Krishna is a magical subject to draw. Many great poets, writers, composers, sculptors, dancers and painters have been inspired by Him. Who could resist his playful charm, or his countless qualities of excellence, grace and beauty. This outpouring of Bhakti is a feeling and emotion which is better experienced when one starts loving Him.
Exposed to an environment of bhajan and pravachan from my early years and exploring the various techniques in painting culminated in a loving and eternal Krishna. The blessings of the various Gurus along the way also was the subject grace of Krishna.
With the advent of social (electronic) media, a small beginning was made by posting my works on Krishna under the hashtag 'Krishna for Today' in a few popular platforms Twitter and Facebook. Many people wrote comments on the various paintings of Krishna. One such writer on Facebook was Smt. Smitha Raghunath. She began to write in detail for my posts on Krishna. With her keen observation of the visuals she took note of ideas in the paintings. She could elaborate with relevant shlokas or references from the epics or verses from various composers. It is like translating a painting into words. Something in the realm of abstraction. With the explanations, the painting seemed to establish itself, as though endorsed by the sages and composers in the field of bhakti.
With her multiple talents, Smithaji enriches her writing by decorating Krishna with words in Sanskrit, Tamizh, Kannada and Telugu. It adds to the charm of Krishna (the book is aptly named 'The Universal Charmer').
An experienced Bharatanatyam dancer grounded in our epics and puranas, she quotes from saints like Thyagaraja, Dikshitar, Purandaradasa, Kanakadasa, Annamacharya, Oothukkadu Venkata kavi, Narayana Bhattadri, Leela Shuka, Sant Keshavdas etc., to substantiate the paintings and enhancing their appeal. Works of Acharyas Sri Sankara, Sri Ramanuja, Sri Vallabhacharya and Swami Desika are also discussed in detail. The dancer in her always likes to understand the sahitya (the composition) before expressing them through bhava and movement.
Besides, she is a good painter too, well aware of the various styles a techniques, both oriental (Eastern) and classic realism and other movements of west. Sometimes, she can spot some figures suggested in negative spaces, which she would clarify for the benefit of the reader. The combination is one that any person in the arts would dream to possess. That she chose to express herself through the paintings of Krishna in the virtual world is a divine occurrence.
She also elaborates on bird and animal kingdom in detail: the family of various species: bovine, canine, leonine, pachyderm, psittacines, snakes etc.
On occasions, she will reach out to me for clarifying her doubts. For example the character of orangutan which I began to use to represent one who loved Krishna, Krishnapremi. Many mistook it for Hanuman. Then I explained to her why that species was chosen to represent the one who loves Krishna. Also for a particular series when I used the Fibonacci sequence in my compositions. These doubts begin in conversations where many other doubts will be cleared, for both the artist and the writer. For a graceful dance posture, she identifies it as Flamenco. And when Krishna hugs Kamadhenu, she associates it with the Paramacharya's composition of 'Maithreem Bhajatha an ode to world peace where a good idea is sublimated to a different level.
This book, The Universal Charmer' is a selection of her writings on Facebook for my paintings. She has grouped her selection to focus more on the different aspects of Krishna, beginning with his extraordinary birth at midnight. The way the book has been arranged, it looks like a mini Bhagavatha, the purana which sets the grammar for bhakti.
We enter the world of Devaki and Vasudeva, Yashoda's divine fortune, Putana moksha, adoration by the Gopikas, Bala Leela, Gajendra moksha, Tiruppavai, the legend of Andal and Meera, Rukmini haranam, the idea of Radha and Krishna etc.
Bhagavan's Gitopadesha, Vishnu Sahasranama is also a part of the detailing process. In short, it has everything one would like to drown in bhakti, just as the Azhwars did.
It would be a wonderful, spiritual journey to the students of art and aficionados of music and dance to get a nectar-like whiff of bhakti spread out in visuals and words, through the author.
Vedas (1196)
Upanishads (502)
Puranas (633)
Ramayana (747)
Mahabharata (362)
Dharmasastras (167)
Goddess (503)
Bhakti (243)
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