Follow tripathibharat on Twitter   

Artist Note

The Ramayana

Stories on Indian mythologies intrigued me ever since my childhood days. It took me into the world of fantasy as bedtime stories told to me by my grandmother or mother. As a kid, I read the stories of Hindu gods and goddesses in Amar Chitra Katha comics. I went to a convent school where the moral science periods installed the good values in me; but I was bereft of the Indian mythology. My only connect to mythology was the different festivals at home. However, for me, the festivities such as killing of Ravana on Dussera or lighting of lamps and bursting crackers on Diwali or rather the fun and frolic associated with these festivals was more important than the stories behind them.

It was only after three decades that I started deving myself into mythology when I did my first solo show navdurga. I found it very interesting and I started to read and explore the stores behind various gods and goddesses. My mind did not question how and why but tried to extrat the relevance then and what has come down to us till date. That’s how my journey began in religious art and I tried to transform these stories in contemporary art form in my previous solo shows.

My present works are inspired form Ramayana, one of our greatest epics and the story is known to almost every Indian. Ramayana is divided into chapers called kaand. For instance baalkaand is from the birth of rama to his marriage to sita; ayodhya kaand is the exile of rama for 14 years; aranya kaand is the time spent by rama, sita and lakshman in the forest where shoorpanakha tries to unsuccessfully seduce rama and as revenge ravana abducts sita; kishkindha kaand is when rama and laksham reach kiskindha in search of sita meet sugreev, the king of vaanar (monkeys); sunder kaand is entirely dedicated to hanuman and rama reaching lanka and killing of ravana, sita’s agni pariksha, and rama coming back to ayodhya after 14 year of exile to become the king of ayodhya. Uttar kaand is believed to have been written later, which narrates banishment of sita, birth of luv kush, the sons of rama, aswamedha yagna and sita entering the earth her mother.

I have tried to show the above story on twelve canvases. I have conceptualized the entire Ramayana in such a manner that every kaand is conveyed in one canvas or sometime two canvases.

As a Hindu, for me Rama is one of our gods, an incarnation of Vishnu. The story set the ideals and morals, which have been engrained in us. Rama the ideal son, ideal king, ideal husband. And so on, sita the ideal wife, queen, and daughter. The good always wins and the dad is destroyed. As an artist, for me, these ideals are universal irrespective of religion and I have tried to take the essence of Ramayana and present it in an absolutely form.

I would like to dedicate this show to S H Raza who inspired, encouraged and mentored me to follow my heart and paint, and ms Anjolie Ela Menon who has been guiding me with patience in teaching the techniques and nuances which I could have never learnt in an art school.

Bharat Tripati