Shiva_MDI20th
Shiva
Mandi, Early 20th C
Size: 36”*24”
Oil on canvas
Private collection of Bisht Suresh Chander of Wazir
family, Mandi
Artist: Ghayia Narotam
As we look at this remarkable
divine image, one can only imagine the dhyan
stotra from the ancient scriptures which must have resonated in the mind of
Narotam while putting colour on the canvas. The painting has that engaging iconography
of Shiva which spreads the coolness of ambrosia from the crescent moon shining
on the temple of the lord. The dhatura
flower bejewelled on the head adds to the beauty. Ganga flows down from the matted hair yogic
bun of Shiva and there on the neck hangs the garland of the greatest serpent
with its’ eyes shining like lustrous gems. The throat of the lord is dark with
the halahal1 held from the
great amrit manthan2 and which
appears like several layers of clouds packed closely on the night of the new
moon. Shiva wears a leopard skin with its’ exalted head hanging from his left shoulder and at the centre is the right hand
in a sophisticated divine mudra. The Tripundra mark on the forehead under the
powerful third eye adds beauty to his oval shaped face which occupies a space
between photography and painting. But what is most striking is the powerful look
in the eyes of the Lord, deep in meditation and yet looking outwards at the
devotee. One transforms immediately into a transcendental state of mind and the thought merges with the majesty of the
Lord.
He is not an ascetic, for how can one who carries a weapon be
an ascetic? He is not a householder, for he lives in the cremation ground. He
is not a celibate, for he has a wife. He cannot be a forest-dweller, for he is
drunk with the conceit of his lordship.
He is not a Brahmin,
for the Vedas do not know him as one. Since he carries a spear and a trident,
he might be kshatriya, but he is not.
Since he delights in the destruction of the world, he cannot be a kshatriya,
who protects the world from harm. And how can he be a vaishya, for he never has any wealth? He is not even a shudra, for he wears the snake as a
sacred thread. So he is beyond the castes (varna)
and the stages of life (ashram).
Everyone is known by its original source (prakriti), but Shiva the immovable has
no original source. He is not a man, because half his body is female. And yet
he is not a woman, because he has a beard. He is not even a eunch, because his
phallus (linga) is worshipped. He is not a boy, for he is great in years, that
fearsome one, and he is proclaimed in the worlds as beginning-less and ageless.
How can he be young when he is so ancient? And yet he is not old, for he is
without old age and death.”3
The paintings of Ghayia Narotam
who was active in Mandi State in the late 19th C/ early 20TH
C adorn the walls of the Palace of the
erstwhile Royal family and a few Nobles. While B.N.Goswamy has written about him
in the early 1960s, the artist remains uncrowned and anonymous in the world of
art. He followed the footsteps of his ancestors – the unknown hill painters,
bringing in that sublime style and depth. It is after all an unfair world where
a few deserving remain unnoticed!
1.Poison
2.The Churning of the Ocean
3,Kashi Khand of the Skanda Puran. (Translation from Banaras, City of Light by Diana L.Eck)
The Missing Link in Pahari Paintings – Lokinder Bisht
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