FOLK AND TRADITIONAL ART OF ASSAM : Dr. Meghali Goswami
If art becomes a specialized vocation, the urge to deny tradition
in viewing art as a totality becomes strong and often leads to a
narrow-minded representation of life in a creative medium. The urge
to express, communicate, and share something beautiful, gave birth
to visual arts. In this process, the living progressive impulse to the
timeless universal gets a coherent shape in creative designs. Indian
folk art goes back many a mile and a century. It has seen sufficient
transformations since its inception, which has been many centuries
ago. It has evolved with time, but has always been an integral part
of the rich Indian heritage. It has constantly been a part and parcel
of the societal transformations that have taken place. They include
paintings, which are an integral part of the tribal tradition and have
often mirrored the lifestyle and traditions of the era. They are replete
with depictions of fairs, festivals, gods & goddesses, the bonding and
social dynamics that was prevalent in those times. These also depict
the daily village life, customs, rituals, birds, animals and elements of
nature and earth.
Assam is well known for its folk and tribal forms of art and which
are very much alive till today. There are two aspects of the purpose
of folk art; first it is basically for socio-religious purpose, and
secondly, folk art serves as a form of social protest against injustice,
exploitation and oppression. Traditional paintings and wood carving
of Assam is the reflection of the socio-cultural picture. The tradition
of painting in Assam can be traced back to several centuries in
the past. The gifts presented to Hiuen Tsang and Harshavardhana
by Kumar Bhaskara, the king of Kamrupa, included a number of
paintings and painted objects, some done on exclusive Assam silk.
Assamese literature of the medieval period abounds in references
to chitrakars and patuas who were expert painters.