India Unveiled
by Robert Arnett(published byAtman Press,
1-800-563-4198)
ISBN 0-96529900-7-7
224 pages, 270 photographs, $45.00)
Introducing her recent work, Dayanita Singh, a prominent Indian photographer, wrote: "For eight years, I worked as a photographer in India catering to western perceptions of what India is. I got fed up working in a world that I did not belong to-- I could empathize with but never really understand what it means, say, to be a Bombay prostitute or a child labourer. I wanted to look at the India I come from, at the changing styles and relationships which are taking place inside well-off families who live in big cities, and particularly my own city, Delhi. When I showed this new work to some American editors, they couldn't believe it was India (or if it was, then I had a gall to be photographing such people in a poverty-ridden country!). That just made me more determined. There are many versions of India, and this is mine."
Indians have long resented Western photographers' depictions of India. For decades, major American publications like Life and the New York Times often printed photographs showing the worst aspects of India.
In refreshing contrast, Robert Arnett's India Unveiled is a profoundly sympathetic photographic essay, which won him the Benjamin Franklin Award for the best travel essay of 1997 and the Small Press Award for the best travel book.
In his introduction to India Unveiled, Arnett describes the origin of his personal interest in India as stemming from his reading Autobiography of a Yogi by Yogananda Parmahansa, which led him to study Indian philosophy in depth. He made several trips to India between 1988 and 1995, visiting not only the well-known tourist sites, but also remote villages. "This book is a tribute to the traditional values of India. For thousands of years, the basic cornerstones of Indian culture had changed very little . . . the oldest continuously surviving civilization on earth."
Himachal Pradesh, India
Although for the most part, Arnett's essay is accurate, it's flawed in not including the recent scholarship, which has discredited the Eurocentric myth of the Aryan invasion of India, supposedly in 2500 B.C., and has also revised the dates for the composition of the Vedas to a much earlier period.
Based on his observations during his visits to numerous Indian villages, small towns, and cities, and from staying with Indian families of all social classes, Arnett writes: "the Hindu values are so deeply ingrained that India will be able to assimilate Western technology into its own culture...the eternal verities of village India will be as vibrant as ever."
On India's ancient culture, Arnett says,"When I am asked what impressed me most about India, my reply is the peaceful demeanor of her people. ...Hinduism is greatly misunderstood in the West. Most occidentals do not realize that Hinduism is a monotheistic belief in only one God, who as Creator is beyond time, space and physical form. The entire pantheon of Hindu gods and goddesses are merely symbolic representations of different attributes of the One, Unmanfisted Spirit... Hinduism does not claim exclusivity of the true God only for itself. One of the Hindu scriptures, the Rig Veda, clearly states: "Though men call it by many names, it is really One."
Arnett's photographs capture the warmth and openness of the Indian personality. The photographs of temples seen through the early morning mists are visually stunning.
The Golden Temple, Amritsar, Punjab, India
At the Golden Temple, Amritsar, the author writes: "I found the chanting so uplifting that one afternoon I sat and listened to the enrapturing music for hours."
I recommend this book whole-heartedly.