It is a habit that Dr. Chithra Madhavan abhors: the alacrity with which many Indians scrawl on ancient sculptures, often using permanent markers, to declare to the world that they visited a particular place or are in love with someone.
“They can go and scribble anywhere. Why do it on a 1000-year-old monument?” rues the Chennai-based historian and writer, adding that she blames this lackadaisical attitude on educational institutions and parents. “I have said this a million times, and I will say it a million more. Until we instill a sense of heritage in children at a very young age, we will not be able to do a thing about it,” she believes. “Once that is there, it will last a lifetime,” says Dr. Madhavan, who will be in the City on August 6 to deliver a lecture titled Kanjivaram Motifs and its inspiration from temple architecture.
Expanding on the talk, which is part of a handloom day celebration conducted by Maya, a Bengaluru-based brand that works with weaving clusters from Kanjeevaram and Arni, Dr. Madhavan points out that many of the patterns on traditional sarees have been inspired, over the ages, by sculptures in temples. Take, for instance, the hamsa motif, which is common to both a lot of sculptures in South Indian temples as well as on Kanjivaram saris. “It is so evident because of the richness of the border. The pallus of the sarees are very elaborate so it really strikes you,” she points out.
A love for another world
Dr. Madhavan’s fascination for history started with the Indus Valley Civilization, learning about this iconic Bronze Age civilisation back in middle school. “Then, my family took me on a tour of South India,” she says.
“It was magic,” she recalls, adding that after this encounter she knew exactly what she wanted to do with her life. “I wanted to focus on history and architecture and culture and inscriptions,” says Dr. Madhavan, who went on to do exactly that, garnering an M.A. and M.Phil. from the Department of Indian History, University of Madras, and a Ph.D. from the Department of Ancient History and Archaeology, University of Mysore.
Drawing from her area of expertise—temple architecture, iconography, and, epigraphy—she has gone on to publish 9 books with another, a heritage book for children, on its way. It started with turning her PhD research into a book, she says, talking about her writing journey. “Then I got two post-doctoral fellowships, which again got published into books,” she says, adding that these books were academic in nature.
Since then, however, she has started writing books for regular people, hoping that it will help them “connect with our history, archaeology, architecture, and sculpture,” says Dr. Madhavan. “It gives me a lot of happiness when people tell me that I read your article and went to this temple,” she says. “It is not about religion,” she says, adding it is more about heritage and historical importance. “They were once great cultural centres, with music and dance very much a part of the ethos of a temple.”
Catching them young
Dr. Madhavan, who has been conducting heritage walks in Chennai for years, still remembers the 18-year boy, a second-year student, who attended her tour of the bronze gallery at the Madras Museum in Egmore. “I was so happy that I told everyone ‘Look a young fellow has come’,” she says. To her surprise, he turned around and told her that he has first joined a walk she had conducted when he was six years old. And though she wondered what he had understood back then, she realised that it must have made some impact “otherwise he wouldn’t have turned up after 12 years.”
History, unfortunately, is seen as staid and tedious by children and young adults, she points out. “I don’t know how people have managed such a vibrant recorded history of over 5000 years so boring,” she says. “But they have succeeded. Children now hate history,” says Dr. Madhavan, who firmly believes that it can be such a fun subject. The way to open children’s minds to history, she believes, is by exposing them early to monuments and archaeological sites. “If they go and see how an archaeologist or conservationist works… even taking them to the museum, stopping at the important exhibits and telling them it is history and importance makes a huge difference,” she says. ‘It would be a voyage of discovery.”
Early influences
Perhaps the best example of the positive impact of introducing young people to history and monuments early in life is Dr. Madhavan herself, who says that her early exposure to ancient South Indian temple architecture was life-changing. Recalling some of her favourite heritage spots in the state, she says. “Hampi entered my mind early. I keep going back, and every time I do, feel like I am entering another world,” she says. “For me it is a special place. So also, Belur, Halebeedu, and Somnathpur... Karnataka has done a lot for me.”
