Beauty – a combination of qualities that pleasures the senses of human beings.  It is an inborn instinct in humans to appreciate beauty. Sometimes a beautiful object fills the heart with joy and delight.  The internal soul gets stirred by the external view of beauty.  A biological process has developed an eye to see and express beauty right from the Stone Age. The cave paintings and structures depicting animals, trees, and women in particular poses prove the love for beauty.  Artistic creations are man’s attempts to illustrate the job created by beauty.

Beauty could be seen in all the kingdoms – Cosmos, Vegetation, Animals and Human-being.   A person may see a beautiful thing for a short duration but its memory lasts for a long time.  A colourful butterfly seen for even a fraction of a seconds gives you instant delight and if that moment is captured, again and again, the joy becomes many folds.

Beauty also lies in the sunrise, the sunset, the moon, the stars and the rainbow. All these beautiful sights and sounds of nature pleasure man. The rivers, the forests, the green mountains, the snow-capped peaks and flowers are beautiful objects of nature. They leave an impression on the mind of man.

Also, beautiful objects are a source of inspiration for poets who compose poetry beyond one’s imagination.

Keats was a great lover of beauty in all its varied forms. In most of his poems, Keats appreciates different forms of beauty. The dancing daffodils Wordsworth saw during his travels left a mark in his memory. He composed a poem on daffodils four years after that visit but he felt the same delight, which was reflected in the poem. This proves that any aspect of beauty leaves an ever-lasting impact on the human heart and soul.

The great Sanskrit poet Kalidas has also graphically described in his poem Kumar Sambhav, the beauty of the forest blooming all around with the touch of spring.

Let us talk about paintings, the paintings of Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, Hogarth, Rabindra Nath Tagore, Nand Lal Bose, M.F Hussain and others are a feast for the eyes and the mind. A painter always remains in search of a place where he could find any form of beauty whether of nature or human to adorn his canvas with the everlasting charm of beauty.

A musician too creates beauty by the harmonious blending of various notes and tunes. This harmony is a source of pleasure for the listeners. The music of Tansen, Baiju Dawra, Ustad Faiz Khan, Ustad Amjad Ali Khan, R.D Barman and others has been widely appreciated and applauded.

Several historical buildings all over the world are a great world. Taj Mehal and Qutub Minar,  in India, Eiffel Tower in Paris, the Opera House in Australia, The Great Wall of China and now Burj Khalifa in Dubai are some of the buildings which are famous for their beauty.

Spiritual beauty is something nobler and higher than physical beauty. It is related to the beauty of the inner spirit and soul.  The pleasures and jobs we derive from it are inspirational.

MY EXPERIENCE

I recollect the watercolour paintings in our house one with the caption – Darling, believe me, I love you – under the pair of sparrows and the second one of a photograph clicked by bringing the image of the sun between the thumb and first finger with caption – The day is not far, when we will catch the sun – used to be a source of attraction for the lovers of beauty on visit to our place.

Frankly speaking, beauty is present everywhere in nature, literature, sculpture, architecture, stone, wood, and bricks only when they are used artistically. The beauty of any sort has a mesmerizing effect on our minds.