Journalism of Courage
Madhubani artist Megha Kumar depicts scenes of weddings and episodes from the Ramayana and Mahabharata through her art work
Shocked by seeing his relatives as the enemies he needs to battle with,Arjuna drops his weapon,the Gandiwa,in the chariot. Krishna takes on the role of an advisor and explains the distinction between the material body and eternal spiritual soul to Arjuna. This incident,known as the Geetopadesh,along with many more such scenes from the Ramayana and Mahabharatha are depicted in Megha Kumar’s Madhubani paintings. The painter equips her paintings with significant details as well — the four horses pulling the chariot shown in the painting are Valakha,Meghapushpa,Sugreeva and Kamagha and the other four Pandawas are also shown on the canvas.
I used to draw landscapes and figures but when I came across this Madhubani form of art,I wanted to try my hand at it. After finishing my schooling,I enrolled into the Kalakriti Institute in Mithila for six months of formal training in the art form. I learnt the basic and was then left to follow my heart with my art, says Kumar,who is presently based in Pune.
Her paintings are done with acrylic and fabric colours and are divided into two techniques– kachni,which involves filling of figures by checks and lines,and bharni,where the painter fills the figures with solid paint. Though her paintings are mostly figurative,they are highly symbolic as well. Parrots symbolise sex,which is a level of intimacy that is involved in a man-and-wife relationship. That is why when I paint wedding scenes,there is a parrot to symbolize the intimate bonding that the man and wife will share, she describes.
