Ganga_MDI
Mother Ganga
Mandi, c 1650-75
Size: Image 311*184 mm; Sheet 352*225 mm
Artist : Unknown
Philadelphia Museum of Art
“O Mother! Necklace adorning the world!
Banner rising to heaven!
I ask that I may leave of this body
On your banks
Drinking your water,
rolling in your waves,
Remembering your name,
Bestowing my gaze upon
you.”
These beautiful lines from Ganga Stotra written by Adi Shankaracharya in
the 8th C.E. summarises the ultimate desire of a devout Hindu to
breathe his last on the banks of River Ganga for salvation. As Ganga descended
from heaven, she is a vehicle of ascent for these very people from earth to
heaven. From time immemorial people of this land have travelled to the banks of
Ganga to have a dip in the holy water and atone for their sins. They have
immersed the ashes of their kith and remembered their ancestors by cupping the
water in their hands, lifting it up and letting it fall back into the River
with complete submission. On their journey back they have carried the sacred
water in a Kuju or a copper pot and
stored it to sip and sprinkle in all their religious ceremonies of life and
death for purification. And at the time of the last breath, the holy water has
been given to the dying to let the soul merge with the Brahman - Divine forever
with ultimate reality. The painting is a personification of the mighty river who guides and purifies
the man to cross the sansar, the worldly
life.
In ancient Indian mythology water has been described
as the foundation of the whole world, the basis for life and elixir of
immortality. The Chhandogya Upnishad, 8th BCE, says “Prithivya Apo
Rasa” i.e “The water is the essence of Earth”. Rivers have been revered in
India, but Ganga is supreme and embodies the most prominent purifying liquid
power. “She is the liquid essence of the
scriptures, the Gods and the wisdom of the Hindu tradition. She is liquid in
essence, in sum, of Shakti – the energy and power of the Supreme, flowing in
the life of the world. Because she is already overflowing with the sacred,
there is no need for the usual rites of avahana and visarjan which invite the
Gods to be present at the beginning of worship and give them their leave to go
at the end.”1 The Ganga is every drop a Mother and Shakti to
all.
Long ago Ganga had agreed to flow upon the earth from
heaven after Brahma granted a boon to a King named Bhagirath, the ancestor of
Lord Ram. In her great mercy, she came to the aid of the king as his ancestors,
sixty thousand of them, had been burned to ash by the fierce glance of an angry
ascetic. Their souls had wandered as Ghosts as their final rites had not been
performed. The pure and divine water of Ganga could have lifted them up again
to live in peace in heaven. Bhagirath persuaded Shiva to catch the Ganges in
his jata, his maited hair, so that
the earth would not be shattered by her torrential force. And she plummeted
down from heaven to the Himalayas from the toe-nail of Lord Vishnu, where she entered
the tangled jata joot locks of Shiva.
The Ganges followed Bhagirath from the Himalayas across the plains through
Haridwar and Kashi and finally merging into the sea at Ganga Sagar. She entered
the netherworld and restored the dead ancestors of Bhagirath. She became Triloka-patha-gamini, one who travels in
the three Lokas or worlds
In the course of painting this image, the hill painter
would have given a thought to the very belief and tradition of the sacred water
in every Hindu household. The tradition of worship and utility of Ganga thereof
both in Karamkand (paraphernalia necessary for the practice of religion, rites
and rituals) and Gyankand (pursuit of knowledge as path to Salvation) leading
into the oneness of the Divine must have resonated in the mind of the artist. The
white robed goddess looks whiter than frost or the pearl and wears an opaque
and delicate head scarf. She adorns a saffron tilak or Kungu, as locally known, on her forehead and on her palms and wears
jewellery as thin and light to give a picture of grace and auspiciousness. She
gives a compassionate look holding a vessel of the sacred river or purna kumbha in one hand and a lotus
flower in the other, signifying purity and abundance. She wears a garland of
white flowers upto her waist just as she garlands the Earth to prosperity and
fertility. The rippling waves of water have been created with irregular lines
drawn with white pigment on grey background giving a magnificent look like a
full moon. She sits on an enormous makara,
her vahan, surrounded by two gharials or crocodiles and an elephant,
associated with water and marine animal in Indian paintings. The makara, a
crocodile like under sea monster with a tail of a dolphin, extends with great
flourish into a scrolling design symbolising both water and vegetation. The
makara represents fear, both fear of the unknown which it elicits by lurking in
those waters and real fear which it instils appearing in sight. White birds fly
across the monsoon dark clouds with the sky having a dash of orange colour of
the setting sun.
The painter creates an image of purity and a sense of
coolness prevails as one looks at the painting. The coolness required to remove
the heat produced by Traitap (three forms
of agonies that torment a man-Daikih- related to body; Bhautik- related to
other terrestrial creatures; Daivik – related to malignant stars). Ganga is
pure and cleansing and this purity requires the cultural understanding of what it
means for something to be pure or impure, clean or dirty. One cannot forget to
remember the beautiful lines of Tulsidas from Vinay Patrika sung by millions
standing near her ghats every evening:
“Jai Jai Bhagirath Nandini, Muni Chai Chakor
Chandini, Nar nag Bibudh Bandini Jai Jahanu Balika, Bisnu Pad Saroj Jasi, Eees
Seespar Vibhasi, Tripath Gasi, Putrurasi, Paap Chalika” (O’ Daughter of
Bhagarathi, Glory to you; For the sages represented by Chakors, you are the
moon; Humans, serpents and Gods pray and sing your glory. O’ daughter of
Jahanu! Glory to you; Born from the feet of Lord Vishnu, you adorn the head of Lord
Shiva and flow in three streams. You are a treasury of righteousness,
scrupulousness and good fortunes. You wash away the sins and evil.)
**---------------------------------------**
This painting belongs to the first phase
of the Mandi Hand paintings (middle of the 17th C) with a style
which had a Mughal influence. This style of paintings completely evaporated by
the time the illustrious Raja Sidh Sen became the ruler of Mandi at the end of
the 17th C. The style moved to being more localised, folk based and
unique leaving out the fineness as seen in the first phase to which this
painting belongs.
1. 1. Ganga:Sacred River of India by
Raghubir Singh
The Missing Link in Pahari Paintings - Lokinder Bisht
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