Cultural confluence

New Delhi: Kathmandu-based artist Uma Shankar Shah belongs to Janakpur in Nepal, a city which finds an important historical reference in the Hindu epic Ramayan as the place where lord Ram’s wife Sita is said to have been born. Fifty-year-old Shah grew up listening to and watching the Ramayan being enacted and interpreted over and again. While the message of “good over evil” was inevitable, what inspired Shah’s art is the intriguing question: Why do we burn Ravana each year?

Over the years, as Shah tried to answer this question through his paintings and prints, he realized that there is a Ravana inside all human beings, “and that Ravana needs to be cleansed out regularly to let the bright colours of our soul shine”.

In his latest exhibition titled Sacred Spaces, starting 4 November, Shah has portrayed Ravana as the traditional firework puppet that is set alight on Dussehra to celebrate the victory of good over evil. His 17 works—three oil paintings and 14 prints—document much of the epic: the birth of Sita, the garlanding ceremony with the mighty bow, Sita’s trip to Ayodhya, her subsequent exile to the forest with Ram, her abduction by Ravana, and the search for her, as well as the battle that ensued between Ram and Ravana. “My narrative reinterprets the classical Mithila silhouette—with doe-like eyes—to depict the characters,” says Shah.

Though he is known for dark and nocturnal prints, the latest set of paintings, made between 2012-2014, use red and earthy colours to recreate the ancient frescoes where red and golden signify celebrations, and earth tones are reminiscent of the dust generated in the battle between Ram and Ravana. The war scenes have arrows darting across the canvas and elephants, horses and chariots lying among the dead and wounded. “I have also used ancient slokas from Maithili, Awadhi, Bhojpuri and Sanskrit in my works to reverently stir up the mood of this great epic,” says Shah.

While Shah’s works revolve mostly around Sita, Ram and Ravana, Hanuman, the trusted representative and ardent devotee of Ram, finds a special place in his wife Seema Sharma Shah’s prints, which will be displayed alongside Shah’s work.

Seema’s 15 prints encompass deities from the Hindu and Buddhist pantheons, including the Pancha and Dipankar Buddha, along with scenes of Krishna Leela. “When I came to Kathmandu after marrying Uma, I got inspired by the religious pulse of this city where Hindu and Buddhist cultures coexist,” says the 47-year-old artist.

They met while they were studying fine arts at the Banaras Hindu University in 1982, got married in 1995 and settled in Kathmandu.

In her paintings, Seema has interpreted the belief that Nepal is a great tantric shakti sthal, or power centre, “where the cult of the goddess has led to the worship of her many manifestations”—from the virgin goddess to the irate Kali. Seema has depicted the manifestations in the form of nava Durgas (nine avatars of the same goddess) and a portrayal of Kumari. Her paintings also depict the 10 avatars of the god Vishnu.

“The 10 avatars of Vishnu are also depicted in tune with the belief that Vishnu’s reincarnations are taken to eradicate evil, same as that in Ramayan,” says Shah. “That’s the common thread between the two works.”

Along with images of deities, her paintings encompass recurring elements like open doorways, surreal dreamscapes and dark colours that give her works a twilight-like feel.

“Both our works use techniques like etching, silk screen, embossing,” says Shah. The artists’ prints, most of them 40x80 inches in dimension, stand somewhere between a print and a painting. “Because painting is our traditional heritage and printing is more commercially viable,” says Shah. The couple are now working on another painting-print series in which they will keep trains as the central theme. “It will be exhibited in 2016,” says Shah.

Sacred Spaces will be on display at Shridharani Art Gallery, Triveni Kala Sangam, New Delhi, from 4-14 November, 11am-7pm. The exhibition will then continue at Gallerie Ganesha, E-557, Greater Kailash II, New Delhi, from 16 November-2 December. The works range in price from ₹ 1.25-8 lakh.