The influence of schools like Amravati with its exquisite depictions of nude celestial beings (now also housed in the British Museum) extended to Ceylon and Southeast Asia. Not even a century of Victorian prudery could diminish the recognition of this unfettered tradition in Buddhist, Jain and Hindu art.
So why, in the 21st century, have we become so prudish, so intolerant about freedom of artistic expression? So quick to take offence where none is meant? It is a sad irony that as our economy liberalises, our minds seem to become more closed and narrow. Obviously, there is a need to make a difference between sacred and secular spaces as sites for art, for the violation of one can be as culturally damaging as the other. But if we allow incidents such as the one at Baroda to dictate the norms and limits of artistic licence, it may well be that the only places where we can see the celebrated freedom of Indian artistic expression is in our museums and temples, while the contemporary artist struggles against acts of censorship and hooliganism.
(The author is an art critic.)
