EDITORIAL

There is such a breath-taking variety and multiplicity in the artistic traditions of India, that a single, one-sided approach is not enough to study and experience them in their entirety. The repository of Indian art and culture is found in the classical literature and art styles, as also in the multi-faceted indigenous heritage, represented by a timeless tradition of pictorial, histrionic and oral expression, dissemination and transmission. India offers an exciting and ever-fresh field of study, both in terms of unravelling its hidden treasures, and establishing the vital links between India and other cultures of the world.

There are several tools available to the student who wishes to learn more about the cultural history of India – like archaeology, epigraphy, art and literature, as also audio-visual methods. But if one were to probe deeper into the source of art activity, to seek interrelationships between particular genres and disciplines, a different picture emerges. In this case, art becomes the expression of creativity, irrespective of disciplinary distinctions and cultural disparities and is linked to the totality of human experience.

It is precisely this holistic approach, integral to a full understanding of the arts, that led to the starting of the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts(IGNCA). Established on 19 November 1985, IGNCA has grown to become a premier resource centre engaged in research, documentation, publication and dissemination of knowledge in the arts. It has, over the last eight years, established contacts with a large number of institutions and scholars at the national and international levels and promoted several activities of joint research, mutual support and creative interaction.

It is time now for the IGNCA to start a Newsletter to acquaint scholars, academicians and artists all over the world with the diverse activities of the Centre. With this issue we make a beginning with Vihangama, quarterly newsletter which synopsises the major activities of the Centre since its inception. In each issue, the Newsletter will give a bird’s eyeview of some of the major ongoing programmes of the Centre, to acquaint the reader with the integral nature of its work. In this number the events from June to November 1993 have been highlighted in some more detail.

We hope to be in touch with you through Vihangama on a regular basis.

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