Sunday, June 29, 2008

MF Husain Nudes and Mothers

This is a response to the questions posted on MF Husain and nude paintings. A commenter asks:

“Think if MF Husain has painted your Mother in nude. Can you still support him? If so, it’s ok. But I can't!”

Many commenters had suggested the same line of reasoning. They have asked me what I would do if someone painted my mother in nude. The whole reason why they ask such a question in this episode is the following train of thought:

“Goddess Saraswati is LIKE mother to me; my country India, called Bharat Mata, is also LIKE mother to me. Therefore, portraying Goddess Saraswati or my country in nude is like portraying my biological mother in nude. Since I do not like anyone portraying my biological mother in nude, I do not like to see anyone portraying Saraswati or Bharath Mata in nude”.

At the outset, to those who have not asked enough questions in their life OR to those who did ask these questions but did not wait long enough to listen to a reasonable answer, the above logic may sound sensible. 

One could easily extend this line of thought and come up with the following situation.

A person who is drilling a bore well in his property gets raided by Indian nationalists. They beat him up, ransack his home and break up all the heavy machinery that is being used for drilling. In addition, they go to an Indian court filing a case against this man. The reasons cited for such raiding, beating him up, ransacking his house, breaking up the machinery and then filing a court case against this man are the following:

“Earth is like mother to all of us. We refer to it as Mother Earth. Here is the documentary evidence of all poems and mythologies written in our history which suggest that this Earth is our Mother and that she has come to life in many of our stories to intervene in the matters of men. And drilling a hole with this plunging equipment is equivalent to raping her. Therefore, we charge this man with the crime of raping our mother. He should be arrested and convicted on the charge of rape and inflicting injuries to our mother.” 

Some of you who have been using some portions of your brain during the last many years may find the above argument a little ridiculous. If that is the case, congratulations, you still have the power to reason, you have not lost all of it to the opium called religion and the heroin called nationalism.

To know more about this line of thinking, read People vs Larry Flynt [Part I, Part II] on this blog. The lawyer in that story says that it is matter of personal taste, not about law.

He puts the premise of the case as:

The question you have before you today is whether a public figure's right to protection from emotional distress should outweigh the public interest in allowing every citizen to freely express his views.

Painting someone nude is a matter of taste, something that should be dealt with by the person who has been painted nude. Lots of Hindu gods and goddesses have been depicted nude in our temples. They stand in provocative poses, much provocative than what MF Husain has depicted them. If you go to a French Art Museum, you will see scores of paintings in which many women are depicted nude. Every woman who has gone into those French paintings or those statues in Indian temples is a depiction of some character – real person, mythological figure, or a symbolic figure. Many of those women are mothers to someone or the other. Goddess Parvati sitting nude on Shiva’s lap, depicted in Ellora caves, is a mother to other gods like Vinayaka and Karthikeyan. Many symbolic and real women are also mothers to someone or the other. In spite of that there are many depictions of those mothers in our literature, temples and mythologies where they frolic in nude and participate in sex, adultery, and seduction. 

If we start considering every public icon, every mythological character and every symbolic figure as our mother and thus prohibit all references that can hurt sentiments of people, then every such depiction in literature, paintings, statues, and even in thinking should be shunned and stopped since it is tantamount to depicting and thinking about one’s biological mom in unacceptable ways. With that kind of reasoning, almost every work of fiction, every piece of art, every prose and poetry that has dealt with women in ways that are not appealing to some people should be discarded, opposed and removed, since they deal with a woman who is a mother to at least some people. That spells an end to individual expression as we know it.

If someone out there is saying, “we are not talking about individual’s mom here; we are talking about mom of all people, including me and you”, then you have to decide this first: Are you talking about real moms or symbolic moms? Are symbolic moms same as biological moms? If so, shall we stop all drilling into Mother Earth? If not, why the fuss to start with?

Nobody is depicting your biological mom in nude here and we are referring to symbolic moms who seem to be mom to everyone, not just you in particular. Your mom could be a matter of privacy to you and her, but a symbolic mom is a public figure. Ridiculing the symbolic mom, insulting her, depicting her in nude, deriding her, praising her or worshipping her, are matters that are all outside the purview of individuals and their privacy. It’s akin to deriding a politician, caricaturing a leader, spoofing an actor, and making a parody out of mythology. It’s not a private matter and any ridiculous proposition to link them should be rejected. 

If this kind of thought process prevails and starts entering our system, we are going to end up talibanizing India in less than ten years.

30 comments:

  1. Did he paint another nude of his mother?Is is mother India or mother Saraswathi?
    I think the whole controversy is he hurted the sentiments of other religion.
    As a muslim he might have showed his love by painting some respectfull personalaties of islam or from Quran

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  2. Ridiculing the symbolic mom, insulting her, depicting her in nude, deriding her, praising her or worshipping her, are matters that are all outside the purview of individuals and their privacy. It’s akin to deriding a politician, caricaturing a leader, spoofing an actor, and making a parody out of mythology.

    Making a parody out of mythology and drawing a mythological figure in Nude are differnt. Same way caricaturing a leader is accepted practice. Drawing politician in nude is not accepted practice.

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  3. Prakash:
    Would it be OK if a Hindu Arits (instead of a Muslim Artist) paints Hindu Goddesses in nude?

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  4. (that should have read as Artist not Arits)

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  5. Abhi:
    Same way caricaturing a leader is accepted practice.

    So is painting Hindu Goddesses in nude - it is an accepted practice. Isn't it?

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  6. Ours is a society that considers nudity as pornography. The idea of beauty in form, color and design, does not occur to an audience that views nudity in terms of only sex. This itself would not be bad, but for a culture that wishes to hide all aspects of reproductive desires. More over art in todays India is almost a vestigial organ, only finding appreciation in the elite few who may be art students, or following the trade.

    To the rest of the population, nudity in a goddess will seem like a violation of a cultural thought, and triggers emotional response rather than a rational one. Trying to inject thought and reason will not work. The majority of the population are stuck in the Raja Ravi Varman era, and do not find a place for art in their pursuit of math and science during their education and money after words. The little bit of art that they allow is mainly for filling up wall space. The visual media that might educate then where education itself did not, is itself repressed.
    Change is a very difficult thing and people are always threatened by change. While it makes intelligent sense to use dialogue to make our opinion understood, not every one is verbal, in the world where a lot of people think with their muscle. Art stands at the fulcrum of that change and becomes a threat to the mind that is opposed to change

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  7. Leave aside your biological mother - would it be okay painting your kid's mother or your step-mother painted in nude?

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  8. Whz the big deal in painting the picture nude???

    Why we in INDIA consider sex n nakedness as sum taboo and then end up been one of the highly populous country.

    Hypocrites.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Mr. SAITAN.......in INDIA sex is an act for giving birth to child, not for having fun all the time with whom ever you want and wherever you want.

      Delete
  9. Sujai,
    You may wish to read my sentence again. I conveyed painting Goddess or political leader in nude is bad.

    You are saying caricaturing politician and painting goddess in nude is same. Will you accept if somebody paints political leaders like Our PM, Opposition leader or Congress party leader in Nude?

    Satan,
    You are considering painting nude is not taboo. Will you accept somebody painting your dear and near in nude? Will you accept it as realities of the life?

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  10. Sujai said:

    "So is painting Hindu Goddesses in nude - it is an accepted practice. Isn't it?"

    If it is an accepted practice then it would not have created any uproar, would it?

    May be you are missing something. May be you need to live some more time in India before you begin understanding her.

    "Would it be OK if a Hindu Arits (instead of a Muslim Artist) paints Hindu Goddesses in nude?"

    Let me reverse the question. Would it be OK if a Hindu artist painted Prophet's wives in nude?

    --Pradeep

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  11. Dear Sujai
    This is my third attempt to reply to your question.First two replies were not posted.Is this due to any technical problem or do you deleting them ?

    Hindu artist painting hindu godess:Not Ok
    Hindu artist painting other religious figures:Not OK
    Muslim/Christian/Budhist/Sikh/Jain//Zorastrian/Bahai/Sufi/Ahmadi painting nude pictures of any other rligion:Crazy
    Painting nude pictures of their own religion:Ask them.If it is OK in their religious belief let them do that,but definetly satanic if it is bad in their own religion.

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  12. Anonymous:
    [Please give yourself a name - it helps].

    This is my third attempt to reply to your question.First two replies were not posted. Is this due to any technical problem or do you deleting them ?

    I am not moderating the comments these days - its an experiment. If your comments did not appear, I assume it is a technical problem.

    Hindu artist painting hindu godess:Not Ok

    For some of us it is OK! So, what do we do?

    Hindu artist painting other religious figures:Not OK

    For some of us it is OK! So, what do we do?

    Muslim/Christian/Budhist/Sikh/Jain//Zorastrian/Bahai/Sufi/Ahmadi painting nude pictures of any other rligion:Crazy

    For some of us it is NOT Crazy! So, what do we do?

    Do we go back in time and check what is the religious affiliation of each artisan who worked on Ajanta, Ellora or Kajuraho?

    Painting nude pictures of their own religion:Ask them.

    Who owns the religion?

    Should we start taking permissions for discussing, writing about or criticizing a religion?

    So, where do we take these permissions from? A religious authority representing a religion? And where is that authority for Hindus? Is it BJP, VHP, Bajrang Dal or RSS?

    Also, why is it important to stall your own reformations comparing yourself with other religions? Would Hindus wait for Muslims to unveil their women before they grant their own women equal rights?

    Would Hindus wait for Islam to emancipate their slaves before they go to emancipate their untouchables?

    Is there a race between religions on who gets to the finish line the LAST?

    Looking at some of the arguments presented here, it feels like the winner is that religion which reforms itself the last, not the first.

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  13. Looking at some of the arguments presented here, it feels like the winner is that religion which reforms itself the last, not the first.

    Sujai, if your aim is to reform Hinduism, you are going about that goal in the most ass-backwards and illogical way - by pissing on everything Hinduism. What's your track record in reformation process? Would you know how to go about reforming something, or are you just lashing out because you're angry? Have you even written a *single* post where you say something positive about Hinduism? Or, in your mind, is there no redeeming quality to it? And if so, then what do you care whether Hinduism reforms itself or not - it's not as if there haven't been reformers in Hinduism in the past.

    And you seem to be promoting communal ideas here - in a secular, democratic, multi-cultural society, if people of different religions are treated differently for the same issue, it builds up tension and backlash. So it is best to have one single rule for all religions. Equality - that touchstone of Marxist liberals is thrown in the dustbin as soon as it comes to religions in India.

    If your co-worker were to paid a lot more than you for the same job that both of you are doing, there's a good chance that it would not make you happy and build up tension. A similar logic applies here - under the laws of the country, for the same issue (say, freedom of expression), treat all religions equally.
    -chirkut

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  14. "Looking at some of the arguments presented here, it feels like the winner is that religion which reforms itself the last, not the first".

    Excellent point. That seems to be the thought process of most people posting here. They keep comparing their own religion with Islam as though it is the standard for all religions. They have this fear that Hinduism will somehow lose its vigour if it cannot match up with certain draconian aspects or interpretations of Islam.

    I suppose this wouldn't have been a big issue if a Hindu had done those paintings.

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  15. I suppose this wouldn't have been a big issue if a Hindu had done those paintings.

    Not true, if we are to go by this incident.

    The issue is that does a person have the same freedom to draw "controversial" paintings for any and all religions, or is that freedom limited if it involves minority religions, as MF Hussain found out when he pulled his movie Meenaxi from circulation when some mullahs objected to a song. I didn't read any of the liberal media take on the mullahs for this issue the way they did regarding his paintings - if one religious group protests and the movie is quietly withdrawn, and if another religious group protests and the media creates an uproar, it's rightly called double standards and that needs to be pointed out.

    From here:
    "Trouble arose for the film when the All-India Ulema Council objected to the qawalli "Noor-un-ala-Noor" from the film. The Council objected about the use of the phrase "Noor-un-ala-Noor," which meant "light and more light" - the phrase, normally used in the holy Koran to praise the Prophet Mohammed, was used to illustrate the beauty of women in Hussain's film. In response, Hussain decided to withdraw the film from cinema halls."

    The point is to have one single standard/set of laws for the same issue irrespective of religion. If it's a freedom-of-expression issue, then treat it as such, instead of mixing in religion and having two different set of rules.
    -chirkut

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  16. @abhi

    Well painting someone nude without his/her consent is breach of privacy.

    But here we are talkin about painting Mother India, which is symbolic and not a person. And its already been explained excellently by Mr. Sujai.

    And secondly as M. F Hussain is an INDIAN that means INDIA is also his mother. So if he wants to paint his mother nude thats his wish.

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  17. Chirkut:
    Sujai, if your aim is to reform Hinduism,

    Nope. I don't have such aim or ambition. None of my blogs reflect that attempt.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Chirkut:

    ...as MF Hussain found out when he pulled his movie Meenaxi from circulation when some mullahs objected to a song. I didn't read any of the liberal media take on the mullahs for this issue the way they did regarding his paintings

    MF Husain pulled out his movie when protested against. He apologized for the painting that he made.

    However, for those paintings he was charged with criminal case, his house got ransacked and he had to flee.

    Some of us are bothered about what came after the apology.

    Hope that makes sense to you!

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  19. However, for those paintings he was charged with criminal case, his house got ransacked and he had to flee.

    Sujai, charging someone with a criminal case is good - let the courts settle the dispute. That's the way it should be in a secular democracy. If the courts find the case bogus, they'll throw it out, as they did.

    I don't condone violence by any and all religious groups. Period. I don't bring in the factor of minority/majority religions before deciding to condemn violence or not, like some people do. They go into apoplectic rage when Bajrang Dal does something, but slink into a corner and keep quiet when MIM does the same thing.

    He fled because the court issued an arrest warrant for him. Quoting from the wiki:

    A series of cases were brought against him and a court case related to the alleged obscene depiction of Hindu goddesses in his paintings resulted in issuing a non-bailable warrant against Husain after he failed to respond to summons.

    So, either we obey the rule of law, or we don't. You can't have your cake and eat it too.

    Some of us are bothered about what came after the apology.

    Yup, me too. But I'm equally bothered by the violence that happens regarding all religions - not just Hinduism. So, some of us are bothered by the double standards of some people, and the "secular" media.

    What's unfortunate is that there are only two fronts to this issue, and unless and until a third-front emerges that criticizes all religious stupidity in Indian society, the drama will go on.

    At least you've started writing a bit more about stupidity of minority religions now. Good.

    Hope that makes sense to you!

    Hope my last paragraph in the previous comment makes sense to you about double standards, and the need to have one standard for treating all religious violence!
    -chirkut

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  20. Hi

    It may be OK for you if somebody expresses his love on his/others mother in nudity.It is not acceptable for most of the hindus.Ok i did not conduct a national survey.This is feedback i recieved from my friends and colleages.
    I still wonder why anyone need to express such a noble feeling of creation in nudity only.
    Why he has to express his motherly love from other religions.There are many respectfull ladies in Quran.

    Owning the religion and taking permission:i was not refering any authrity.Ask the artist who wants to do objectionable work on other religions,Ask them is it acceptable in their own religion.Let them restrain to it and express their creative genies to that.As i respected artist his work may not have any social responsibility,atleast it should not creat problems

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  21. Anonymous:
    It may be OK for you if somebody expresses his love on his/others mother in nudity. It is not acceptable for most of the hindus.

    Yes. That may be the case. So, what do we do? Shall we stop all people from portraying their symbolic mothers in nude? Shall we go to each ancient Hindu temple and break them down so that we show our condemnation of all artists who have rendered our symbolic moms in nude?

    The whole idea of this debate is to allow people to depict their symbolic moms the way they want to. If you do not like to portray your symbolic mom in nude, then please do not depict them in nude. We will NOT force you to depict them in nude. However, please don’t stop us from depicting our symbolic moms in nude.

    I still wonder why anyone need to express such a noble feeling of creation in nudity only.

    Stop wondering. Because did you wonder why Pablo Picasso drew his pictures in cubism or why Monet did it in impressionism? Did you wonder why Salvador Dali painted his sister in nude?

    Did you wonder why Kajuraho depicts fornicating deities and why Ellora has naked Parvati sitting on Shiva’s lap?

    Did you ask the women who pray to Shiva’s lingam why they prey to his genital organs?

    ReplyDelete
  22. Picasso and Monet,those are art forms.Dali sister is his biological.They are not indian.Did they paint mother Marry/Jesus/Mohamed in nude.

    The socity changes changes with time,so do religion adopts the changing needs of the scocity and guides.If some artist express his art in nude (of course his own religion)we need not replicate it after 10-15 centuries.

    Praying genital organs:Where do you get this idea?Are we grnitically modified to think like slaves after years of foriegn rule

    ReplyDelete
  23. Praying genital organs:Where do you get this idea?Are we grnitically modified to think like slaves after years of foriegn rule

    Here's what one website has to say:

    Worship of the Phallus
    According to some scholars, worship of Shiva Linga in effect means worship of the reproduction function. For, they say that the other meaning of the Sanskrit word ‘Linga’ is gender in general and phallus (the male reproductive organ) in particular. They believe that the base of the Lingam corresponds to the Yoni which mean vagina or the female reproductive organ. Correspondence of Linga and Yoni in a Shiva Linga is therefore interpreted as the representation of the process of copulation. Scholars further opine that the Kalash (container of water) that is suspended over the Shiva Linga from which water drips over the Linga also correspond to the idea of intercourse.

    http://www.mahashivratri.org/shiva-linga.html

    ReplyDelete
  24. Sujai wrote:
    "...why they PREY to his genital organs..."
    Ha Ha Ha!!!

    ReplyDelete
  25. This is how westreners want us to think and believe,so that indians always think,believe and act as a inferior nation to the American,European countries

    How any person with half brain in his head believe the symbol for god of destruction is a genitial organ?This is like Sun as symbol of night.

    These westners undurstanding of hinduism as a blind mans understanding of elephant,with cruel intentions of making people they are inferior so that they can rule and loot the wealth .

    Coming back the origional issue of artistiv freedaom Vs sentiments of the society.The society is superior to any individual.

    they can practice their freedom as long as it does not hurt the society.It may be a loud speaker playing political speech/religious prayers,pissing on roads,throwing garbage on streets or art with no responsbility

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  26. How any person with half brain in his head believe the symbol for god of destruction is a genitial organ?This is like Sun as symbol of night.

    Well, I am not the one who said this. Talk to any Sanskrit scholar and ask him to furnish the number of texts that describe Lingam as Shiva's private organs.

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  27. I do agree this is one of the meaninings of lingam.Sanskrit words have several meanings based on the context,also have several words with same meaning,like Water may be expressed in more than 120 ways in sanskrit.

    I refered to wikipedia for the meaning of lingam(as i do not have sanskrit dictionary handy),there are senteen meanings for this word.There is also a reference to bhagwad geeta,lingam as a meaning of mark or symbol.

    Also take this opportunity to understand our culture and how we lead the world by our science and culture by refering to the following link

    http://www.hinduwisdom.info/Symbolism_in_Hinduism.htm

    I am sorry if i hurt anybody by calling half brain

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  28. Ur post was interestingly wonderful. "Comparing religion with ordinary common things". Though i am pretty late at this, just happened to chance on this while i was searching for M F Hussain. I will give u a suggestion. You better start comparing Parliament and the legislature with ordinary law making among children. Though i dont want to do that, but just to get my point across, u compare rape of someone whom u love, with the rapes that u read in newspapers.......and then u will be able to compare, what feeling are generated within u. Most of the people either read it or just ignore it, as a common every day occurence, but i wonder whether they will have the same feeling when the same thing happens to them. Anyways, ur logic suffers from a very big fallacy. U r comparing two different things. Religion is not something absolute, and the meaning that a religious rite has is depends upon a huge number of factors. It is not entirely logical. U r trying to import logic into something that is illogical, and mind it illogical things have their own value. Just for a comparison why dont u go and have incestous relationships. Logic says there is no harm, as long as u dont have a baby. Technically and logically it should be the best thing to do........i really wonder whether u will follow this logic. Pardon me if i have overstepped my brief, but i think i needed to make u understand, the issues in comparing the different things together.

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  29. really shame on mother fucking hussain and the basturts who try to save him and support him,,i am a hindu but i supported the morcha's held when the swidish drawn cartoon of profet mohhammand,,so i think we need to kick that mf hussain..and shame on all those who try to support that basturt..and u jerk,,how can you compare between a part of land and out religion,,get a life,,and yes give your mothers and sisters pic to that perv so that he can gift u with their nude pictures...

    jai hind..

    ReplyDelete

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