Some of the world’s greatest epics had answers for everything. There is no need to look into new texts, new religions and new orders for seeking answers for your inner turmoil while you are torn between the morals of your life. When a contemporary artist translates one of the ancient scriptures Bhagavad Gita, into a set of paintings that correlates well with the current world happenings, there is a certain unveiling of the truths of life. At the Durbar Hall Art Gallery, artist Arun Raman has put on display 100 watercolour paintings titled ‘Truth Unveiled’, taking inspiration from the Gita.
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“The Gita illustrates the teachings of Lord Krishna to Arjuna, who was torn by the dilemma of fighting his relatives Kauravas. There, Krishna teaches him words of wisdom, which gives him self-realisation to uphold his dharma or duty. I have developed 100 concepts, like birth, rebirth, death, destiny, attachment, mind self, realisation, connection between us and God, thus bringing philosophy to painting,” explains Arun.
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One of the paintings captioned Divinity Vs Ego portrays three women in the frames. The artist explains it is the pull between the good and bad thoughts at the brim of decision-making. “There are several situations in life where you are tempted to make compromises between a good choice and bad choice. In that situation, our mind plays a battle in choosing the right and wrong.”
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In another, Arun depicts the story of a girl who is addicted to mobile phones, which led to her self-destruction. “In terms of Gita, it’s the desire which leads to the possession, and the desire turns into attachment, which later turns into anger, and anger lures into a vicious trap, that leads to self-destruction,” explains Arun. He had done a Ramayana-themed exhibition with 108 watercolour paintings earlier.
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