Medium - Fabric paint, print on Silk

Dimensions - 6 yards

Description of Artwork:

I am inspired by the story of the Shrimad Bhagavad Puran's "Gajendra Mojjksha," where a huge tusker, filled with pride for his strength and the large herd he sired, was showing off by frolicking in a destructive manner by a lake when a huge gator grabbed his leg and started pulling him into deep waters. No one from his herd came to help even after he called out because he was too deep in the water, so he prayed to Lord Vishnu for moksha by offering a lotus. He let go of his ego and completely surrendered. As I was painting, I listened to and related to Guru Nanak's beautiful bhajan, sung in a most melodious voice by Jagjit Singh, "Hey Govind, hey Gopal..." However, my mother used to sing Surdasji's bhajan with the same opening lines. She told me she had first heard Surdasji's bhajan on the radio in the most melodious voice of Shree M.S. Subbulakshmi, which describes this very story. How amazing both of these bhajans are; they have touched me deeply and inspired me to select this saree for this project. In this saree, the story, the bhajans, the music, and the colors all came together to celebrate those artisans and people of the Nilgiri district who live with these gentle giants. My salute to all those people, artisans, and everyone involved with "The Great Elephant Migration.