Comparative Analysis of Bharat Mata by M. F. Hussain, D. Bannerjee and Abanindranath Tagore

Comparative Analysis of Bharat Mata by M. F. Hussain, D. Bannerjee and Abanindranath Tagore

“All religions are like a dark labyrinth. Men are religious by the force of habit. They never pause to ask whether what they ask for is true. After all, it was our ancients who created fables and named them religion. Musa, Isa and our own Prophet were great leaders of their times when the people were in trouble. More than that I do not believe.” – Hind from the Book- Shadows of the Pomegranate Tree by Tariq Ali.

Bharat Mata or Mother India, is a personification of a woman as country of India. Many times Bharat Mata is depicted as an Indian Goddess, most likely Goddess Durga holding the national flag and clad in white or orange saree. Bharat Mata came into being and symbolized the freedom struggle during the late 19^th century. It has been debated that this image of Bharat Mata is biased towards Hinduism and doesn’t suffice to the multi-religious and multi-culture population of India. Let us take a look at three different depictions of Bharat Mata by M. F. Hussain, D. Bannerjee and Abanindranath Tagore.

Bharat Mata/Mother India (?)

M F Husain

2009

Oil on canvas

Controversial about its title and depiction of Bharat Mata, she is shown nude and colored in a hue of matte red. The painting uses vivid colors and shades of red, blue and yellow ochre contrasting with black and white. The posture and facial expressions of the woman depicted is very uneasy and restrained and forced. It feels like she has been tied by her hands and legs to something which is not defined; however, pointing towards the neighboring countries. Though, one can see black lines on wrists and ankle.  From her head emerge mountain like strokes symbolizing the Himalayas and a white sun shining alongside. On her right fore-arm is white colored wheel symbolizing the invention of a wheel by the stone-age man? It may symbolize the Ashoka-chakra on the national flag and the spiritual teachings of Gautama Buddha, but the wheel in the painting has fourteen spokes and that in the Ashoka- chakra has 24.

On the body of the woman portrayed are names of different cities and states of India like Mumbai, Srinagar, Kerala, Chennai, Bangalore, Kochin, Delhi, Kolkata, Gujarat, Banaras and Goa. It depicts like how different parts of one single body are named and governed by the states, churning out the specialties of that particular part and region. For example, Gujarat is written on the left breast also hinting to the White Revolution? The human sitting in an up-straight body posture with his hands resting on the knees like a person meditating is painted in black, nude and back turned on to the audience. The human has a left profile to his face, looking towards the woman (Bharat Mata). To me, it symbolizes the Aryans who initiated the Hindu religion and also trade route in India. It may also imply the Afro-origin tribes like Sentinelese, Jarawa, situated in the Andaman and Nicobar islands who live in total isolation from the outside world. A boat on the left refers to the trade. The hull of the boat is painted in black and its mainsail painted in black, red and yellow ochre, referring to the Aryans forming the basis (black hull) and the multi-cultural products of India (colored mainsail). The body is not plainly painted in red, but has rubbings of black on it and scar like marks, implying the atrocities of various rulers India. Rest of the background is blue indicating water with waves drawn simply in black and white horizontal lines. The man in black sits on one of these white colored waves.

                                   

‘Bharat Mata in shackles’

D. Banerjee

c. 1930-40

Popular Print

D. Bannerjee’s print of Bharat Mata is a typical depiction of an Indian Goddess wearing a characteristic Maharashtrian nauwaari (nine yard) red saree, four hands holding a flag attached to the trishul, and rice sheaves, a golden headgear with white trinklets (characteristic to Bengali topur), adorned with golden jewelry and flower garland around the neck. Her hair are unkempt and spread across on the central part of the land. However, her two main hands are clasped and they are tied with shackles.

She stands on the physical geographical map of India depicting the various land formations, rivers, etc. She has a bright sun halo around her head which blur the northen region of India i.e. Kashmir. Above her, on the top are portraits of freedom fighters and political figures like Lala Lajpat Rai, Lokmanya Tilak, Motilal Nehru and Chittaranjan Das.

Her facial expressions are that of sadness and fatigue. The print also shows the Indian Ocean and Bay of Bengal surrounding the land of India with the islands of Andaman and Nicobar and the country Sri Lanka. Quite surprisingly, I also see the shape of Gujarat borders like a lion’s side profile face, as if growling.

Another spectacular aspect of the print is the flag attached to a trishul (mainly used by Lord Shiva). The flag is the early version of India’s flag, with Gandhi’s charkha symbolizing the Swadeshi Movement in India during the freedom struggle.

Also, one has to note that it is a popular print which was circulated across the country for a particular propaganda.

‘Bharat Mata’

Abanindranath Tagore

1905

Watercolour

Abanindranath Tagore, regarded as the Father or Modern Art in India, painted the Banga Mata in 1905 in water color. The woman like a sadhvi is clad in saffron robes (indicating Vaishnavism in Bengal), has four hands holding sheaves of rice, a white cloth, a book and jaapmala (thread of beads used for meditation). She also has a halo around her head and lotuses at her feet.

The light tinge of yellow used in the halo and near her feet, draw the attention of the viewers to her head and feet and then look at the painting.

Abanindranath’s Bharat Mata was firstly known as Banga Mata symbolizing the mother of the land of Bengal. However, as the freedom struggle started gearing up, the painting was adopted for the humanization of the Bharat Mata or Mother India.

The expression on the depicted woman is very determined and looks at the left. The body posture too is strong and indomitable. The painting is a mix of spirituality and firmness at the same time.

However, when this painting was adopted as Bharat Mata, it did not serve to the multi-cultural and multi-religious population of India, who were not Hindus and were forced to say ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’.

It is rather ironic, that with India’s patriarch oriented society, Bharat Mata is actually a woman and not a man. All the three representations, two paintings and the print depict a lady as the humanized form of the nation of India. Though each representation has its own meaning and interpretation.

M.F. Hussain’s oil painting seems to have a take on the human being and how boundaries, politics, power, religion take control of a person. The painting narrates it well, by using a man sitting with his back to the audience (a man shown in a painting of Mother India!) and a boat symbolizing trade and a patch of land, which is not actually the geographical representation. The portrayal of the natural elements such as the sun and mountains are on the top of the woman, but also entangled with her. The painting not only talks about the human and his control over a land for politics and power, but also how a human has taken control and abusing the natural elements. Hussain’s painting is a critique of India in contemporary times and of human kind.

In opposition to this D. Bannerjee’s print shows Bharat Mata, as a saffronized Hindu Goddess, with the politicians and prominent freedom fighters at the top. Nonetheless, it contradicts itself completely by showing the hands of the Goddess tied in shackles. It creates a mockery of the freedom yet to be achieved, at that time.

Abanindranath Tagore’s water color, meant to be a Banga Mata, adopted to be the Bharat Mata, in itself shows the insensitivity at that time, towards the multi-faced population of India. In this painting, it is not just the painting which narrates the story, but also its history which helps one understand the controversy and issues ‘surrounding the Bharat Mata’.

It was only said in the Preamble of the Constitution that India is a ‘social, secular, democratic Republic’. The politicians forgot to implement what they really preach. Considering the history of India and its freedom struggle and the partitions that unfolded, Tariq Ali’s words from The Shadows of the Pomegranate Tree do make sense. All of this is really a dark labyrinth.

~ Aishwarya Walvekar