Saraswati

The art of Madhubani has refinement, continuity and a literary base which is unexpected in the folk art of a village people. This art is born of indigenous talent, free from complicated technical doctrines, and depicts realities of life.

The subject matter for most ritualistic paintings is one or the other heavenly forms. In the representation of the spiritual ideals and forms of gods, however, we have an effusion of external nature as spiritually conceived showing the harmony of spiritual ideas with objects of nature in the form of flowers, creepers, birds or animals.

Saraswati is the Goddess of knowledge and fine arts. She is majestically seated on a royal swan, playing the 'veena', a musical instrument. She holds a rosary in one hand and a religious text (or a scientific treatise) in another. Colors have a major role to play in this painting. Energy and passion find expression through the use of bright pinks, yellows and greens. The aura of the deity is depicted through a range of half open to fully bloomed flowers, intertwined stems, leaves, etc. filling up the entire space of the painting because emptiness would be tantamount to infecundity. Beyond the aura is the circular pattern. Circles are auspicious in the Hindu tradition- consider the sun, the moon, the circular dot on a woman's forehead, circles around the sacred fire as a wedding ritual and so on. They symbolize the cycle of life that goes on.

The subtle juxtaposition, the sublime concepts of beauty, divinity and universality contained in this painting is unparalleled. It has extraordinary simplicity and forceful appeal which makes it unique.

This description by Renu Rana.