Birth of Lord Ganesha (An Action Packed Painting)

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As the Shiva Maha Purana has it, shy as Parvati was by nature, one day when going to take a bath she deployed Nandi, one of Shiva’s ganas and his mount, on the door of the house with instructions not to let anybody, whoever, enter in. After a while Shiva happened to reach there. Nandi passed on to him the mother Parvati’s words but Shiva did not pay heed to him and went in. Nandi, his mere gana, could not obstruct him from entering. From Shiva Parvati learnt that Nandi had prayed him not to go in but he did not care. As for Nandi, a mere gana of Shiva himself, had no capacity, status or strength wise, to stop his master. Deeply hurt but helpless, Parvati began thinking how to counter her privacy’s invasion, even by Shiva. As all who attended upon her were Shiva’s ganas, not her, and were Nandi-like helpless, she could not secure her privacy with their help.

One day, one of Parvati’s companions pointed out that on the strength of Shiva’s ganas she could not stop Shiva from trespassing her privacy. Hence, for guarding the doors she should find someone loyal to her and she could lay her trust on. Parvati liked the idea and one day when bathing, she moulded her body’s rubbish into a human form and infused life into it, thus from it emerged a tall, robust, mighty, lustrous youth. Born of her part, Parvati called him her son and in reverence the boy bowed to her. Parvati gave him the responsibility of guarding the house. One day, as before, when going to bath, she instructed him not to allow anyone to enter in. However, a little after there came Shiva but before he entered the house the boy stopped him. The mother’s instructions apart, he did not know him. Shiva revealed his identity to the boy but it did not impress the boy. He thereupon commanded his ganas to set the boy right but on the contrary the boy thrashed them all and made them flee. As Shiva desired, various gods too tried to suppress him but he punished them all. This immensely enraged Shiva. In rage he hurled his trident on the boy and severed his head.

Parvati heard about her son’s death. She rushed to him and finding him dead shook all three worlds with her anger and grief. She created various Shaktis and commanded them to destroy the creation if her son was not revived. Brahma, Vishnu and other gods, terrified by Parvati’s wrath, prayed Shiva to revive the child and evade world’s destruction. Shiva also realised the error as also the need of reviving the boy. He commanded his ganas to go northwards and bring the head of whoever they first met. The ganas returned with an elephant that they had first encountered. Shiva planted it on the torso of the boy, which revived him, though with an elephant head. Shiva nominated the elephant-headed boy as the commander of his ganas with ‘Ganesh’ as his name and epithet.

The painting, unique in its narrative fervour and boldly conceived figures, has been rendered jointly by Vidya Devi and Dhirendra, the well known Madhubani artists. It begins its narration from the top right corner. Multi-coloured vertical forms modeled like flames and with floral plants at their roots are symbolic of the Mount Kailash. Incidentally, towards the centre of the canvas where Shiva is seen resorting to Tandava similar forms are repeated but without floral plants. They symbolise flames of fire emitting from Shiva’s body during Tandava. The presence and absence of floral plants, symbolic of life’s presence and absence, makes one different from the other. Besides these flames-like forms symbolic of Mount Kailash, the arch under which Parvati stands instructing Nandi, a bed form symbolic of her privacy and a rectangle filled with water, symbolic of her bath, comprise Parvati’s home at Kailash.

The legend grows horizontally. Nandi asks Shiva not to go in and thus other related events by implication. Right under Parvati’s image in the arch she has been represented as sharing her annoyance for Shiva with one of her companions who suggests her for finding someone loyal to her alone. Under her home panel she is seen casting a child’s form out of her and then a boy standing before her. Then the story shifts back to upper register where child Ganesh is confronting Nandi and Shiva’s other ganas. Ganesh pushes Nandi with one of his feet and Nandi falls on the ground. Shiva’s destructing Tandava shakes the cosmos and the five-headed Brahma and Vishnu reclining on serpent Shesh along with Lakshmi rush to appease Shiva. The legend grows likewise through other groups of images. A panel portraying Lakshmi consoling Parvati on the death of Ganesh, her son, adds to painting’s classicism a folk touch.

This description by Prof. P.C. Jain and Dr. Daljeet. Prof. Jain specializes on the aesthetics of literature and is the author of numerous books on Indian art and culture. Dr. Daljeet is the curator of the Miniature Painting Gallery, National Museum, New Delhi. They have both collaborated together on a number of books.

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Colors of Tradition: Exploring the Artistry Behind Madhubani Paintings

Madhubani painting is also known as Mithila art as it is practiced in the Mithila region of India and Nepal. It has specifically originated from the Madhubani district of the state of Bihar. Traditionally, the women of this region created these paintings and in recent years, it has become a widely practiced art and has now become renowned throughout the world. This art expresses the creativity and culture of the people of Mithila and is passed from one generation to another. In this way, the heritage of Madhubani art has been preserved for many decades. The subjects of these paintings are usually religion, love, and fertility. Sometimes, social events like festivals, weddings, and royal court are also depicted in the paintings. The most commonly painted designs and themes are the forms of Hindu Gods and Goddesses such as Ganesha, Shiva, Saraswati, Lakshmi, Krishna, and Ram. The characteristic features of Madhubani paintings are their vibrant colors and eye-catching geometrical patterns. The empty spaces are filled with traditional motifs such as floral and foliate patterns, animals, birds, geometrical structures, and other designs. The local artists create these paintings using a variety of items such as matchsticks, twigs, brushes, pens, or even their own fingers. The paints are usually made with natural dyes and pigments.
As simple as it may seem, the making process of the world-famous Madhubani paintings is certainly not easy and requires lots of hard labor.

Traditional Madhubani paintings are done either on cloth, handmade paper, or canvas. Select the medium of painting as per your choice. If you have chosen cloth, attach it to cardboard to make a solid base. The making of the painting begins with making a double-lined border. This is a very important step because the border is filled with various geographical shapes and patterns or other motifs. The average width of the border is 1.5 - 2 cm. Now that the border is created, you will be left with a blank middle space. This is the main workspace. Start drawing your choice of figure, designs, and shapes. These must be relevant to the Madhubani painting themes.

When the key design has been made, the empty spaces in between are filled with some designs.
Now is the time to color the painting using vivid shades and hues. Colors in Madhubani are sourced from nature; Indigo is used to produce blue, flower juice produces red, turmeric gives yellow, leaves produce green, cow dung mixed soot gives black, and rice powder gives white.

To paint these colors, the artist uses a bamboo stick and wraps cotton around it. This acts as a traditional brush.
The entire painting is now painted using this special brush with natural vibrant colors. · However, in modern times, the common brush is used and instead of natural colors, artists prefer to use acrylic paints.

Since the entire painting is made with natural materials and colors, it appears simple yet enriching. Originally, this art was created on mud walls or soil grounds but when it evolved over many years, the people of Madhubani started to make it on fabric and paper. Today, this art has become globalized and is receiving worldwide attention and appreciation.