The Cosmic Cow

Where are you Krishna!

During the sunset, and just after it, the various tonal variations of the light occur, soft and somber, and mingle with the dust-particles raised by cows returning to their night-sheds after grazing on grassy grounds in the day; filling the atmosphere with mystery and melancholy.

Traditionally godhuli has been imbued with typical pastoral scenes ‘celebrated’ with a touch of romance, in poetry, arts, mythology and folklore over the centuries in India. Here Sidharth offers a totally different view and intent of godhuli. It is bereft of any pastoral scene or rural landscapes, amidst which the herd of cows is normally depicted and perceived. There are no trees, no birds, no ponds or plants; even the herdsman is absent, (where are you Krishna!). This work is akin to a snapshot, powerful and evocative enough to generate many an association, and images, which have contemporary bearing as well, and speaks for our troubled times.

Apparently, there seems to be some atmospheric disturbance – a storm is perhaps in the offing, and the cows have sensed this: the ‘responses’ to the situation are written on their faces, and postures. Some seem to be fiery, ready to face the challenge, some are resigned, some are anxious, and some have plunged into a ‘nowhere to go’ mood. With a rare emotive plasticity, Sidharth has painted these cows in dense, dark colors, and has made us realize that though this ‘godhuli’ also refers to the cows returning to their sheds, it has nothing much to do with the lyrical, melancholic mood of godhuli per se.

The Krishna legend, the cows, and the pastoral scenes associated with it come to mind for a while, but in a flash, instead of cows, the images of refugees near a border, caught in between a crossfire or a group of ordinary men and women returning after a hard day’s work, entangled suddenly in some unforeseen situation of terror and violence, also emerge. The pictorial space is charged and tense, and godhuli transforms itself into an amalgam of dark hues, which is not light or soft as dust particles, but is somewhat metallic.

Where have the grasslands gone? And where are those forests, and trees which used to nurture a peaceful, compassionate life-style for centuries. Where is that mysterious, melodious, twilight? Godhuli of Sidharth seems to be posing all these questions. The stark, yet enchanting quality of line and color is so gripping that the images haunt us. And the cows become a ‘testimony’ to the grim human and environmental situation. Thus the cows’ memorabilia has been extended and explored here in a new direction, and realm. The painting has an uplifting energy and verve of its own.

Mr. Prayag Shukla