NEWS: NAKSHATRA MANDALA PAINTING

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NAKSHATRA MANDALA PAINTING EXPO BY H.N. SURESH IN CITY FROM OCT. 24

By Prof. A.V. Narasimhamurthy

Whenever

you visit a temple and offer puja, the priest asks: "What is your

nakshatra? That means for identification your mere name is not

sufficient for Gods. Hence your nakshatra, rashi and gotra are needed.

Thus each person has a nakshatra fixed according to his date of birth.

For those who do not have it, pachangas offer a nakshatra on the basis

of the first letter of their name. Thus everyone has to have a

nakshatra.

Nakshatra

is translated as star and in the modern parlance, it has acquired the

meaning of a celebrity. Generally it is applied to cinema actors and

actresses or those who have made a name in a given field.

Astronomers

have a different concept of a star. Star is a burning mass of gas.

Because of the high temperature, they transcend the three stages of

solid, liquid and gas and attain the level of plasma. Though appear

static, the stars move constantly. They are a source of great

electro-magnetic energy.

For

an astrologer, Nakshatra or the star of the birth of an individual is

most important because it influences his life. Taking this into

consideration, each individual is given a nakshatra according to his

time of birth. Thus there are 27 nakshatras and each nakshatra has four

quarters or padas and nine such padas are attached to a rashi. Thus

rashi is fixed on the basis of nakshatra.

The

Hindu genius from very ancient times has been visualising everything

including God in human form, which has led to Saguna form of worship.

All the 27 nakshatras are visualised in the form of a human being and

he is none other than Vishnu himself. He is called Nakshatra Purusha

and resides in a mandala or a cosmograph. All the nakshatras represent

his various parts from head to feet as follows:

Head:

Ardra; eyes: Dhanisha; nose: Paitru; jaw: Satabhisa; teeth: Svati;

face: Pushya; ears: Shravana; neck: Jyestha; fingers: punarvasu; hands:

Hasta; shoulders: Vishakha; back: Satavistha; chest: Anuradha; two

sides: Uttarabhadra and Purvabhadra, loins: Krittika, private parts:

Pubba and Uttara; thighs: Purvashadha and Uttarashadha; knees: Ashvini

and Bharani; Shanks: Rohini and feet: Mula.

Further,

each nakshatra has a purusha or a human form. Each one is characterised

by his gana (group), deity, sex, sex attitude, colour of the deity,

tree, bird, direction and tatva. On the basis of these characters, each

individual's qualities are predicted.

For

example, let us consider Ashvini nakshatra. The human form of Ashvini

belongs to devagana (divine), his deity is Ashvini; male sex; he has

male horse sex attitude; his colour is white / blood red; Vishamushti

is his tree; his bird is gandabherunda; his direction is north and his

tatva is earth; he is mounted on a pair of horses and shines like a

lotus leaf.

Thus

all the 27 human figures or nakshatra Purushas have different colours

and other characters. All these are written in books of astrology.

Here

H.N. Suresh, an accomplished painter himself took lively interest in

this aspect of the nakshatras and studied all the related texts in

Sanskrit with the help of the great Sanskrit scholar Professor S.K.

Ramachandra Rao. Both of them scanned various ancient texts for

determining the exact colour, tree and other characters of each of

these human forms and Suresh transformed Sanskrit texts into pictures

of varying colours and the result is simply amazing. He created 27

human forms with the help of his dexterous brush of which he is a great

master. A painter or a sculptor is called Brahma because he creates

objects with his skill and imagination. Thus Suresh has created 27 Gods

in all their glory as described by the ancient sages, shining with

colours and attributes and various moods and in different postures. In

the words of Prof. S.K. Ramachandra Rao, "The nakshatra mandala implies

that it is not merely a cosmogram but psycho-cosmogram. The traditional

assumption is that all the details of the cosmos (brahmanda) correspond

to the details of the individual (pindanda). Hence, the notion of every

individual's birth-star (janma nakshatra) determining his nature,

fortune, career and character. The ancient Indian thinker or Rishi was

a scientist too. He watched the universe around him; the skies, the

sun, moon, the planets, stars, the seasons, changes in animal and plant

life including human life; and traced a pattern in them linking the

celestial bodies with terrestrial happenings."

For

the first time, literally first time, such an exhibition of Nakshatra

Mandala has been arranged anywhere in India and abroad. This exhibition

takes us to a distant and glorious celestial world and makes us stand

before the divine beings. Only an artist of the calibre and disposition

of Suresh alone can do it.

Suresh,

an artist and a well-known art critic has to his credit a number of

one-man painting exhibitions held at Max Muller Bhavan, Alliance

Franchise, Lalitkala Academy etc. He is closely connected with Sangitha

Nritya Academy, Lalitkala Academy and has won Academy's Karnataka

Kalashree Award. He has also written extensively on various artists and

their art. In addition to his active interest in art, Suresh is now, Programmes and Projects, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Bangalore.

This

nakshatra mandala exhibition has already won the hearts of thousands of

people in America, England and at Bangalore. Now it will be shown at

Mysore from 24th to 28th of this month from 10 am to 6 pm at Suchitra

Art Gallery (Kalamandira). From here it will move to Madikeri,

Mangalore, Mumbai, New Delhi and other cities.