About
the Book
Megha is a young
girl who goes to Dilli Haat
(Food and Craft bazaar in New Delhi, India) with her mother on a
languid May morning. While enjoying the various crafts there, she meets a sage
who introduces himself as Vishwakarma, the divine architect and God of the
craftspeople. He takes Megha on a pan-India tour in
his magic chariot to meet the craftspeople of the various states and regions.
Megha interacts with these people, mingles with their
families and learns about the various crafts, their history and method of
making. She is fascinated by the colours and the shapes, the textures and the
techniques of the various craft objects.
Megha realises the
importance of human creativity. She is captivated by the beauty of these crafts
and the important part that they play in our lives. Vishwakarma tells her that
these crafts belong to a living cultural tradition that goes beyond region and
religion, caste and creed. We touch and caress and smell these
objects, wonder and
admire their
shape, adorn our bodies and our homes with them. We use them in our lived
lives and they
give us visual delight as our eyes are drawn to them and lose ourselves in
their patterns res, their forms and shapes, their color and hues, and in them we
hidden truths
about life and living.
About
the Author
Harsha V. Dehejia has a double doctorate, one in medicine and the
other in ancient Indian culture, both from Mumbai University. He is a
practising physician and professor of Indian Studies at Carleton University in
Ottawa, ON, Canada. His main interest is in Indian
aesthetics.
A widely respected aesthete and art
collector, he has written extensively on Indian art and culture and has twenty
publications to his name, including Akriti to Sanskriti: The Journey of Indian Forms and Radha: From Gopi
to
Goddess.
About
the Book
Megha is a young
girl who goes to Dilli Haat
(Food and Craft bazaar in New Delhi, India) with her mother on a
languid May morning. While enjoying the various crafts there, she meets a sage
who introduces himself as Vishwakarma, the divine architect and God of the
craftspeople. He takes Megha on a pan-India tour in
his magic chariot to meet the craftspeople of the various states and regions.
Megha interacts with these people, mingles with their
families and learns about the various crafts, their history and method of
making. She is fascinated by the colours and the shapes, the textures and the
techniques of the various craft objects.
Megha realises the
importance of human creativity. She is captivated by the beauty of these crafts
and the important part that they play in our lives. Vishwakarma tells her that
these crafts belong to a living cultural tradition that goes beyond region and
religion, caste and creed. We touch and caress and smell these
objects, wonder and
admire their
shape, adorn our bodies and our homes with them. We use them in our lived
lives and they
give us visual delight as our eyes are drawn to them and lose ourselves in
their patterns res, their forms and shapes, their color and hues, and in them we
hidden truths
about life and living.
About
the Author
Harsha V. Dehejia has a double doctorate, one in medicine and the
other in ancient Indian culture, both from Mumbai University. He is a
practising physician and professor of Indian Studies at Carleton University in
Ottawa, ON, Canada. His main interest is in Indian
aesthetics.
A widely respected aesthete and art
collector, he has written extensively on Indian art and culture and has twenty
publications to his name, including Akriti to Sanskriti: The Journey of Indian Forms and Radha: From Gopi
to
Goddess.