Sita ke sakala dekhi jakhati jana kari
Si Sita bheli byahana jo gayo hariyargo
Bara bhamanani payela dhanusha ke dela utha gaye ho
Desha hi dhesh ke Ram ni loka ela dhanusha ke chubi chubi jaye ho
Desa baithela Sita dharma pukarti jodhe ji ta to bhaga manayo
When King Janak sees his daughter Sita's face
He realises ruefully that his daughter is of marriageable age
The big palace is being cleaned with green cow dung
And the bow has been kept against the wall
Beautiful people from across kingdoms come, but can only touch the bow
Sita sits and prays, wondering who is fated to be her partner
SHANTI Devi begins the story of Sita insisting that she encompasses the struggles of women and to see her and paint her life is to free themselves from the gaze so omnipresent that one must remind the world that she wasn't just the wife of Ram but a woman in her own right who was also an ecofeminist. Padma Shri Shanti Devi, an expert in Mithila painting and Godna art, hails from Laheriya Ganj in Madhubani, Bihar.
She was at the Bihar Museum as part of a contingent of 30 artists from Bihar who were to paint scenes from Sita's life as part of the Vaidehi Sita art camp cum exhibition held in Patna from July 31 to August 7. In the scene that Shanti Devi was painting, Sita was sitting in Ashok Vatika, amid lush green trees, birds and animals, and Hanuman was giving her a ring.
Shanti Devi wasn't allowed for a long time to paint gods and goddesses as she belongs to the Paswan community, also known as Dusadh a Mahadalit community in Bihar.
Denne historien er fra August 21, 2024-utgaven av Outlook.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent ? Logg på
Denne historien er fra August 21, 2024-utgaven av Outlook.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
Trump's White House 'Waapsi'
Donald Trump's victory in the US presidential election may very well mean an end to democracy in the near future
IMT Ghaziabad hosted its Annual Convocation Ceremony for the Class of 2024
Shri Suresh Narayanan, Chairman Managing Director of Nestlé India Limited, congratulated and motivated graduates at IMT Ghaziabad's Convocation 2024
Identity and 'Infiltrators'
The Jharkhand Assembly election has emerged as a high-stakes political contest, with the battle for power intensifying between key players in the state.
Beyond Deadlines
Bibek Debroy could engage with even those who were not aligned with his politics or economics
Portraying Absence
Exhibits at a group art show in Kolkata examine existence in the absence
Of Rivers, Jungles and Mountains
In Adivasi poetry, everything breathes, everything is alive and nothing is inferior to humans
Hemant Versus Himanta
Himanta Biswa Sarma brings his hate bandwagon to Jharkhand to rattle Hemant Soren’s tribal identity politics
A Smouldering Wasteland
As Jharkhand goes to the polls, people living in and around Jharia coalfield have just one request for the administration—a life free from smoke, fear and danger for their children
Search for a Narrative
By demanding a separate Sarna Code for the tribals, Hemant Soren has offered the larger issue of tribal identity before the voters
The Historic Bonhomie
While the BJP Is trying to invoke the trope of Bangladeshi infiltrators”, the ground reality paints a different picture pertaining to the historical significance of Muslim-Adivasi camaraderie