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Abstract
This article, drawn from my doctoral study, focuses on the landscape paintings of two South African graduates of the former Indian institution, the University of Durban-Westville. The work is analysed through the lens of Hindu philosophy and Hindu ritualistic practice which views the earth as fundamental for survival and intrinsically linked to the cosmic order. This article presents the Hindu attachment to the land seen in the expansive imagery of Hindu deities located within serene landscapes resplendent in its attention to mythological and symbolic details. This attachment positions Hinduism as a guide to the exploration of the paintings. This article locates the work within the complex historical base of Indians in South Africa, and the impact it had on contemporary artists of Indian ancestry. While their art production addresses their conflating Indian/South Africanness, their paintings can be viewed as a veiled historiography of the Indian presence in South Africa.
Notes
1. Anderson’s “Imagined Communities, Nationalism’s Cultural Roots.”
2. Sanskrit ṛta (‘truth’ or ‘order’), in Indian religion and philosophy, refers to the cosmic order mentioned in the Vedas, the ancient sacred scriptures of India. As Hinduism developed from the ancient Vedic religion, the concept of rta led to the doctrines of dharma (duty) and karma (accumulated effects of good and bad actions). Rta is the physical order of the universe, the order of the sacrifice, and the moral law of the world. Because of rta, the sun and moon pursue their daily journeys across the sky, and the seasons proceed in regular movement (http://global.britannica.com. Accessed 20 June 2014).
3. http://fore.research.yale.edu/news/item/hinduism-and-climate-change/. Accessed 2 June 2014.
4. Puthus are mounds of earth which are believed to be snake pits
5. See Daya and Matthews, Indian Art. A Study of Selected Items. Also see Matthews, “Visual Arts.”
6. Desai, Arise ye Coolies, 10
7. Jain, Indians in South Africa, 47
8. Minister Donges in Giliomee and Schlemmer, From Apartheid to Nation-Building, 88.
9. Hansen, Melancholia of Freedom, 117.
10. Giliomee and Schlemmer, From Apartheid to Nation-Building, 90.
11. Ibid., 115.
12. While there are other religious groups which established themselves in these new townships the focus of this article is on Hinduism and its relationship with the paintings selected here.
13. Hansen, Melancholia of Freedom, 5.
14. See note 13 above.
15. During, Cultural Studies: A Critical Introduction, 145.
16. Appiah, “Racial Identity and Racial Indentification,” 671.
17. Appiah and Gates, Identities, 305.
18. Sisters Outsiders, 32.
19. Julius Malema is the leader of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), a radical political organisation established after some of the members of the African National Congress Youth League were expelled from the party.
20. 20 October 2011: Mail & Guardian online.
21. 11 May 2014: News 24.
22. Melancholia of Freedom, 15.
23. Welsh, 65; Oosthuizen et al., 12–15.
24. Oosthuizen et al., 32.
25. Govender, R. Personal Communication. Durban, 2011.
26. Newsart, no date:3.
27. Chandler, Newsart, no date:3.
28. Frightened Land, 2.
29. Benningfield, 2.
30. See note 25 above.
31. Champakalakshmi and Kris, 79–80.
32. Hindu Gods and Goddesses, 35.
33. Frightened Land, 3.
34. Migration, Diasporas and Transnationalism, 224.
35. Hanuman Poojay is a prayer dedicated to the monkey God Hanuman who is a devotee of Lord Rama, an incarnation of Lord Vishnu, part of the Hindu trinity. This prayer is desired as it affords peace and prosperity to one’s life (www.iloveindia.com/spirituality/puja/hanuman-puja.html).
36. See note 25 above.
37. Sisters Outsiders, 48.
38. See note 25 above.
39. Varsity Voice, June/July 1988, 7.
40. See note 39 above.
41. John Pillay is a well-known temple sculptor whose work can be seen in Durban in the Draupadi Temple in Jacobs Road and the Ambalavanar Temple in Cato Manor (Matthews in Arkin et al., 1989, 214).
42. Thathiah, K. V. T. “Personal Communication.” April 17. Van der Bijl Park, 2009.
43. See note 42 above.
44. Minty, 14.
45. Govinden, 35.
46. Sisters Outsiders, 35.
47. See note 46 above.
48. A mandala is a circular shaped image which represents wholeness. It can also be seen as a model for the organisational structure of life – a cosmic diagram that reminds the individual of their relation to the infinite. Describing both material and non-material realities, the mandala appears in all aspects of life: the celestial we call earth, sun, and moon, as well as the conceptual circles of friends, family, and community (www.mandalaproject.org/what/index.html. Accessed 2 May 2012); see note 42 above
49. Thathiah: Personal Communication, 2013.
50. Vertovec and Cohen, xx.
51. Vertovec and Cohen, 312.
52. Stuart Hall, 75.
53. Zayd Minty, 14.
54. Scratches on the Face, 2008/9.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Nalini Moodley
Dr Nalini Moodley is the Assistant Dean and Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of the Arts at the Tshwane University of Technology, South Africa. She completed her Ph.D. in Art History at the University of KwaZulu-Natal which focused on the visual art produced by Indian South Africans from 1961 to 1999. Her present areas of research include minority politics, race and identity politics, and the challenges of being Indian in post-apartheid South Africa. She has published papers on Hindu artists, Indian dance, and the position of Indians in the new South Africa in peer-reviewed journals.