Indian Artist Malvika Raj Challenges Tradition and Caste to Paint Scenes from the Buddha’s Life

SHAMBHALA SUN HOME

Malvika Raj, "Dreaming Mahamaya," depicting the Buddha's mother's dream the night he was conceived.

INDIA---A young woman is bucking caste and custom, as well as making waves in the Indian artworld, by introducing a new subject to a centuries-old Hindu style of painting: scenes from the life of the Buddha. Malvika Raj has trained in the Madhubani painting technique, a traditionally female art form specific to the Mithila villages of India’s northeastern Bihar state. In Madhubani, simple household objects and natural pigments are used to paint scenes from Hindu epics such as the Ramayana and Mahabharata, natural elements, and typically Hindu symbols, with 2-D figures and intricate geometric patterns. Inspired by her father, a devout Buddhist, Raj has begun exhibiting her Madhubani paintings of the Buddha’s life, and drawing the pointed displeasure of more conservative figures in her community. [link]