You can find the tiniest bits of romanticism in places or objects or beings, that you might have never thought of before. Yes, Romanticism exists, for as humans, Love is the thing we do the best.
For you I want to share this cozy evening in a wintered Tokyo, and peel oranges, sharing a half with you and then you asking for the other as well for you want the warmth. I love you for life and still can’t say that for I know I’ll lose you, but here I am wanting to spend more time with you, wanting to peel one more orange with you.
The greatest lovers in the history of Romanticism have had the opportunity to love in ways they wanted to but did what they had to for they never wanted the love to fail, and I love you.
“… peeling oranges this … sharing tangerines that … what about cutting and de-seeding pomegranates for the ones you love? the ruby stains on your fingers … fleeting proofs of your undying devotion …”
Yes, peeling an orange with you today, and everyday is everything this lover of yours has ever hoped or wished, wishes for because you are the most beautiful piece of poetry that I have ever read. You’re the juice to my orange and I shall write poems for you no matter how much time it takes for you to love me.
All hopeless romantics are idealists, sentimental dreamers, imaginative and fanciful when you get to know them.They often live with rose colored glasses on. They make love look like an art form with all the romantic things they do for their special someone.
For her. So I speak in a language she doesn’t know. “Je t’aime. Aujourd’hui. Ce soir: Demain. Pour toujours. Si je vivais mille ans, je t’apparti-endrais pour tous. Si je vivais mille vies, je te ferais mienne dans chacune d’elles”
I love you. Today. Tonight. Tomorrow. Forev-er. If I were to live a thousand years, I would belong to you for all of them. If I were to live a thousand lives, I would want to make you mine in each one.
I don’t want to “have” a “conversation” I want to peel an orange and share it with you.
What is Art? Well, there are two main definitions. Number 1 is any human creative endeavour, whether literature or music or anything else. Number 2 is more specific – the “visual arts”. But the trouble with that second definition of Art, the type we imagine in galleries and museums, is that it never really existed.…
What is Art? Well, there are two main definitions. Number 1 is any human creative endeavour, whether literature or music or anything else. Number 2 is more specific – the “visual arts”. But the trouble with that second definition of Art, the type we imagine in galleries and museums, is that it never really existed. Galleries and museums are beautiful places for sure, but they can easily make us forget that art almost always had a specific context.
They might make it seem like art doesn’t have a setting or an objective, both of which are important to understand. That is to say, it wasn’t made with the intention of being shown in a museum where it would be seen, examined, and evaluated as “Art” in isolation. The Benin Bronzes, for example, which can be seen in collections all over the globe, provide a clear illustration of this phenomenon. These were made in the Kingdom of Benin (present-day Nigeria) between the 13th and 18th centuries to serve as palace decorations and as a cultural chronicle of the kingdom’s history.
This is also true of the Parthenon Friezes, created in about 440 BC by the sculptor Phidias to decorate the brand-new Parthenon in Athens, a temple at the heart of the city. It wasn’t just “art”; it had a place and a function, a symbolic and religious meaning.
There are less egregious examples. Michelangelo’s Creation of Adam, from about 1511, is one of the world’s most famous images. But it was painted on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, a place of religious worship. Seen on its own in cropped images, such context is lost.
Leonardo’s Last Supper, immortalised in popular culture, is another case in point. This is the image we are accustomed to seeing:
But, in the 1490s, Leonardo painted it on the walls of a refectory in Milan. This was a dining room where the monks of the convent would come together to eat, with Jesus and the apostles eating right alongside them.
It even goes for portraits. Like Jan van Eyck’s masterful Arnolfini Portrait, created in 1434 to mark the marriage between an Italian merchant called Giovanni Arnolifini and his wife. Which would then have a place in the couple’s home to remember the occasion of their wedding.
Michelangelo’s David was originally commissioned to be placed on the roof of Florence Cathedral. But it was too heavy to haul up, so they placed it outside the Palazzio Vecchio in 1504, Florence’s town hall, with that famous gaze directed towards Rome, Florence’s rival.
And it was only in 1873 that David was moved to his current location in the Galleria dell’ Accademia. Still a symbol of Florentine identity, of course, but somewhat shorn of the original political-artistic statement he once made.
And then, on a smaller scale, are the great Gothic works of art like the Wilton Diptych, painted in the 1390s for the personal use of King Richard II of England in prayer and worship. This art wasn’t for art’s sake; it had a function.
While the wonderful Ajanta Murals, painted between about 200 BC and 600 AD in the astonishing rock-cut temples and chambers in Maharashtra, India, record the life of the Buddha, his followers, his teachings. They weren’t just made to be pretty; they told an important story.
In the the 17th and 18th centuries the “vedutisti”, led by Canaletto, produced magnificent, highly-detailed cityscapes. But these were a sort of pre-photographic souvenir for tourists (usually rich Englishmen in those days) to take home as a memory of the places they’d visited.
The point here isn’t that art can’t be enjoyed or loved or appreciated without knowledge of its original purpose. Indeed, the mark of all truly great art is to exceed its context and reach a sort of universal truth or beauty which speaks to us directly. But it’s important to remember the link between art and its socio-cultural context; that humanity’s creative endeavours have always had a purpose. Seen in galleries or simply as images we are in danger of separating “art” from the rest of human civilisation.
What might we imagine was the purpose of the oldest art we know? We can never be sure what prehistoric cave paintings like those in Lascaux, France, from 19,000 years ago, were intended for. But we can guess!
Because, even though it’s been millennia, we’re still doing the same thing. Why do individuals go through the trouble of decorating their homes? It’s possible that this was the same motivation that drove our ancestors to decorate the cave walls all those years ago. Art not only honors and symbolizes significant events, but it also serves to remind us that we are beings of meaning in addition to biological make-up. Because of this, even the most well-known works of art have a distinct function and setting, whether it be Leonardo da Vinci’s The Last Supper displayed beside the monks at lunchtime or the colorful magnets on your refrigerator. It is not something that exists separate from society; rather, it is an integral element of society. Take for example, the question of whether or not the Statue of Liberty may be considered a work of art. Obviously, this is the case, but there is also “more” to it. Imagine it displayed in a gallery or a museum behind a glass case, similar to how the Benin Bronzes or the Parthenon Friezes are shown.
Doesn’t seem quite right, does it?
This post is uploaded and detailed by The CULTURAL TUTOR on TWITTER.
This is the first book created, written, illustrated, printed and bound in paper of their own making, by indigenous Mayan people in nearly 500 years. This book is referred to as “Conjuros y ebriedades: cantos de mujeres mayas”, which translates to “Spells and drunkenness. Songs of Mayan women”. This book of Mayan artists is a…
This is the first book created, written, illustrated, printed and bound in paper of their own making, by indigenous Mayan people in nearly 500 years. This book is referred to as “Conjuros y ebriedades: cantos de mujeres mayas”, which translates to “Spells and drunkenness. Songs of Mayan women”. This book of Mayan artists is a collection of spells, hymns, and enchantments. It was originally written in the Tzotzil language, which is a Mayan dialect. The texts were later transcribed and translated by the poet Ambar Past, who said, “We get our ideas from the earth: we copy the fossil of a tropical leaf and the surface of a sea snail.” Elena Poniatowska says, “Conjuros y ebriedades is one of the hundred most beautiful books in the world. The cardboard face breathes, looks through the slits in its eyes, and speaks with its open mouth inside the paper.” One tremendous trait of the book is that if we hold the book in our hands, the eyes look at us. (Refer Image 1)
Image 1
The Taller Leñateros that publishes it, is a community of Mayan artists, founded in 1975 by the poet Ambar Past. His specialty is handmade paper, artist books, serigraphy and engraving (on wooden blocks and similar surfaces), pansey graphics, natural inks, etc. This book, 20 years in the making, records the traditional oral poetry of the local Tzotzil & Tzeltal people. (Refer Image 2).
Image 2
The finished volume has 190 pages and 50 silkscreen illustrations by Tzotzil & Tzeltal women. The end papers are recycled paper with palm fronds, logwood and soot added. The three-dimensional cover is cast from paper made of recycled cardboard boxes, corn silk and coffee. Bound in boards covered with handmade brown paper, with a large face in relief representing the Mayan goddess of the desert filling the cover. The final pages are also handmade. Housed in a cardboard box printed with white title on the spine panel. It contains 45 poetic charms, 40 xerographed illustrations, among other various illustrations.
Image 3
The monologue is written in Spanish, while the poems are written in Tzotzil and have Spanish translations. About 400000 native Tzotzil Maya people in the Mexican state of Chiapas speak the Maya language Tzotzil. Most people who speak Spanish do so as a second language.
Image 4
Most moving of all is the colophon, with the signature of Ámbar Past, and the signatures, personal marks & thumbprints of all the Mayan women – there are 150 in the collective – who assisted in the transcribing of the poems, and in the making of the book.
Image 5
In the words of Ambar Past, “These spells and intoxicants were dreamed by Mayan women from the highlands of Chiapas. The Tzotzil authors of this book do not know how to read. They claim that these songs were given to them by their ancestors, the First Mothers, who keep the Great Book where they keep the spells. Loxa Jiménes Lópes, from Epal Ch’en, Chamula, says that an Anjel, daughter of the Owner of the Caves, began to speak in his ear and then in a dream showed him the Book with all the words of the songs”.
It is not often that a reference book that is only produced once a Centennial is released, but “A Repertory of Welsh Manuscripts and Scribes c.800–c.1800” by Daniel Huws is precisely that kind of literature. The research into Welsh manuscripts will be completely transformed as a result of these three enormous volumes, the production of which…
It is not often that a reference book that is only produced once a Centennial is released, but “A Repertory of Welsh Manuscripts and Scribes c.800–c.1800” by Daniel Huws is precisely that kind of literature. The research into Welsh manuscripts will be completely transformed as a result of these three enormous volumes, the production of which took more than 25 years to complete. The author of the work is Dr. Daniel Huws, former Keeper of Manuscripts and Records at the Library and chief scholar of Welsh manuscripts.
The Three Volumes, A Repertory of Welsh Manuscripts and Scribes, Daniel Huws
Volume 1
From the earliest Welsh additions in the Lichfield Gospels to the publication of the Myvyrian Archaeology, the first volume of the Repertory provides summary descriptions of approximately 3,300 manuscripts written in Welsh between approximately the centuries 800 and 1800. This includes manuscripts written in other languages that relate to Welsh literature and learning.
Manuscripts were the primary mode of transmission of the greater part of Welsh literature until the appearance of the Myvyrian. The Repertory embraces manuscripts written in Welsh, whether literary or relating to the branches of learning in which there was Welsh tradition: cosmology, genealogy, history, religion, law, science, medicine; manuscripts of Welsh provenance containing cognate texts written in Latin and English are also included.
With regards to the contents of manuscripts, the Repertory aims to supplement but not to supersede previous detailed catalogues, most notably the masterly work of J. Gwenogvryn Evans in his Reports on Manuscripts in the Welsh Language (1898-1910), where some 900 manuscripts are catalogued. Besides its aim of providing reference to later scholarship, the Repertory offers much that is new with respect to the structure of manuscripts, their script, their dates, their textual relationships and provenance, and, above all, to identification of their scribes. The volume is arranged, firstly, by location (Aberystwyth-Warwick), then by library or record repository, and then by collection or class. The major collections are introduced by an account of their growth and later history.
The Cover of Volume 1
Volume 2
The second volume of the Repertory offers in the first place summary accounts of about 1,500 scribes known by name and anonymous ones whose hands have been recognized in two or more manuscripts, designated XI-X180. skeleton of biographical data is provided, so far as possible, for each scribe, including much new information from manuscript and archival sources.
The scribes’ interests and scribal activities are characterized; manuscripts contributed to are listed, as are any owned or otherwise associated with the scribe. Hundreds of hitherto unknown scribes worthy of study will emerge from the Repertory. But hardly any of the best known scribes will emerge without receiving credit for new manuscripts. Authors as well-studied as Lewys Glyn Cothi, William Salesbury and John Prise now have revealing new manuscripts to their names.
We can now for the first time read poems by Tudur Aled, Roger Kyffin and Rhys Cadwaladr knowing them to be autograph. Recognition of the handwriting of scholars as notable as Maurice Kyffin, David Powel, Nicholas Robinson and Robert Davies of Gwysaney will lead to overdue appreciation of their important historical compilations. Vol. II also includes the indexes to Vol. I. These occupy 250 pages and comprise an index of personal names, an index of place-names, an index of subjects and texts and a chronological table of manuscripts to 1547. The subject index will be of particular value in relation to the history of the book trade, with its comprehensive gathering of references to libraries and catalogues, auctions and sales.
The Cover of Volume 2
Volume 3
A volume offering over 1,000 specimens, all reproduced to their actual size, of the scripts of about 750 of the most significant scribes included in Vol. I, along with a selection of scribes (mostly medieval) of the highest importance whose hands only appear in a single manuscript. Most scribes are represented by a single specimen; however, scribes such as John Jones of Gellilyfdy and Robert Vaughan of Hengwrt who practised a variety of scripts and scribes whose hands changed markedly over the years may be represented by as many as nine.
Examples that represent a number of scribes are included in this volume by virtue of their being somewhere on the scale that ranges from probably’ to possibly. Those that, for instance, represent Dafydd ap Gwilym, Gruffudd Gryg and Dafydd ab Edmwnd stand to be challenged. Much care has been taken to try so far as possible to find examples that are dated or datable and examples that include a signature. This volume will be of abiding value to palaeographers, also no doubt to collectors of early books.
This volume may become a place of frequent resort as an album of the autographs of a host of famous writers of Wales, from Rhygyfarch ap Sulien to Jac Glan-y-gors, from John Wynn of Gwydir to Iolo Morganwg. Readers will be able to wonder at the calligraphic skills of leuan Llwyd ab Edward and George Owen Harry, and the many who cannot resist the urge to read character into a person’s handwriting will find endless edification.
The Cover of Volume 3
Conclusion
It’s safe to say that nothing of comparable importance on Welsh manuscripts will be published in our lifetime. Daniel Huws’s Repertory is a milestone in Welsh scholarship, and will be a fundamental resource in the study of Welsh history, language, literature & palaeography.
The Repertory is not available – at least not yet – from any booksellers I know, and cannot be ordered online. You need to order Daniel Huw’s magnum opus by phone or email direct from the National Library of Wales in Aberystwyth, details here: https://library.wales/repertory.
The Indian Culture is vast and versatile, and the same has also been blessed by its diverse literature. One of the finest, most ambitious, zealous and most beautiful pieces of such extra-ordinary literary artistry could be seen in the legendary “Haft Qulzum” (The Seven Seas Dictionary & Grammar of the Persian Language), published by Lucknow…
The Indian Culture is vast and versatile, and the same has also been blessed by its diverse literature. One of the finest, most ambitious, zealous and most beautiful pieces of such extra-ordinary literary artistry could be seen in the legendary “Haft Qulzum” (The Seven Seas Dictionary & Grammar of the Persian Language), published by Lucknow Matba’e Sultani, which is one of the Earliest Private Royal Presses in India, established by the infamous Nawab of Oudh from 1817, named Ghaziuddin Haider. With 28000 entries, this beautiful art was compiled and printed on the order of the First King and Last Nawab of Oudh, Ghaziuddin Haider.
Image 1
The Haft Qulzum is a wonderful piece of art that exemplifies the last blossoming of Persian cultural heritage, which took place under the auspices of the Royal Court of Oudh. The artwork was presented before the press transitioned to the more advanced method of lithography around the year 1830, and the typesetting is done very well throughout.
Image 2Image 3
The coat of arms of the Signet Library is gilt-stamped on the boards of this particular edition, which was a gift to the library by George Swinton, who served as Chief Secretary to the Governor of Bengal. A modern manuscript consisting of four pages, which has been tipped in, states that it contains the “content of a letter from the King of Oudh pertaining to the Huft Koolzoom”.
Image 4Image 5
This is the entry for the book in Quaritch’s General Catalogue from the year 1860 (See Image 6). It is remarkable not only because it mentions the obliteration of numerous copies by white ants, but also because it serves as a remembrance of the unprecedented variety of rare books from every region of the world that Bernard Quaritch Ltd.sold.
Image 6
The king’s enduring passion with literature, and specifically lexicography, is detailed in a handwritten note that has been tipped into the first edition. He parallels dictionaries to “an expansive and unfathomable ocean, from which the pearls of perspicacity and wisdom are to be accumulated without much strain”.
Image 7
He continues by saying, “Because water is the sovereign postulate of all existence, according to the verse in the Koran that says, ‘I have made of water all things that have life’, so that water is the foundational doctrine of animatronic environment, I have designated this work as the Huft Koolzoom or Seven Seas”.
Image 8
The Lucknow Matba’e Sultani was one of the earliest and finest private Royal Presses in India. It was created in 1817 by Ghaziuddin Haider, who was the Nawab of Oudh at the time. This exquisite lexicon is without a doubt the greatest accomplishment of the Lucknow Matba’e Sultani.
Source – Svargarohana Parva or the Book of the Ascent to Heaven Written and Summarised by Aaditya Bajpai
In today’s world there is rarely anyone who is unknown of the Epic of Mahabharata. The tale which started way back and was finally triggered by the insult and harm directed towards the reputation and modesty of a woman, which eventually led to the victory of Dharma over Adharma. Svargarohana Parva or the Book of the Ascent to Heaven, is the last of eighteen books of the Indian Epic Mahabharata. It is one of the shortest books in the Mahabharata. Svargarohana Parva describes the arrival of Yudhishthira in heaven, his visit to hell and what he finds in both places.
In the ending chapters of this book, there is a story, which is not known to many. This post is about that story, which follows the renouncement of the worldly pleasures by the 5 Pandavas and their wife Draupadi. What is unknown to many is the fact that, along with the 6 of them, there was another living being who followed them in their journey towards eternal salvation, i.e., to Meru Hill in the Himalayas. That being was a Dog, who is now referred to as the Indian Pariah Dog. In their journey, the first to consume death was Draupadi. Then next who fell was Sahadeva. Then following him, died Nakula. After Nakula, died Arjuna. After all of them the next who died was Bheema. Despite all of these deaths, Yudhishthira never stopped, and so did the dog. Yudhishthira cited various reasons like “Moh” (attraction), “Ati Chaturta” (Oversmartness) “Ghamand” (pride), “abhiman” (conceited), “laparvaahi” (carelessness), as the main causes of the fall of the 4 Pandavas and Draupadi. The dog and Yudhishthira were the only ones still wandering the earth. Then finally came down on Earth, in his Chariot, God Indra. He praised Yudhishthira and invited him to ascend to heaven in his Chariot. Then the following conversation took place – Indra – “Come with me and take your place in Heaven”.
Yudhishthira – “The dog must come with me”.
Indra – “Its not possible. The dog has no place in heaven for he is old, thin and has no purpose”.
Yudhishthira – “Then, I don’t seek heaven as well. In times of despair, and in moments of extreme sadness; when all my blood bonders had left; and when my own wife left me; this dog was there every time. He gave me unconditional love, and asked for nothing in return. The pleasures of heaven will mean nothing to me in comparison to its grief. It has done nothing to deserve abandonment and had none of the weaknesses of my wife and brothers. If it does not deserve to go to heaven, then neither do I.” Then Yudhishthira turned his back and was about to leave, when suddenly this happened.
Indra – “Stop Yudhishthira. None have the qualities that you possess, O Yudhishthira. The Dog is Dharma, from whom you have descended.”
The Dog then transformed into the God of Dharma and blessed Yudhishthira for his selflessness, loyalty and dedication to righteousness in all circumstances. And this, with the blessings, Yudhishthira rose to heaven in the Chariot of Indra.
Source – Svargarohana Parva or the Book of the Ascent to Heaven
Athasau yuga sandhayam Dasyu prayesu rajasu Janita vishnu vasaso Nama kalkir jagat patih (Srimad Bhagavatam 1.3.25) Thereafter; at the conjunction of two yugas Kali and Satya), the Lord of the creation will appear as the Kalki Avatar and become the son of Vishnuyasha. At this time the rulers of the earth will have degenerated into plunderers. There are many avatars or incarnations of the Supreme Lord as stated in Srimad Bhagavatam (1.3.26): “O Brahmanas, the incarnations of the Lord are innumerable, like rivulets flowing from inexhaustible sources of water”. However, Krishna is the fountainhead of all these incarnations of the Supreme. This has been confirmed in Srimad Bhagavatam(1.3.28) “‘𝒆𝒕𝒆 𝒄𝒂𝒎𝒔𝒂 𝒌𝒂𝒍𝒂𝒉 𝒑𝒖𝒎𝒔𝒂𝒉, 𝒌𝒓𝒊𝒔𝒉𝒏𝒂𝒔 𝒕𝒖 𝒃𝒉𝒂𝒈𝒂𝒗𝒂𝒏 𝒔𝒗𝒂𝒚𝒂𝒎,” which means that all the other incarnations are either plenary portions or plenary portions of the plenary portions of the Supreme Lord. However Lord Krishna is the original Supreme Personality of God. The Supreme Lord descends into this material world time and time again to manifest His pastimes and associate with His intimate devotees. A secondary reason for His appearance is also to annihilate miscreants and rid the world of their disturbance. It has been predicted in various scriptures that at the end of the age of Kali, Kalki avatar will make His appearance to annihilate the miscreants and re-establish the postulates of eternal religion. He shall appear as the son of Vishnuyasha, an eminent brahmana of a village named Shambhala. “O Brahma, rest assured that I will soon descend to the earth and appear in the village known as Shambhala. I will take birth in the house of a Brahmana named Vishnuyasha, from the womb of his wife, Sumati. My mission will be to eliminate the wicked Kali of his influence with the help of My four brothers. O demigods, your expansions should also take birth on the earth to serve Me in My mission. My consort Kamala-devi shall also appear on the earth, having the name Padma. She will be born from the womb of Kaumudi. the wife of Brihadratha, the King of Simhala”.
In your glimmering eyes I see, the magic of a moonlit night. Your breath is what exists around me, carrying my heart away like a weightless kite. I am a hopeless romantic, but this all isn’t random. For Your love, is the most unambiguous one that these cynical eyes could ever fathom.
What do they say? your eyes? With all that flame on the surface, and hiding the softness inside. They have hope, that you would try to find glare amidst all the hazy hours. Love, there’s forever in your eyes.
Your eyes seek truth, because you cannot fathom, living in the idea of void. They are yearning to tell you, that you’re beautiful and you can reach so many heights. Some angels are born with no feathers, yet they are capable of making the highest of flights.
You called them boring and brown,but, it were your eyes which I noticed first. You envied the ones which others had; love, only your eyes are filled with stardust.
How could you ever doubt yourself? Those eyes you embody, so fearlessly bold. Nobody could ever measure, not even the saints or the poets; how much your eyes can unravel and hold.
Your eyes are the poem, the poem of love, stars, and so much else in it. They are selflessly beautiful, for they hold on to things, they let things go.
This poem is what leads me to you, for your eyes are the metaphor, I have been yearning to write down. I can no further define them, other than to say that they are fearless and beautiful; because to define is to put a stop to it, to define is to limit. -aaditya
Her eyes were the kind you do not just look at; you fall into them and never really climb back out. They had that color of honey mixed with dusk. A warmth that holds you without asking. A light that hurts and heals all at once. When she looked up, the whole garden changed its breath. The world seemed to tilt toward her, as if everything in it was trying to get just a little closer.
Aaditya Bajpai 