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On 9th June 2011, M.F. Husain
breathed his last in a London Hospital, and was later buried in
the cemetery in London as per his wish that he should be buried at
a place of his death. The most celebrated painter of India, more
Indian than any of his detractors died, away from his home, due to
self imposed exile. This self imposed exile was due to the threats
of Hindu fundamentalists. The renowned painter called by many as
Picasso of India, had the fate similar to that of Picasso, who
also went into self exile in the regime of Fascist Franco of
Spain.
M.F. Husain’s work spanned a long period, evolving with time and
deeply rooted in the rich traditions of India, plural, diverse
Hinduism. He was confronted as to why he does not pick up Islamic
motifs for his work to which he replied that Islam has Calligraphy
alone and human figures are not drawn in Islamic tradition. He
came more into the news from the decade of 1980s, with the rise of
sectarian politics, as the intolerant Hindutva groups started
attacking his painting- exhibitions regularly. The allegation was
that he is hurting the sensibilities of Hindus, and is doing it
deliberately as he is a Muslim. He was abused for painting Hindu
Goddesses like Sarswati, Durga, Draupadi and the one titled Bharat
Mata in nude. Interestingly some of these paintings were done in
1970s or so. With the rise of the movement for Ram Temple the
Hindu Fundamentalist forces became more assertive, the intolerance
grew in the society, many a magazines and newspapers stated
fanning the fire of ‘hurting our sentiments’ and that’s when the
followers of VHP, Bajrang Dal and Shiv Sena started attacking
Husain’s, exhibition, his Gufa in Ahmadabad, SAHMAT painting
exhibition and so.
Later these communal forces went on filing case after case against
him to harass him. The Courts ruled in Husain’s favor saying that
his paintings are not promoting enmity between communities in any
way, and that he is well within the limits of his artistic freedm.
Husain by this time was quiet old, he was offered the security by
the state but he declined to be imprisoned in the cordon of
security and decided to take the citizenship in Qatar to continue
his work in his own uninterrupted way, while maintaining that the
Passport is a piece of paper and he remains an Indian at heart. He
also missed India but it was a strong choice, to do the work in an
uninterrupted way or to face the physical and mental wrath of the
Hindu fundamentalists. As such he was not spared by Muslim
Fundamentalists also, who had objected to his film, Meenaxi: ‘A
Tale of Three cities’ on the charge that it blasphemes Koran.
As such Husain probably represents the best of Indian syncretic
traditions and that too his rooting in Hindu mythology and culture
may be much deeper than those who kept attacking him. He was born
in the Maharashtrian town of Pandharpur; a place of pilgrimage for
the Warkari’s the followers of great Marathi Saint Tukaram. He
belongs to Sulaimani sect of Shias, whose some practices are like
Hindus and they also believe in the theory of reincarnation.
During his childhood years he was very impressed by the staging of
Ramlila and along with his Hindu friend used to enact it. He also
went to study the Valmiki and Tulsidas versions of Ramayana. His
quest for understanding the society led him to the study and
discussion of Gita, Puranas and other spiritual texts. His rooting
in liberal Hindu culture, not the Brahmanical variety, was very
deep. One example we can glean from the information card which he
designed for telling people about his daughter Raeesa’s marraige,
who did not want any ceremonies. His card showed Parvati sitting
on the thigh of Lord Shiv with Shiva’s hands on Parvati’s breast.
Husain regarded this union as the first marriage in the cosmos.
When he was in Hyderabad, Ram Manohar Lohia suggested to him to
paint Ramayana. Husain was broke at that time, but he undertook
this job seriously and drew 150 canvasses around Ramayana
mythology over a period of eight years. He also used to discuss
with the Pundits of Kashi on the themes when drawing this Hindu
epic. He regards Ganesha as one of the figures with a delightful
form, a brilliant material to draw and generally before beginning
on a large painting first used to draw Ganesha. The major
criticism against him was and is definitely politically motivated.
Being a Muslim and drawing these motifs so boldly was unacceptable
to the offshoots of Sangh Parivar. As such the charge that nudity
is an insult to Hindu Goddesses does not hold water as Husain
pointed out that Nudity is a metaphor for purity in Hindu
mythology. The example of Khajuraho cannot be dismissed on the
ground that people wanted to increase the population so these were
drawn, and were otherwise of no consequence to Hindu culture. As
such Khajuraho paintings were expression of the prevalent culture.
The painting or any other work of art has to be seen in the
context of the artist and the cultural rooting of the work. Nudity
can express vulgarity as well as purity, and that’s where the
fundamentalists of all variety show their intolerance to the
extreme.
The rise of fundamentalism for various reasons has exiled the
creative people, like Tasleema Nasreen, Salman Rushdi and
tormented the likes of Vijay Tendulakar and Deepa Mehta in recent
times. The case of Husain is a bit more unique, as here is an
artist whose work on Hindu iconography is insurmountable, one who
is deeply rooted in the deeper spirit of broad Hindu culture,
still he has been hounded by both varieties of fundamentalists.
All this has taken place while the other political formations have
been so ineffectual in protecting him, creating an atmosphere
where the creative people can undertake their work without any
fear or intimidation. While the Hindutva party has been the
blatant opponent of his work the other parties have done precious
little for protecting the maestro.
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