Faculty of Fine Arts

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The Maharaja Sayajirao University - Faculty of Arts was established in 1881 by H. H. Maharaja Sayajirao Gaekwad III of the erstwhile Baroda State, developed into a full-fledged degree institution in 1889.

The idea of establishing a separate university for Baroda was mooted first as early as 1927 by Sir Sayajirao himself. It came into existence on April 30, 1949, at the time of the merger of the Baroda State with the State of Bombay. Necessary changes were incorporated into the constitution of the Baroda College with a view to establishing separate Faculties in the University. Thus, the Baroda College, one of the oldest Centres of learning in western India, came to be known as The Faculty of Arts.

The Faculty of Arts is sanctified by the name of the seer and philosopher, Shri Aurobindo Ghosh, who had been appointed by Sir Sayajirao to teach English and also as the Vice-Principal of The Baroda College.

[edit] Controversy over alleged vulgar paintings by Srilamanthula Chandramohan

A protests against paintings by Chandramohan, a fine art student, began on May 9, 2007.

The paintings were part of an annual exam, however by tradition, the public was invited to view the paintings. Times of India (07 May 2007) and Gujarati daily Sandesh (09 May 2007) mentioned that the Works of Art created by the students of the Faculty as a part of their Annual Examination were open for public display on the 9th May 2007. ^[1] Among the earliest to protest was the district superintendent of the Methodist Church in Baroda, Reverend Emmanuel Kant^[2]. He said, ^[3]

"Our religion is all about forgiving but there is a limit. I have passed on the word to the Roman Catholic associations and the Parish Association also. Their representatives and 20 other pastors will be here soon. We are also planning to take out a protest rally in the city to voice our concern."

He also flayed Chandramohan for being 'a vulgar and insensitive person who dared to portray Lord Jesus in an extremely objectionable manner'.

A group of irate Hindus, led by Niraj Jain, a BJP activist, accompanied by local police^[4], also came into the exhibition venue. Jain, who had complained to the police about the allegedly blasphemous nature of the paintings, demanded the paintings be removed.

The two objectionable painting were described by University Vice Chancellor Manoj Soni as^[5]:

1. "A huge Christian Cross where Lord Jesus Christ was shown with his penis out on the Cross, his palms and feet hanging from the two sides and the bottom of the Cross, respectively. Semen was shown as dropping out of his penis into a real toilet commode placed beneath the Cross. The toilet contained fishes." However Fine Arts faculty members claimed that liquid depicted is not semen but "body fluids".
2. "Another very large sized painting showed a woman in nude posture. A baby was shown as attempting to come out of the vagina of the woman. The picture depicted the woman trying to attack the baby with a Trishul. The painting had the words `Durga Mate' written at the bottom." The professors explained the painting as "Goddess Durga is enacting the crime of foeticide in order to call attention to the horror and violence of the act that amounts to murder in the very womb".

The painter Srilamanthula Chandramohan has stated that ""My aim is to show the purity, truth and reality in human beings using the images of god and goddesses."^[6]

There was no attack on Chandramohan, nor were his paintings destroyed. ^[7]. There was no vandalism, although it was widely claimed^[8].

Chandramohan was arrested and later released on May 14^[9]. The Dean Shivji Panikkar has defended Chandramohan's work, however the Pro Vice Chancellor of the Maharaja Sayajirao University has suspended the Dean.

The incident has been widely reported in the national media as an attack by the "right-wing" "Sangh Parivar"^[10], in most cases with no mention of the Christian objection to the Jesus painting. Artists from all over the country convened at Baroda to register their protest. [1], [2], [3]

[edit] References