The article first appeared in The Scroll on February 7, 2024
Besides, a traditional society laid great stress on what the creative individual received from his heritage; it was by knowing his heritage that he developed what one may call organs of creativity. Paradoxical as it may sound, this conditioned, on the one side, the traditional artist for cross-cultural exposure; used to rationalising an art form from an ancient time and understanding its conventions of practice, he was prepared to countenance another cultural form without much resistance (even if he was not fully equipped to understand it).