A divine life in the Carpathians

How Paraska Plytka-Horytsvit, who always had India in her heart, became the synonym for overcoming all odds

- Mridula Ghosh

AT A LARGE EXHIBITION named “Overcoming Gravity’’ in Kyiv in 2019, I bowed my head in front of her giant portrait. If you don’t recognise Paraska Plytka-Horytsvit, you might think that she is a teacher, a writer or a philosopher. No one would believe that she had studied only till grade four. She defied the system that branded people as ‘educated’ and ‘uneducated’, remained a devout believer in an atheist land, and loved her Carpathian lands deeply. And now I am in her homeland, right in the heart of her creative world!

Paraska took more than 4,000 photos, which surround us like waves in the ocean, reminding us of the lives and lifestyles of her forgotten ancestors. She is hailed as the Vivian Maier of Ukraine, a self-taught photographer, documenting life and nature around. But she is more than that. She created icons, paintings, drawings, and wrote books—theological works and prayers, fairy tales, stories and poetry—the range is as wide as it could be. She wrote 46 big books, running into around 500 pages each, and hundreds of small books, and all of them were handwritten. “My books are my children,” she used to say. Neatly folded and bound, stored in cartons or as scrolls, decorated with paper cuttings, all these were “hand made”! By one person, during the span of one life! Such items are so fashionable now. We diligently look for them in ‘fair trade’ stores and show them off when needed and not needed.