The Cow

The Plough

Ploughing is the first technological innovation that marks the origin of human civilization- a transition from food gathering and hunting to food production, resulting in an entirely new eco-system.

In this painting Hal (Plough) we not only discover but also experience the operations, colours and species of this new eco system of settled existence, which was definitely the prerequisite for the emergence of the modern way of life. The circuitous tillage pattern shown in the painting is more of a text of human evolution, that homo sapiens wrote on the surface of earth some 11, 000 years ago.

Earlier to this, human beings on earth fed exclusively by hunting wild animals and gathering food. The moment of departure from foraging to horticulture, captured in this painting, is a victory of farmers over the hunters and warriors.

Domestic mammals shown in the painting served as sources of milk and milk products and also increased food production by pulling ploughs and providing manure as fertilizer. The introduction of ox-drawn ploughs enabled the farmers to extend their farming to a much wider range of tough soils.

An important consequence of this sedentary lifestyle enforced by food production was the storage of food surplus essential for feeding non food-producers such as priests, soldiers and artisans.

Gaia (mother-earth) was happy with the state of affairs as depicted in the painting till Capitalistic mode of production brought man in competition with nature. The earlier empathetic approach to nature and agriculture practices has now been shunned by man.

The resultant Revenge of Gaia, which we are witnessing now makes this painting all the more relevant in present times.

Mr. Amarjit Garewal