Lotus, a symbol of divinity, blooms in two exhbitions

The entire raison d’être of the lotus as being a concept where we humans are supposed to live life like the veritable lotus floating above the ‘bhavsagar’.

It is the lotus season, both literally and metaphorically. I seem to be running into lotuses everywhere. Maybe it is an answer to a spiritual quest of sorts But while I wait for the mystery to unravel, I am wading through a profusion of the beautiful flower in myriad forms. The trigger point was a Pushti Margi artist friend who wanted me to design a saree for her using the lotus as a leit motif. I created a symbolic lotus pond on a pearl-white silk from Kanchipuram using a wooden block that had a feel of shimmering water in what can be called “pherozi”, or light turquoise in common parlance, with flat application of colour like the pattachitra. Then I created a lotus pond of varying sizes of lotuses in gold and a blue-tinged pink that made the saree look like a painting. Both she and I were rather pleased with the result.

Then at artist Shampa Das’ ongoing show, Devi, the celestial flower was expectedly making its presence in a profusion of hues and styles for the flower is, after all, the most favoured perch of the goddesses. The entire raison d’être of the lotus as being a concept where we humans are supposed to live life like the veritable lotus floating above the “bhavsagar” of the mundane and the “keechad” or quagmire of life is an imagery that takes unusual forms in her paintings.

The philosophic rendering of the various forms of the goddess, set in what I would like to describe as dreamscapes, are replete with floating clouds that are reminiscent of the Buddhist tankhas and symbols of the various cults of the goddess, including the Shree yantra and Lakshmi’s feet, fish, swans, jaba, or hibiscus, flowers and trees. The androgynous gender non-specific forms of the “Devi” too have Buddhist iconographic influences, especially the luminous eyes — either open or in a wakeful shut state. The application of colour in her works in layers has a translucent feel to it — so wonderfully possible with acrylics. I think artistically this show is Shampa’s transient space where she is poised for a leap into another phase after the Buddhist iconographic works. I like the languid speed with which this phase is easing out and the next is yet to manifest itself.

Another artist Rita Jhunjunwala whose show, Unsullied, opens today too has played with the lotus as her central theme. It is a theme that has been her all-time favourite and which she dips into time and again in several ways, colours and dimensions, perhaps as a quest for perfection. It reminds me of a line that Pandit Birju Maharaj often says: “Audiences sometimes accuse me of repeating myself. But they don’t see that in every ta thai tat thai that I perform, there is always something that is new. Because I keep changing.”

My point exactly. When the ‘I’ in ‘you’ changes, the perspective changes and takes on a hue that is different all the time. The hues of gold and charcoal and crimson and blue that she had used in her series lend a warmth and depth to this series.

However, the one lotus pond that will always remain etched in my mind, undoubtedly, is of an endless car ride across Bihar when I nodded off and when I opened my eyes, I thought I had died and gone to heaven. In front of my eyes was a huge lotus pond without a drop of water showing and simply filled to the brim with deep crimson lotuses.

In the centre of the pond was a small temple in snowy white marble with delicate lattice carved walls from which dappled the liquid gold of a setting winter sun. It turned out to be the samadhi of Lord Mahavira. The feel of the cold marble under my bare feet is vivid still as is the feeling of silent peace as I stood admiring the blooming lotuses bathed in the golden sun.

Another sight I will never forget is of a monsoon in Mandu in Madhya Pradesh, where it is said the rain falls as if from a sieve. It is the only time I have ever seen such a profusion of rainbows. It was as if they were following me and appearing dramatically in an astounding dance of the vibgyor. Here amidst the ruins of Mandu, where the legend of Rani Roopmati and Baz Bahadur is still alive as if it happened yesterday, stands the imposing Jahaz Mahal that is shaped like a ship.

I treaded softly on the stairs that Roopmati must have climbed a million times and when I reached the top and looked down, I saw this unforgettable sight of the shimmering rainbows and the clear waters of the pond replete with clusters of blue lotuses blooming in their breathtaking magnificence.

With all these lotuses floating and blooming in my heart, I wandered through the streets of Ujjain afterwards to find the lotus ittar in my almost naïve but deeply aesthetic desire to smell the heavenly whiff again. Naïve, for no ittar can replicate the real thing! But of that another time. For this moment, all I want to wallow in is the eternal romance of the lotus, or is it a deep seated desire to be one with the lotus feet

Dr Alka Raghuvanshi is an art writer, curator and artist and can be contacted at alkaraghuvanshi@yahoo.com