Malvika Raj Creates Religious Art that Subverts

THE HINDU
By Divya Trivedi

Buddha in Madhubani art.

INDIA--- While Madhubani art has remained the prerogative of certain kinds of narratives centred on the Hindu epics of Ramayana and Mahabharata, a young Dalit woman is attempting to break this monopoly by introducing Buddha’s life stories into the visual imagery of the art form. She even has her own website: buddhapaintings.org. Tracking significant events of Buddha’s life, from before his birth to Mahaparinirvana (his death), Malvika Raj from Samastipur in Bihar has been etching folklore from Buddha’s epoch in the Madhubani painting genre. [link]