Dobrovits Aladár szerk.: Az Iparművészeti Múzeum Évkönyvei 3-4. (Budapest, 1959)

HOPP FERENC KELETÁZSIAI MŰVÉSZETI MÚZEUM - Ervin Baktay: Report on a vovage of study to India 1956/57

of most important works of old sculptural art. Sarnath is not far from Banaras, and I visited it repeatedly. There, around the Damekh Stupa, many excavated remains of old Buddhistic monasteries and assembling halls remind us of the place were the Buddha delivered his first sermon. The finest specimen of the Sarnath Museum is still the Lion Capital of Ashoka, with its highly polished, silk-like surface, which looks as if it had been finished yesterday, instead of 2200 years ago. The Curators of the University Museum in Banaras and the Sarnath Museum assisted me in a most friendly manner with their excellent informations. Yet, I could not help noticing in both institutions that the placing of the specimens, the technicalities of the exhibition, etc., are not up to the modern requirements. The specimens are placed so to say at random, without much regard to light and methodical arrangement. The same could be observed in many Indian museums, probably because the buildings, most of them old, are not fit for the introduction of modern methods, or are not large enough to allow more space to the specimens which are rather crowded together. Only some of the newly built museums are exceptions to this unpleasant rule. The mass of material is immense, and it is not an easy task to rearrange the collections according to modern standards. The most valuable experience won at the Banaras Hindu University was furnished by the talks with some of the Professors, e. g. Prof. Agravala, one of the prominent représentants of the History of Indian Art, or Prof. C. 0. Gangoly, another well known expert, who was delivering lectures there at that time. I was pleased to learn that both of them remembered the visit of Prof. Zoltán Takáts whom they met during his travels in India in 1936 ; in fact, I found at several places of learning that many scholars still remembered with respect and sympathy his person and the lectures delivered by him. In my talks with Indian professors and experts of art 1 was struck by the impression that their approach to the subject is still prevailingly a philological one, paying less attention to the questions of workmanship and the artistic value of the art creations, or to the historical, economical or social background of the periods which produced them. Yet, we have to admit, that the philological work done is very valuable indeed, as the Indian experts are equipped with the neccessary means, a thorough knowledge of Sanscrit and the old literature, like the Silpa S hastras, to a far greater extent than their Western collègues. In Banaras 1 delivered some lectures : one at the University on Buddhist Art, another at the Sanskrit Library on some points of view applied in my latest work "The Art of India", and still another at the Association of Young Artists on the Art of Amrita Shergil which was received enthusiastically by the advanced young painters, and commented on in one of the local Hindi periodicals. From Banaras I went to Patna and spent there another week. There are few monuments to be seen there, except the excavated site of Pataliputra, the ancient capital of the Maurya Dynasty, but the material of the Museum is worthy of a prolonged and intensive study. The excellent specimens of sculpture from Bihar and Bengal represent mainly the art of the Gupta and the Pala-Sena periods, but there are valuable creations of art also from earlier times, e. g. the fine statue of the so-called „Chauri-bearer of Didarganj" which had recently been re-dated as deriving from the II

d century B. C. Director Shere — a thoroughly trained expert of broad views — is very actively endeavouring to modernise the institution, as far as the above mentioned circumstances make it possible.