Wow Isabel..........that is positively Brilliant. Thank you Isabel, VM and Venantius
best jc > On Jan 27, 2015, at 2:09 PM, Venantius J Pinto <venantius.pi...@gmail.com> > wrote: > > Thank you Isabel Santa Rita Vás for your beautiful expression on Prof. José > Pereira. > > Much appreciation VM, for sharing Ms Vás' reflective text. > > > Venantius > >> On Tue, Jan 27, 2015 at 12:23 AM, V M <vmin...@gmail.com> wrote: >> >> http://www.tambdimati.com/article/earth-and-heaven-in-conversation/ >> >> Earth and heaven in conversation >> >> Isabel Santa Rita Vás >> >> Limits are challenges, even when the wide world is your canvas. The >> earth has charmed him with its natural beauty; the things of the >> earth, its songs, its languages and architecture, have been >> irresistible realms that he must explore. But the earth was never >> enough. He needed to cross the limit. He heard the heavens beckon too. >> And so, Dr. Pereira turned to the study of theology, mythology, the >> scriptures, the writing of the mystics. He rises above narrow limits >> of disciplines to achieve a rich and cosmopolitan understanding of >> culture. The pulse of all his meditative research is best felt >> transmuted into his art. It is here that earth and heaven enter into >> intimate conversation. >> >> Jose Pereira was born in 1931. His family home is in Curtorim, Goa, >> but his scholarly pursuits have taken him far and wide. He can be >> described with many epithets: researcher, author of books on art and >> architecture, musicologist, linguist. But in his heart, the greatest >> passion has always been his painting. The themes on his canvasses >> range from the crucified Christ, to a self-portrait, to classical >> themes of Hindu art. In his murals we come face to face with all >> manner of creatures of the earth, and the God who is manifest as >> nourishment for the soul. He has imbibed the spirit of the great >> classics he has studied and his paintings reveal the breadth and >> harmony of his vision. >> >> In the Chapel of São Joaquim, in Borda, Margao, we come face to face >> with frescoes of great exuberance and power executed in 1999. The >> sheer delicacy and wealth of detail capture our gaze and hold it in >> thrall. We look with wonder at rural scenes of a Goan landscape that >> is still recognizable, though fast disappearing in rapidly urbanizing >> times. Dr. Pereira writes about his work: "The production of food is >> envisaged as a Eucharistic sacrifice of the earth's first fruits, >> performed not in confining temples but on the wide earth and under the >> open sky." >> >> Vivek Menezes remarks, "It is a consistently thought-provoking >> painting, easily among the most interesting modern public artworks in >> India." The Chapel at Fatorda, Margao, hosts yet another marvelous >> work. The paintings on the wall are an offering of colour and form and >> luminosity, where feeling and thought reveal the earth and heaven in >> conversation. Dr. Pereira's health began to fail him when he started >> this work, so he painted only the face of Christ in the fresco >> technique, with its wide glaring eyes and then surrendered the rest of >> the work to be painted in acrylic by two art students, Sandesh >> Shetgaonkar and Sudin Kurpaskar. Jose Lourenco provided technical >> expertise. 'Why are his eyes so glaring,' Jose Lourenco asked him. >> 'That's because He is angry,' he replied, 'at what we have done to His >> creation'. Pereira is a deeply religious man, who believes, like >> Pascal, in doing little things as great things, and great things with >> ease, in tandem with the Omnipotence of God. >> >> Jose Pereira was an avid learner even as a young man. His interest in >> his Indian heritage led him to opt for a B.A. (Hons.) in Sanskrit, >> side by side with a full-time course at the J.J. School of Art. He >> went on to gain his doctorate in Ancient Indian History and Culture >> from the University of Bombay in 1958. He then took up the position of >> Research Associate in History of Indian Art at the American Academy of >> Benares, Varanasi from 1967 to '69. He was adjunct Professor of East >> and West Cultural Relations at the Instituto Superior de Estudos >> Ultramarinos in Lisbon, Portugal. He later joined Fordham University, >> New York, as a Professor of Theology. The research and the writing >> never waned. Dr. Pereira has published more than 20 books and over 130 >> articles of theology, history of art and architecture, and on Goan >> culture, language and music. Referring to his brilliant mind and >> scholarship, Maria Aurora Couto notes: "It was always a play between >> mind and heart, serious thought and the earthy humour of Konkani folk >> song, the wistful lyrics of the Mando, melancholic, speaking of the >> unattainable, and the richness of an inheritance that has sustained >> us." >> >> >> "I hate Goa," Dr. Pereira has been heard to comment drily. Perhaps it >> is his very love of Goa that leads him to hate certain trends that he >> sees emerging in the land of his ancestors. He often laments that the >> Konkani language may be reduced to a literary artefact. It is this >> same deep passion for Goan culture and language that has that has >> inspired him to study the traditional Goan Konkani song, the Mando. >> Jose Pereira writes about this kind of song, and about the work of >> Micael Martins, composer and researcher in this field: "A new culture, >> that of Latin Europe, embellished with music, was implanted in Goa by >> the Portuguese in the early 16th Century. Quickly assimilated, this >> musical culture acquired a distinct Goan identity in the 18th Century, >> one which matured in the second half of the 19th and first half of the >> 20th. The extensive and varied work of Micael Martins is the >> apotheosis of this musical tradition." The mando is a dance-song that >> conveys the emotions of love and yearning for union (ekvott). It also >> comments on contemporary events (fobro), many of them political." >> >> Dr. Jose Pereira has also personally gone around from village to >> village in Goa on his bicycle, armed with a tape-recorder, speaking to >> women and farmers in their homes and in the fields, to salvage another >> valuable type of song - the Konkani Christian religious song. These >> hymns are sung at ladainhas, other religious ceremonies and on feast >> days. Raimundo Barreto's hymn Sao Franciscu Xaviera sounds to Goan >> ears, nothing short of celestial poetry. Dr. Pereira's book Konkani >> Bagtigitan: A treasury of Goan hymns, includes 104 hymns from the >> Sixteenth Century to 1950 in both Devanagri and Romi scripts, with a >> Konkani-English glossary of 300 words. Reviewing the book, Prof. >> Nandakumar Kamat notes that "lexicographically, these words may offer >> rich potential for students of comparative religions, etymology and >> Konkani socio-linguistics." >> >> What was it that drove Dr. Jose Pereira, the scholar, in so many >> diverse directions, carefully studying, researching, writing about, >> apparently disparate fields as language, music, architecture, >> philosophy and theology? The unifying thread is his own understanding >> of his identity. He reflects, "I see myself as a product of two >> traditions: one is the Latin-Christian tradition and the other is the >> Indian Hindu tradition." Dr. Pereira has ceaselessly explored the >> interactions between India and the West in art and culture, with Goa >> as a focal point within the larger context of Indian history and >> culture. All these have shaped his own identity. He tells us about >> three discoveries that served as epiphanies in his work: Spanish >> mystical literature, Mexican mural painting, and the Konkani song. >> >> One palpable offshoot of this quest has been Dr. Pereira's >> contribution to the study of architecture of the Baroque period. In >> her forward to his book Baroque India, Kapila Vatsyayan notes: "Prof >> Pereira (...) builds up a strong case for Indianized Baroque as a >> regional development with characteristic features, despite its >> external origin. (...) According to him the regional manifestation of >> the Goan Baroque also contains typical Indian elements associated with >> structured tradition of medieval India." Jose Pereira made his own >> what he studied. Jose Lourenco remembers, "We walked through the ruins >> of the Igreja da Nossa Senhora da Graça, better-known as St >> Augustine's church after the order once based in the adjoining >> convent, and he was totally at ease there, as though he was the >> reincarnation of a monk himself!" >> >> >> Dr. Pereira's pilgrimage in quest of deconstructing his composite >> identity took him travelling all over Europe and the Americas. He >> tells us that when he came from England to Goa he took the land route, >> across Europe through the border of Iran, hitchhike by truck through >> the border of Pakistan and make his way into India. He has been >> indefatigable in his pilgrimage to different languages too: he is >> fluent in Konkani, Portuguese, Sanskrit, English, French and familiar >> with Latin, Italian, Spanish, Urdu, Arabic and Persian. Even as an >> octogenarian, he has retained his gusto for reciting Sanskrit slokas >> and for quoting from the old Konkani fell, in his beloved Saxtti >> Konkani. He has always lived a simple life. The life of the mind was a >> priority, always, and reading, discussing ideas and books with >> colleagues and friends, often disagreeing with them with incendiary >> fervour, all added endless spice to his days. >> >> The eminent scholar-artist has been no stranger to disappointment and >> pain. At the opening of the paintings at Fatorda, Alban Couto said: >> "Great artists suffer labour pains. Though with less intensity we also >> feel their pains." The wall on which he painted a fresco at the >> cemetery of Juhu, Bombay, laboring under the hot sun, with passion and >> enormous endurance, was carelessly ground to dust, and that was a sad >> blow to him. As a Professor in Lisbon, he expressed his views that >> Goan culture had been enriched not only by Latin Christian influences >> but also deeply by Indian culture and history. His viewpoint was >> bitterly resented by the authorities at the Institute and Dr. Pereira >> had to quickly leave the country. >> >> In Goa too, in recent years, Dr. Pereira's painting exhibition >> entitled "Epiphanies of the Hindu Gods" which was inaugurated at the >> Xavier Centre of Historical Research, Porvorim, attracted the ire of >> some individuals and groups. They claimed that the depiction of the >> gods as nude figures hurt their sentiments. The artist's explanation >> that he has kept closely to the reading of the scriptures fell on deaf >> ears. Art critics in Delhi, where the exhibition had been held a few >> weeks earlier, had called it an "endeavour to interpret some classical >> themes of Hindu art in a realistic idiom, an idiom that frees the >> drama in the themes from the constriction of iconographic formulas". >> In Goa, the exhibition had to be closed down. >> >> Dr. Jose Pereira is today over 80 years old. His passion for >> scholarship and art are entirely undimmed. Coping with and >> increasingly frail and fragile body, his mind continues to engage in >> his meditative research. >> >> In 2012, the Government of India paid tribute to his scholarship by >> awarding him the title of Padmashree. At last some well-deserved >> attention was paid to this great man. We too pay our small and >> long-overdue tribute to a man who has trudged the world, crossed >> immense boundaries, worked with unceasing love, in fact, has examined >> earth and heaven to crystalize something of the essence of the Goa >> that has been his spiritual home. >> -- >> >> Isabel Santa Rita Vás has been a teacher of English language and >> literature for many years. She is one of the founder-members of The >> Mustard Seed Art Company, an amateur theatre group founded in 1987. >> Her book of plays Frescoes in the Womb: Six Plays from Goa, (2012) was >> published by Broadway Publishing House and Goa 1556. After retirement >> from active teaching work, she is now on guest faculty at Goa >> University. >> > > > > -- > +++++++++++++ > Venantius J Pinto
