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
the religious feelings of the people — for some of the old Hindu temples are very important from the viewpoint of Archeology and History of Art. Visiting the monuments of Bhuvaneshvar is made comfortable on account of the lately established State Guesthouse which is modern, inviting, and clean. Unfortunately, there are many places of similar interest where the traveller has to put up whith much discomfort, and cannot obtain proper food at all. In the neighbourhood of Bhuvaneshvar the important Cave Temples of the Udayagiri and Khandagiri Hills are to be seen. Visiting both, I had the opportunity to study their sculptural decorations which are characteristic of the medieval art of Orissa. The landscape scenery of the hills also represents one of the attractions. As I had but a few months in front of me, I intended to visit only those places which I have either left unvisited during my first stay in India, or could not study thoroughly at that time. According to this, from Bhuvaneshvar I went straight down to Madras. The Madras Museum is a veritable treasury of the old art of the Dekkhan and South India. Spending more than a week in Madras, I had leisure to study the valuable material of the Museum, especially the relievos deriving from Amaravati which, according to my view, are closely related to the pictorial style of Ajanta. — Since my last visit to Madras, a new Museum had lately been established, illustrating the first period of British conquest. The building housing this Museum is an interesting monument itself, situated inside Fort St. George, the first stronghold of the British in India. 1 was surprised to note how impartially that period has been treated by the organisers of the Museum, and was much pleased by the explanation given by the Curator : "Nowadays, as we are no more subjected to foreign rule, we regard the facts of the last two centuries as an organic part and parcel of the history of India, and appreciate them accordingly, sine ira et studio." Not very far from Madras there are several important monuments of old art, first of all Mahabalipuram, with the creations of the Pallava Dynasty from the VII th century. I dare say that it was one of the greatest experiences of my second visit to India. The exquisite équilibre of the Raihas — rock cut temples, carved in situ from the solid stone of the hill — the suggestive power of the statues of animals, especially that of Shiva's bull, comparable to the best creations of ancient Egypt, then the magnificent colossal relief in the side of a huge rock, are simply unforgottable. I felt inclined to spend weeks at this spot, yet it could not be done, for my time was limited. From Madras I visited also the old temple city of Kanchipuram (Konjeevaram) (Fig. 4) where many a noble monument remind us of the great creative power of medieval India, and one of the most important ones, the ancient Pallava temple of Kailasanath (Fig. 5), probably served as a model for the famous rock cut temple at Ellura. I was lucky, for I arrived just in time to witness a big procession starting from the great temple ; hundreds of brown bodied men, clad only with a loin cloth, carried the images of deities round the city, accompanied by the weird music of drums and other instruments. It was as if I looked at scenes come to life again after three thousand years, for the temple cities of antique Mesopotamia and Egypt must have offered quite similar pageants. Having studied the greatest part of ancient monuments in the South during my first visit to India, and because the heat began to be fierce, I made another long jump and went from Madras straight to Mysore. Many years ago
