ABSTRACT
Kapila Vatsyayan, in her report to the UNESCO in 1972 on aspects of cultural policies in India, gave brilliant insights into the mind and workings of the emerging postcolonial nation state on issues of understanding ‘the complex, intricate, multilayered, multi-dimensional cultural fabric of the country both in time and space’. She spoke about
… culture being the sum total of the equipment of the human individual which enables him to be attuned to his environment on the one hand and to the historical past on the other. The idea of continuities as also a recognition of the need for a constant readiness for adaptation and assimilation was inherent; the concept of the ‘still centre of being’ manifested through a multiplicity of intellectual disciplines, artistic expressions and modes of behaviour, conduct and action was fundamental to such a view. Culture was the touchstone by which the very quality of life was judged and the yardstick by which its rhythm and pace were measured. Finally it was a matter of ‘ultimate value’ by which the individual answered himself and the society around. Little wonder that in the hierarchy of ‘value’ it received a high priority second only to the highest - in the realm of the spirit. A cultivation of the self was both for individual harmony, equanimity and tranquility and for the ends of social and moral order only the disciplined cultivated man, fully in control of his body, emotions and mind, could hope to strive for spiritual salvation and be capable of facing the challenge of the life of action; in his immediate spatial environment, it was believed that one could aspire and achieve a ‘state of release’, a beatitude here and now, and not in a birth hereafter; it was for the individual to will and work for it. The paths and vehicles for this cultivation of self were many; the idea of choice and freedom was essential for one chose according to one’s calling and potential. The words used in the contexts of the arts are significant, for they speak of the importance and value given to this sphere of human activity and the approach towards them. 1
