{"id":24743,"date":"2025-07-14T00:08:02","date_gmt":"2025-07-13T23:08:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/muktangon.blog\/en\/?p=24743"},"modified":"2025-07-14T00:39:52","modified_gmt":"2025-07-13T23:39:52","slug":"rampant-destruction-of-sculpture-since-so-called-july-revolution-what-a-savage-nation-we-are-becoming","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/muktangon.blog\/en\/irina\/24743","title":{"rendered":"Rampant destruction of sculpture since so-called \u2018July Revolution\u2019: What a savage nation we are becoming!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u2018<\/span>\u09b8\u09c1\u09a4\u09a8\u09c1\u0995\u09be<\/span> \u09a8\u09be\u09ae<\/span> \u09a6\u09c7\u09ac\u09a6\u09be\u09b8\u09bf\u0995\u09c0<\/span> \u09a4\u0982<\/span> \u0995\u09be\u09ae\u09af\u09bc\u09bf\u09a5<\/span> \u09ac\u09be\u09b2\u09be\u09a8\u09b6\u09c7\u09af\u09bc\u09c7<\/span> \u09a6\u09c7\u09ac\u09a6\u09bf\u09a8\u09cd\u09a8\u09c7<\/span> \u09a8\u09be\u09ae<\/span> \u09b2\u09c1\u09aa\u09a6\u0995\u0996\u09c7<\/span>!<\/span>\u2019<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSutanuka by name, Devadasi. The excellent among young men loved her, Devadinna by name, skilled in sculpture” is the translation of the aforementioned line in the Magadhi Prakrita language of the ancient age India and inscribed upon the sculpture of a temple-based artist (in terms of singing and dancing) cum courtesan. Once celebrated Bengali novelist Narayan Sanyal, who is still evaluated within the critics, had authored a complete novel (<\/span>\u09b8\u09c1\u09a4\u09a8\u09c1\u0995\u09be<\/span> \u098f\u0995\u099f\u09bf<\/span> \u09a6\u09c7\u09ac\u09a6\u09be\u09b8\u09c0\u09b0<\/span> \u09a8\u09be\u09ae<\/span>)<\/span> on basis of this one single line inscription on the sculpture in the cave temple of Ramgarh mountain in Madhya Pradesh, India. A more loose and easily comprehensible Bengali translation of this line in Magadhi Prakrita goes on like: <\/span>‘<\/span>\u09b8\u09c1\u09a4\u09a8\u09c1\u0995\u09be<\/span> \u09a8\u09be\u09ae\u09c7<\/span> \u098f\u0995<\/span> \u09a6\u09c7\u09ac\u09a6\u09be\u09b8\u09c0<\/span>, <\/span>\u09a4\u09be\u09b9\u09be\u09b0\u09c7<\/span> \u09ad\u09be\u09b2\u09ac\u09be\u09b8\u09bf\u09df\u09be\u099b\u09bf\u09b2<\/span>\/<\/span> \u09a6\u09c7\u09ac\u09a6\u09bf\u09a8\u09cd\u09a8\u09c7<\/span> \u09a8\u09be\u09ae\u09c7<\/span> \u098f\u0995<\/span> \u09b0\u09c2\u09aa\u09a6\u0995\u09cd\u09b7<\/span>\u0964 <\/span>\u2019Generally the sculptors were termed as \u2018<\/span>\u09b0\u09c2\u09aa\u09a6\u0995\u09cd\u09b7<\/span>\u2019 in Sanskrit which reads as \u2018<\/span>\u09b2\u09c1\u09aa\u09a6\u0995\u0996\u09c7<\/span>\u2019 in Magadhi Prakrita and \u2018<\/span>\u09ad\u09be\u09b8\u09cd\u0995\u09b0<\/span>\u2019 in Bengali.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Michelangelo Buonarotti, one of the greatest sculptors of all ages, thus depicted his perception about sculpting: \u2018I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free.\u2019 The creator of \u2018David,\u2019 \u2018Pieta,\u2019 \u2018Sistine Chapel\u2019 and so many other monumental art-works further narrated sculpting as \u2018In every block of marble I see a statue as plain as though it stood before me, shaped and perfect in attitude and action. I have only to hew away the rough walls that imprison the lovely apparition to reveal it to the other eyes as mine see it.\u2019\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Actually, how much civilized is a nation can be well measured by its intellectual properties as reflected through literature and culture, music and poetry, paintings and sculpture. Every nation which is a connoisseur of paintings and sculpture, protects its heritage with utmost efforts and their celebrated painters or sculptors are recollected through \u2018larger than life\u2019 novels and movies. Remember how Akira Kurosawa paid his tribute to Vincent Van Gogh in one of his movies or Irving Stone\u2019s novel \u2018Lust for Life\u2019 on Van Gogh or recent novel by Stephanie Storey \u2018Oil and Marble\u2019 on rivalry between 50-years\u2019 old, established painter Leonardo Da Vinci and 25-years\u2019 old Michelangelo Buonarotti in the 16<\/span>th<\/span> century Florence? Or even in Bengali language, we can recollect the one thousand pages\u2019 long but still incomplete biographical novel on sculptor Ram Kinkar Bej which the author <\/span>Samaresh Basu<\/span> could not complete for his sudden death in a cardiac arrest! And we?\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Since the color revolution of the last July and August and particularly the foreign power-backed overthrow of the pro-1971 Awami League government on August 5<\/span>th<\/span> of 2024 that by 21 August of last year around 1,500 sculptures and murals were destroyed across the country, according to a report<\/a> of the Daily Prothom Alo, <\/span>\u00a0<\/span>let alone counting the number of damaged and destroyed Hindu temples or Sufi shrines.<\/span> Those (destroyed temples and Sufi shrines) are beyond counting!<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The report narrates: \u2018After the fall of Sheikh Hasina government in the face of student-led mass uprising on 5 August, about 1,500 sculptures, relief sculptures, murals and memorials have been vandalised, set on fire and uprooted all over the country.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Most of the sculptures and murals were of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and about the liberation war. Plus, the statue of \u2018Venus\u2019 at Shashi Lodge in Mymensingh, the statue of \u2018Themis\u2019 at the Supreme Court and the \u2018Duranta\u2019 sculpture at the Shishu Academy have also been demolished.\u2019\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The report clearly states that just within 16 days of the Yunus regime that 1500 sculptures and murals were vandalized. And it has surely become just double or triple in number by now. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Very recently the \u2018far right revolutionaries\u2019 of the \u2018July movement\u2019 have destructed even a sculpture of a \u2018hasta mudra (hand motion)\u2019 of renowned Kaththak dancer Munmun Ahmed in the Kazi Nazrul Islam University premises of Trishal, Mymensingh. Sculptor Manindra Paul made it and the sculpture was entitled \u2018Anjali Laho Mor\u2019 from a celebrated song of Nazrul (Anjali Laho Mor Sangeet e- Take my offerings through songs) as a token of tribute to Nazrul. Interestingly enough, Munmun Ahmed herself has been and is still a supporter of the July movement. So we have nothing except to remember and recite that much reverberated lines of the German Pastor Martin Niem\u00f6ller :\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2018First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out\u2014because I was not a socialist.<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out\u2014because I was not a trade unionist.<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out\u2014because I was not a Jew.<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Then they came for me\u2014and there was no one left to speak for me.\u2019<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What is sculpture? Is it forbidden in Judaism and Islam?\u00a0<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

According to Wikipedia<\/a>, \u2018Sculpture\u202fis the branch of the\u202f<\/span>visual arts<\/span><\/a>\u202fthat operates in\u202f<\/span>three dimensions<\/span><\/a>. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. Durable sculptural processes originally used\u202f<\/span>carving<\/span><\/a>\u202f(the removal of material) and modelling (the addition of material, as clay), in\u202f<\/span>stone<\/span><\/a>,\u202f<\/span>metal<\/span><\/a>,\u202f<\/span>ceramics<\/span><\/a>,\u202f<\/span>wood<\/span><\/a>\u202fand other materials but, since\u202f<\/span>Modernism<\/span><\/a>, there has been almost complete freedom of materials and process.<\/span>\u2019<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The wiki further informs that sculpture has been central in religious devotion in many cultures and whose sculptures have survived in quantities include the cultures of the ancient Mediterranean,\u202f<\/span>India<\/span><\/a>\u202fand China, as well as many in Central and South America and Africa.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2018The\u202f<\/span>Western<\/span><\/a>\u202ftradition of sculpture began in\u202f<\/span>ancient Greece<\/span><\/a>, and Greece is widely seen as producing great masterpieces in the\u202f<\/span>classical<\/span><\/a>\u202fperiod. During the\u202f<\/span>Middle Ages<\/span><\/a>,\u202f<\/span>Gothic sculpture<\/span><\/a>\u202frepresented the agonies and passions of the Christian faith. The revival of classical models in the\u202f<\/span>Renaissance<\/span><\/a>\u202fproduced famous sculptures such as\u202f<\/span>Michelangelo<\/span><\/a>‘s\u202f<\/span>statue<\/span><\/a>\u202fof\u202f<\/span>David<\/span><\/a>. Modernist sculpture moved away from traditional processes and the emphasis on the depiction of the human body, with the making of\u202f<\/span>constructed sculpture<\/span><\/a>, and the presentation of\u202f<\/span>found objects<\/span><\/a>\u202fas finished artworks,\u2019 wiki adds (<\/span>Ibid)<\/span><\/i>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But sculpture is \u2018forbidden\u2019 in sternly monolithic faiths like Judaism or Islam. In fact, I had no idea about prohibition on sculpture even in Judaism before starting to write this article tonight. But yes- the second commandment states: \u2018\u2019 Thou shalt have no other gods before me,” and Orthodox Jewry has been known to use this as a restriction against all forms of creating and enjoying statues in various forms. This view<\/a> derives from a fear that statues are a gateway into idolatry, a severe sin in Judaism. Artistic displays of statues, however, are often viewed differently by other Jewish denominations<\/span>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The irony is whatever antagonistic Jews and Muslims may seem in context of today\u2019s global geo-politics, both the faiths are \u2018closest brothers\u2019 in terms of different issues from halal\/kosher food up to male circumcision while Christianity, the rest one of the three faiths of the Abrahamic school<\/span>,<\/span> had taken a lot from Greco-Roman up to Indian treasure troves of art and sculpture, paintings and colors.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

And how strict is the injunction against sculpture in Islam? We see the struggle between a liberal Sultan\u2019s endeavors to introduce occidental, three -dimensional art\u00a0 and rigid opposition from the Islamic clergy in medieval Turkey in Orhan Pamuk\u2019s magnum opus \u2018My Name is Red\u2019 which ultimately results in series of assassinations of Turkish painters in the middle age who ventured to embrace new, western techniques of painting rather than following the same routines of calligraphic painting. Vivid descriptions of those killings in Pamuk\u2019s novel will remind you of series of blogger killings in Dhaka of during 2013-16.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Then what\u2019s the actual provision of Islam regarding sculpture? According to internet<\/a>, \u2018the\u202f<\/span>Quran<\/span><\/a>\u202fitself does not prohibit visual representation of any living being. The\u202f<\/span>hadith<\/span><\/i><\/a>\u202fcollection of\u202f<\/span>Sahih Bukhari<\/span><\/a>\u202fexplicitly prohibits the making of images of living beings, challenging painters who “breathe life” into their images and threatening them with punishment on the\u202f<\/span>Day of Judgment<\/span><\/a>. Muslims have interpreted these prohibitions in different ways in different times and places. Religious Islamic art has been typically characterized by the absence of figures and extensive use of\u202f<\/span>calligraphic<\/span><\/a>,\u202f<\/span>geometric<\/span><\/a>\u202fand\u202f<\/span>abstract floral<\/span><\/a>\u202fpatterns<\/span>.\u2019\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But still there are lots of sculptures in a number of Islamic states. There is the statue of Ferdowsi the Poet who wrote \u2018Shahnameh\u2019 to archive the glories of their fire-worshipper forefathers in even today\u2019s clergy dictated Iran. I got stunned seeing a sculpture of Goddess Athena in the Istanbul International Airport in this very regime of Erdogan. But Turkey is basically the ancient day Troy of \u2018Iliad\u2019 the Greek epic and they have not erased the past history of their ancestors.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Hefajat-e-Islam demand to stop \u2018idolatry\u2019 through sculpting in 2013 and Awami League\u2019s relaxed stance: Could it ultimately save everything?\u00a0<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Now a little introspection and self-analysis will be needed. We recall<\/a> that how Hefajat-e-Islam, in its 13-points\u2019 demands, clearly articulated in point no. 5 to \u2018stop turning Dhaka (the city of mosques) into a city of idols and setting up sculptures at intersections, colleges and universities and the then Law Minister Shafique Ahmed reminded that \u2018Sculptures exist in a number of Muslim countries. Besides Articles 23 and 24 ensure the proper conservation of our historical and archaeological heritage. Bangladesh is also a signatory state to the UNESCO Convention.\u2019 <\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Although our the then Law Minister replied so to the Hefajat demands, we watched in utter pain the \u2018soft and relaxed compromise\u2019 by the Awami League (AL) government to Hefajat demands like covering with a piece of cloth the statue of Greek Goddess Themis\/Justitia in the High Court premises of Dhaka – the iconic image of impartiality of the Goddess of Justice who seems to be blinded with a piece of cloth on her eyes and holding scales and a sword in her hands. Introduced by Roman Emperor Augustus, Goddess Justicia strikingly resembles with the image of Gandhari, the ancient Afghan princess and queen of the blind Indian prince Dhritorashtra, who voluntarily blinded herself for life after her wedding as a token of sharing the same fate with her spouse. Gandhari, the epitome of righteousness in the epic Mahabharata could not support the corruption, vices and mobocracy of her own sons. Is there any universal conception of justice to stay \u2018blind\u2019 as a metaphor of neutrality to the parties in a court, lawsuit or everyday war of our lives? Who knows! But the fact is even the \u2018best government\u2019 of Bangladesh had to ultimately compromise with the hardliner Islamists but that stance did not ultimately save us!<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Wish to finish this long and \u2018boring\u2019 write-up again through quoting from the Prothom Alo (English version) write-up of August 21 of 2024:\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2018Correspondents of Prothom Alo after investigation have found information of 1,492 sculptures, relief sculptures (figures curved on a wall using ceramic or terracotta), murals and memorials being vandalised, set on fire and uprooted in 59 districts between 5 and 14 August. Most of the vandalism and arson incidents occurred on 5, 6 and 7 August.\u2019\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Apart from sculptures of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujubur Rahman, freedom fighter and artist Shamim Sikder\u2019s sculpture titled \u2018Swadhinata Sangram\u2019 is located at capital\u2019s Polashi intersection with more than 100 small and large separate sculptures, sculpture \u2018Duranta\u2019 in the Shishu Academy premises (destructed on August 8), the statue of Themis in the High Court premises (demolished on 7<\/span>th<\/span> August), sculpture of \u2018Venus\u2019 in Shashi lodge of Mymensingh, the bust of Shilpacharya Zainul Abedin in placed in front of the Zainul Sangrahashala\u202f(though later restored), relief sculpture of seven Birshresthos in Gazipur (destroyed on 5<\/span>th<\/span> August) were demolished, according to the Prothom Alo<\/a> report<\/span>. The toll has definitely multiplied over the last 11 months.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Today the concept of \u2018cultural genocide\u2019 is getting included within the orbit of the term \u2018genocide.\u2019 Not only mass killing or extermination, but a nation can be also doomed or destroyed through annihilation of her historical and archaeological installations, monuments and artefacts, sculptures and paintings, songs and poems <\/span>too<\/span>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In the decades of nineties, we have witnessed with moist eyes that how the reactionary forces in ex-Soviet Union have demolished statues of Lenin and today we do haplessly watch the demolition of statue of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman along with the four iconic leaders of our Liberation War. When will our next generation come back to its human senses and return to the aura of light from the infinite darkness of the Middle Ages?\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Actually, how much civilized is a nation can be well measured by its intellectual properties as reflected through literature and culture, music and poetry, paintings and sculpture. Every nation which is a connoisseur of paintings and sculpture, protects its heritage with utmost efforts and their celebrated painters or sculptors are recollected through \u2018larger than life\u2019 novels and movies. The author narrates the curious case of Bangladesh after the color revolution of 2024.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22363,"featured_media":24744,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5336,5349,5324],"tags":[5477,965,987],"ppma_author":[5511],"class_list":["post-24743","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-analysis","category-bangladesh","category-opinion","tag-bangladesh-after-5-august-2024","tag-sculpture","tag-socio-economic-cultural-rights"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/muktangon.blog\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/images.jpeg?fit=303%2C166&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pghjur-6r5","jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"authors":[{"term_id":5511,"user_id":22363,"is_guest":0,"slug":"irina","display_name":"Shweta Irina","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/97da5ec7cceee4f44ce5825e7e84901fd2375487f1218155a26220a6d510df09?s=96&d=retro&r=g","0":null,"1":"","2":"","3":"","4":"","5":"","6":"","7":"","8":""}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/muktangon.blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24743","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/muktangon.blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/muktangon.blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/muktangon.blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22363"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/muktangon.blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24743"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/muktangon.blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24743\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24748,"href":"https:\/\/muktangon.blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24743\/revisions\/24748"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/muktangon.blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24744"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/muktangon.blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24743"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/muktangon.blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24743"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/muktangon.blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24743"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/muktangon.blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=24743"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}