Matters India Reporter
Kolkata, NOV. 17, 2019: A Kolkata based entrepreneur and art designer has come up with a new concept showcasing the power of woman in Bengal’s cultural and spiritual scenario through an art work depicting gods and goddesses conspiring to form an empowered woman.
The statuette, his creation, was presented symbolically to the first lady, Smt Sudesh Dhankar the wife of the Governor of West Bengal at an event of Indian National Forum for Art and Culture (INFAC) celebrating art, culture, design, and literature, held at Indian Council for Cultural Relations in Kolkata on 16 November 2019.
“In this sculpture depicting a woman’s hand, we have assigned a god or goddess to each of the fingers of the woman’s hand, along with their instruments or weapons, to show the various roles women play in society,” says founder of Church Art Kolkata, art designer and pioneer of art inculturation Mr Subrata Ganguly.
An engineer by profession Mr Ganguly has been associated not only with art and design but also inculturation particularly in church art for over 30 years both in India abroad.
The statuette has figurines of Hindu god Ganesh proudly occupying the thumb followed by goddesses Lakshmi presiding on the index finger, with Durga lodged on the middle finger along side Saraswati on ring finger and god Karthik on the little finger.
Ganesh also called Ganapati, elephant-headed Hindu god is god of auspicious beginnings, who is traditionally worshipped before any major enterprise and is the patron of intellectuals, bankers, scribes, and authors. Ganesha is widely revered as the remover of obstacles, the patron of arts and sciences and the deva of intellect and wisdom.
The second goddess Laxmi is the Hindu goddess of wealth, good fortune, prosperity and beauty. She is the wife of god Vishnu, one of the principal deities of Hinduism.
The third in Ganguly’s pantheon, goddess Durga symbolizes the divine forces (positive energy) known as divine shakti (feminine energy / power) that is used against the negative forces of evil and wickedness. She protects her devotees from evil powers and safeguards them.
Saraswati, fourth deity commemorates knowledge, music, creative arts, wisdom, language, learning and purity.
Karthik residing on little finger is an embodiment of perfection, a brave leader of god’s forces, and a war God, who was created to destroy the demons, representing the negative tendencies in human beings.
The woman’s wrist adorned with an ethnic motif bangle leads to four women playing on the dhol symbolic of the cosmic dance which energises and enlivens their feminine bodies.
Ganguly explains, “The healing power of the drum relieves stress, tension, confusion, induces deep and profound relaxation, lowers blood pressure and transforms lives. beyond the egoic confines of the conditioned self and enters the world of the divine. These ancient rhythms have the power to elicit healing of all kinds.”
“The empowered woman in the family, and society occupies these godly roles,” says Ganguly who had the fortune of being closely associated with the monks of Ramakrishna Mission at Belur and a disciple of Catholic theologian late Fr. (Dr.) Sebastian Karotemprel for some 30 years.