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5th Annual Konkan Fruit Fest
Promenade, D B Bandodkar Road, Panaji, Goa
16-18, May 2008
http://lists.goanet.org/pipermail/goanet-goanet.org/2008-May/073789.html
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While responding to my earlier post titled "M F. Hussain- Delhi High
Court observations", Sachin Phadte wrote:
>>However, if your argument of a long time ago is to be taken to the logical
>>conclusion, then a crime committed some years ago, but came to light only
>>now, should go unpunished. I hope you are not saying this.
This vilification campaign against M.F.Husain should be seen in its
right perspective. Hussain has committed no crime; neither legally
nor morally.
Legally speaking, the charges against Hussain can never stand scrutiny
in the Court of law. In several similar cases like the Ranjit D.
Udeshi vs State of Maharashtra (1965), Ajay Goswami vs Union of India
(2005), Samaresh Bose vs Amal Mitra (1985) and in the most recent
Judgment pronounced on Hussain's own "Bharatmata" Painting, the courts
have ruled that sex and nudity in art, per se, cannot be deemed to be
obscene. Nor does the merely vulgar equal the obscene. Further, the
Court has ruled that it will not use the "standard of a hypersensitive
person" in defining what is obscene.
"Only if there is an intention to deprave and corrupt, or arouse the
lascivious and prurient instincts of the viewer can something be
deemed obscene" opined the Delhi High Court in its most recent
pronouncement.
On sheer morals too, all the charges against the iconic artist fall
flat. M.F. Hussain's story is probably a cruel reflection on our times
and of our society's growing intolerance. The paintings which are in
the centre of a controversy now were drawn few decades back and were
showcased in several exhibitions across India without there being a
murmur of protest.
And why should there have been? In ancient India, sex was never
considered as taboo. Sex, beauty and sensuousness have always been
celebrated in the Hindu religion and ancient Hindu civilization and
culture has always had a significant place for erotic art where nudity
is a metaphor for purity. The Valmiki Ramayana itself is a sensual
piece of literature and the sculptures adorning various ancient Indian
temples also depict nudity.
The students of the Art Faculty of M.S. University in order to
illustrate this point put up an exhibition titled 'Erotica in Indian
Art' sometime back, highlighting the erotic in Hindu culture through
the Lajja-gouris of El lora, the images of Modhera, Konark and
Khajuraho, the Ragamala paintings from Rajasthan, etc. A lot of more
evidences have been placed here on this forum by other Goanetters to
illustrate this point and to avoid repetition of the same I shall not
elaborate much further on this. Those who continue to doubt the
veracity of this can pursue the following link:
http://win2vin.wordpress.com/2008/03/26/why-mfhussain-is-in-exile/
M.F Hussain as such therefore did not commit any crime in his
depiction of Hindu deities. Make no mistake about it, he drew his
paintings as a celebration of our rich composite artistic culture; not
to mock or show the same in bad light. By drawing Hindu deities in the
nude, Hussain was in no way challenging the conventions of Indian art,
he was merely replicating our age-old Hindu traditions which find our
Gods uncovered and pure, where nudity has been widely used in art,
including on temple walls. Never in his wildest of dreams would he
have imagined that the Hindu society would take such a paradigm shift
from a liberal and tolerant environment to an environment of hate and
intolerance.
If at all any crimes have been committed (and they certainly are),
they have been committed by those "self-appointed custodians of Hindu
culture" who understand nothing of art. The first crime was committed
by "Vichar Mimansa" which published an article headlined "M.F. Husain:
A Painter or Butcher", misrepresenting his paintings. Hussain did not
splash his Paintings in the tabloids. This monthly Hindi magazine, run
by the Hindu self-appointed purists, thus opened the Pandora's Box,
unleashing a wave of hatred and bigotry.
At around the same time, hardline Hindu writer and former Rajya Sabha
MP Prafull Goradia also misrepresented Hussain's art in his book
Anti-Hindus by inserting his own captions to the Paintings that he
could just not decipher. A stylized outlined sketch of Goddess Durga
sitting on a Tiger was misrepresented as Durga having sexual relations
with a Tiger. "Sita Rescued" was transformed into Sita masturbating on
the tail of Hanuman and so on and so forth. A deliberate and
systematic attempt to incite and fuel the passions of Hindus,
certainly another crime in the making!
What followed were more direct crimes, when politically-motivated
activists of the Bajrang Dal/ VHP/ Shiv Sena sprung into action and
ransacked exhibitions across the length and breadth of the Country,
destroying and ruining paintings worth lakhs if not Crores of Rupees.
Even the artist's house in Mumbai was not spared. "If Hussain can
enter Hindustan, we can enter his house" thundered the Shiv Sena
Supremo Balasaheb virtually justifying the criminal actions committed
by his supporters and others from the Sangh Parivar. Other Radical
groups like Sanatan Saunstha and its offshoot organization the Hindu
Janajagruti Samiti also joined the party.
If these actions can be deemed to be right, the next logical question
that needs to be asked to these radical groups is: What next? Do we
start chipping away at our temple murals where the gods and goddesses
are shown in far more compromising positions? Do we bring down our
monuments which are timeless sensual works of our artists'
imaginations? Do we destroy our temples at Khajuraho, Konarak,
Bhubaneswar and so many other places which reflect the celebration of
our culture? Do we burn our Puranas and other spiritual books like the
Valmiki Ramayan and Meerabai's love poems for Krishna?
As a Hindu, I am certainly ashamed when other misguided Hindus are
treating our "National Treasure" in this brute and shabby fashion.
Hussain's contribution to the Hindu religion and its art and culture
is so vast and so immense that very few have the moral right, leave
alone the legal one, to abuse, hound and vilify him.
As Editor Shoma Chaudhury from Tahelka aptly observed:
"Eight years spent painting the Ramayana, as many painting the
Mahabharata. Hundreds of canvases of Ganesha and Shiva and Parvati and
Hanuman, the ragas, the natyas and Benaras. Seventy years spent as
"Chobi Das", a devotee of the image. Seventy years spent roaming the
earth, seeking to enrich its understanding of India. And now, they
were smashing offices in his name. Declaring him an apostate.
By 1955, he was one of India's leading artists and had been awarded
the Padma Shri. By 1971, he was being invited to Sao Paulo Biennial
with Pablo Picasso. He was Rajya Sabha Member in 1986. And these are
merely surface things: cast your eye over the work: more than 10,000
paintings in celebration of India, and the absurdities gather greater
and greater force. MF Husain is a kind of living history, a national
heritage site. And what do we do? We drive him out."
Hussain is no criminal and he does not deserve to be treated like one.
As I wrote earlier, he should be judged by the entire spectrum of his
works done during the course of his lifetime, not just by a few odd
paintings which some may find objectionable, either justifiably or
unjustifiably; and which Hussain himself said that he was willing to
destroy along with all the others that were to be found objectionable.
Are the Hindus so disgraceful a community not to reciprocate this
noble gesture of Hussain and ignore his vast contributions to our
Religion? The least that Hindus need to do now, as a remorse for all
the sins committed against the "Picasso of India", is to give him a
very warm and gracious welcome. This is the very least he deserves, if
not the "Bharat Ratna".
Cheers
Sandeep Heble
Panjim-Goa
