Description
Humanity has always liked stories. From the walls of caves with stories of cattle, to entire libraries that fit into our palms, humankind has come a long way through history with the same sense of wonder about stories, intact. Indian Mythology is full of stories. The two main epics, Ramayana and Mahabharata, have been told and re-told in myriad ways and artforms. They contain wonderous characters that guide us through their virtues and vices alike. Mahabharata is an epic with multiple avenues of interpretation, that looks completely enticing when being looked at, from the lens of gender. The key characters of Mahabharata are even more invigorating and inspiring when rendered in the female form, giving us a sharp sense of our own perspective, and a closer sense of identification with the story. This series, “Mahila Bharat”, a collection of paintings, is my humble attempt to marry the gorgeous characters of a common story we all know, and present it from a female frame of reference while parallelly addressing common social issues and emotions of the modern life we lead, as the female tribe of this planet.
Vidhura
Oh, you poor woman.
You can’t rule
Not because you are not wise
Not because you are not strong
Not because you are not willing
It is because
You are born wrong.
Your mother was a maid.
Vyasa’s DNA
Is what made you minister, at least.
You and your people
Must stay in the shadows.
We will give you ropes.
We call it reservation.
Sometimes aid.
Sometimes Justice.
But we will question it,
Cut it,
Withdraw it,
At will.
We will even tax your breasts.
You are welcome to hang yourself
With these ropes.
Some do.
In fact, some did.
Anita, did.
But some,
Just some,
Pushed through.
Demanded land.
Jobs.
Opportunities.
Wore blue Coats
Black glasses
And wrote
The Constitution.
That declared
All men and women are equal.
Some woman
Even dared to educate girls.
She wore the mark on her
Forehead like you do.
You know what makes
You come down the cliff
To seats of power?
Your Audacity
Sheer Audacity
Of Hope.
– Ropes of Justice.
Reviews
There are no reviews yet.