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Lot Essay
Are there not many places on this Earth?
Yet which one of them would equal in the balance one speck of Kashi's dust?
Are there not many rivers running to the sea?
Yet which of them is like the river of heaven in Kashi?
Are there not many fields of liberation on earth?
Yet not one equals the smallest part of the city never forsaken by Shiva.
The Ganges, Shiva and Kashi: Where this Trinity is watchful, no wonder here is found the grace that leads one to perfect bliss.
(Kashikhanda, Skandapurāna, 35, 7-10; as published in, D. Eck, Banares: City of Light, New York, 1998, frontispiece)
There is no place in India more inextricably tied to Hindu mythology – the understanding of life, death and the cycle of regeneration – than the holy city of Banaras (now known as Varanasi, but also referred to historically as Kashi). This site of spiritual pilgrimage on the banks of the River Ganges was founded by Lord Shiva according to Hindu mythology, and is one of the most ancient inhabited cities in the world, cited as far back as the Vedas and the Puranas.
The sacred Ganges was named after the goddess Ganga, who as both giver of life and carrier of the dead, represents the contradictory forces of life and death. In Banaras, the many ghats (steps leading down into the river) are instantly recognizable, often as sites of holy rites and festivals, acting as a bridge between water and earth, life and death, the sacred and the profane. Tied to the past, but very much in the present, the continuum that is Banaras has enthralled travelers and pilgrims for centuries.
In 1961, Maqbool Fida Husain and Ram Kumar visited Banaras together and were captivated by the city. Ram Kumar describes the impact of their first encounter, writing, “It was the middle of winter. And I had reached the city late at night. The dimly lit lanes were deserted and gave an impression of a ghostly deserted city. Except for the occasional howl of stray dogs, all was quiet. I thought the city was inhabited only by the dead and their dead souls. It looked like a haunted place and still remains the same [...] Every sight was like a new composition, a still life artistically organised to be interpreted in colours. It was not merely outward appearances which were fascinating, but they were vibrant with an inner life of their own, very deep and profound, which left an everlasting impression on my artistic sensibility” (Artist statement, G. Gill ed., Ram Kumar: A Journey Within, New Delhi, 1996, p. 89).
The radical transformation in Ram Kumar’s practice as a result of this encounter is widely documented. However, Banaras also had a powerful creative impact on Husain. The intensity of the ancient city’s landscape, steeped in culture and tradition, inspired the artist to create a series of paintings, drawings and prints. The present lot, painted about a decade after this transformative visit, highlights the lasting impact Husain’s encounter with the city’s iconic ghats had on his life and work.
Husain’s first images of the city, painted in the 1960s, were frequently rendered in muted tones and focused on bleakness and austerity underlining the graver aspects of the cycle of human life. What makes the present lot, painted a decade later and titled Banaras Ghat, unique is Husain’s use of a joyful, bright palette and inclusion of some of his most iconic subjects. Against the background of the holy city of Varanasi, three statuesque female figures, most likely bathers, are positioned on a ghat. Along with two bulls, the figures in this composition are reminiscent of those in Husain’s iconic painting Yatra, depicting a pilgrimage or procession, entirely fitting for the setting of this painting. Bathed in the light of the evening sun, the figures in Banaras Ghat come together in a deeply esoteric example of Husain’s portrayal of the multifaceted essence of this holy city.
Yet which one of them would equal in the balance one speck of Kashi's dust?
Are there not many rivers running to the sea?
Yet which of them is like the river of heaven in Kashi?
Are there not many fields of liberation on earth?
Yet not one equals the smallest part of the city never forsaken by Shiva.
The Ganges, Shiva and Kashi: Where this Trinity is watchful, no wonder here is found the grace that leads one to perfect bliss.
(Kashikhanda, Skandapurāna, 35, 7-10; as published in, D. Eck, Banares: City of Light, New York, 1998, frontispiece)
There is no place in India more inextricably tied to Hindu mythology – the understanding of life, death and the cycle of regeneration – than the holy city of Banaras (now known as Varanasi, but also referred to historically as Kashi). This site of spiritual pilgrimage on the banks of the River Ganges was founded by Lord Shiva according to Hindu mythology, and is one of the most ancient inhabited cities in the world, cited as far back as the Vedas and the Puranas.
The sacred Ganges was named after the goddess Ganga, who as both giver of life and carrier of the dead, represents the contradictory forces of life and death. In Banaras, the many ghats (steps leading down into the river) are instantly recognizable, often as sites of holy rites and festivals, acting as a bridge between water and earth, life and death, the sacred and the profane. Tied to the past, but very much in the present, the continuum that is Banaras has enthralled travelers and pilgrims for centuries.
In 1961, Maqbool Fida Husain and Ram Kumar visited Banaras together and were captivated by the city. Ram Kumar describes the impact of their first encounter, writing, “It was the middle of winter. And I had reached the city late at night. The dimly lit lanes were deserted and gave an impression of a ghostly deserted city. Except for the occasional howl of stray dogs, all was quiet. I thought the city was inhabited only by the dead and their dead souls. It looked like a haunted place and still remains the same [...] Every sight was like a new composition, a still life artistically organised to be interpreted in colours. It was not merely outward appearances which were fascinating, but they were vibrant with an inner life of their own, very deep and profound, which left an everlasting impression on my artistic sensibility” (Artist statement, G. Gill ed., Ram Kumar: A Journey Within, New Delhi, 1996, p. 89).
The radical transformation in Ram Kumar’s practice as a result of this encounter is widely documented. However, Banaras also had a powerful creative impact on Husain. The intensity of the ancient city’s landscape, steeped in culture and tradition, inspired the artist to create a series of paintings, drawings and prints. The present lot, painted about a decade after this transformative visit, highlights the lasting impact Husain’s encounter with the city’s iconic ghats had on his life and work.
Husain’s first images of the city, painted in the 1960s, were frequently rendered in muted tones and focused on bleakness and austerity underlining the graver aspects of the cycle of human life. What makes the present lot, painted a decade later and titled Banaras Ghat, unique is Husain’s use of a joyful, bright palette and inclusion of some of his most iconic subjects. Against the background of the holy city of Varanasi, three statuesque female figures, most likely bathers, are positioned on a ghat. Along with two bulls, the figures in this composition are reminiscent of those in Husain’s iconic painting Yatra, depicting a pilgrimage or procession, entirely fitting for the setting of this painting. Bathed in the light of the evening sun, the figures in Banaras Ghat come together in a deeply esoteric example of Husain’s portrayal of the multifaceted essence of this holy city.