Creativity and sentiment
P.K. DORAISWAMY
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Works of art are as much subject to the law of the land as other mundane activities of people
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SOME TIME ago, certain paintings of Hindu goddesses by M.F. Hussein aroused such a violent controversy that he was forced to take temporary refuge in the U.K. Recently, certain works of art created by a student as part of his curricular examination in Maharaja Sayajirao University, Vadodara, were considered offensive by a certain group of religious believers leading to violent incidents of vandalism, suspension of the Dean of the Fine Arts department, arrest of the student and temporary closure of the department itself.
Both these incidents provided rich material for TV debates on topics like "Is creativity endangered by fundamentalist zealots?", "Should artistic creativity be constrained by the sentiments of some people?", etc.
At the outset, let me make my credentials clear. I am an a-religious person, in fact one who considers religion as it exists and is practised more of an evil force than good for society and that being God-based is the real mischief in religions. I shall not, therefore, be an advocate for either party in the above dispute, but shall still present a definite point of view.
In any dispute in any civilised society, no one, however much aggrieved or in the right, has a right to take the law into his own hands and dispense his own brand of justice, much less resort to violence. In this sense, the direct violent action taken by the religious devotees in the case of Hussein and the Vadodara university is unlawful and deserves to be taken cognisance of and dealt with as such.
The practice and propagation of religion, as it exists with all its beliefs, irrationalities and superstitions, is a fundamental right guaranteed by our Constitution. Offending religious sentiments and creating enmity between two religions is unlawful under our penal law.
What offends religious sentiments cannot be exhaustively defined or listed and is a question of fact to be decided in each case by a court. (When the followers of Periyar took out a procession in Tamil Nadu beating pictures of Hindu gods and goddesses with chappals, the Madras High Court held that religious sentiments would be hurt only if idols in a temple are insulted and not when mere pictures were insulted outside a temple! This judgment was later struck down by the Supreme Court).
However much one may dislike religion, hold its beliefs in contempt or feel justified in doing so, the above legal position is a fact of life which everyone, including so-called creative artists, has to accept and conform to.
Is creativity above all constraints, even legal or constitutional? Artists, however creative, are part of society. While they may not accept social norms or constraints and may even fight them through their art, they will have to accept the law of the land. If they disregard religious sentiments as subjective, so is the concept of creativity. When even fundamental rights can be constrained on certain grounds, why not creativity? Works of art are as much subject to the law of the land as other mundane activities of people.
It is amusing to hear in the TV debates people arguing as if creativity in general could blossom only if nude Hindu goddesses were permitted as the subject. Another issue which is `religiously' avoided by all rationalists, atheists and the TV debaters is: why only Hindu gods and goddesses are chosen for expressing creativity and not those of other religions? (According to Hindu devotees, if this is done, most of these rationalists would be in hospital and not in the TV studio!)
Of all religions, Hinduism alone tolerates humour and usually takes lightly fun being made of its gods. Most devout and even agnostic Hindus do not agree with the fundamentalist views propagated by the BJP. It is when such a liberal, almost complacent, attitude is taken for granted by rationalists and so-called creative artists that even moderate Hindus are driven towards Sangh Parivar ideology.
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