the newly propounded Vaishnavism, they became tempted and inspired to make associations between the visual languages of the scriptures and their folk visual languages thus synthesising a new visual language which became manifested in the wooden reliefs here in the Barpeta Kirtanghar.
Another significant wooden relief seen in the Kirtanghar depicts the Govardhana Puja or Annakuta or the worship of mount Govardhana by the cowherds of Braja following Krisna’s instructions. The tenth canto of the Bhagavata Purana narrates how lord Krisna encouraged his fellow cowherds, relatives and friends to worship the Govardhana hill instead of worshipping Indra- the king of Gods. The story of Govardhana worship and lifting up of Govardhana by Krisna has acquired different versions and interpretations in different Vaisnavite cultures and being represented variedly by different Vaisnava Bhakti philosophers and saints. In Assam’s neo- Vaisnava cultural texts, Govardhana Puja is mentioned but it is not practiced as a ritual or festival.
Unlike that of Pustimarga and Gaudiya Vaisnavism, it is never materialized or enacted as a worship ritual. Numerous representations of the narrative are seen in the Vaisnava illustrated manuscripts of Assam. Most of them depict lord Krisna himself as the personification of the mountain Govardhana and accepting all the offerings made by the people of Braja. The relief of Barpeta Kirtanghar is no exception, it also depicts a rather corpulent lord Krisna as the personification of Govardhana and relishing all the food offered to him by the cowherd Krisna and his fellow cowherds of Braja. It is interesting to note that in the same pictorial frame Krisna is simultaneously depicted twice, as one making the offering and other who is accepting the offering; thereby connoting to a very deep philosophical meaning.
According to neo- Vaisnavism of Sankardeva, Krishna is the ultimate Brahman, everything and everyone is him, every worldly deed and happening is a result of his Maya. Krisna resides in and is the essence of every form and thought. The mountain Govardhana is also him and all must seek refuge in him. He, as the cowherd offering to himself as the Govardhana is his play, his Lila. The composition of the Govardhana Puja in the Barpeta Kirtanghar and its symbolic arrangement also reminds us of the following invocation in the Srimadbhagavata Gita:
brahma?rpan?am? brahma havir brahma?gnau brahman?a? hutam
brahmaiva tena gantavyam? brahmakarmasama?dhina?
(Bhagavata Gita; Chapter 4, verse 24)
[The act of offering is God (Brahman), the oblation is God. By God it is offered into the fire of God. God is that which is to be attained by him who performs action pertaining to God].
In the wooden panel of the Kirtanghar, the mountain Govardhana is seen to be represented as an oblong aggregate of boulders covered by a thicket of flowering trees. The style of the foliage resembles the ones seen in the contemporary Sattriya illustrated manuscripts. There is an instilled joyfulness and a sense of realization in the whole composition.
References
Phookan, N. Loka Kalpadristi, Guwahati : Publication Board, Assam, 1987. Print
Kalita , N. Wood Carvings of Sattras and Naamghars of Assam [ With Special Reference to Bardowa Than. Journal of the Srimanta Sankardeva Research Institute, Nagaon (2006). Print
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