Upset Hindus want withdrawal of denigrating image of Goddess Kali from New York museum

Namaste,

We recently came across the news about the Neuberger Museum of Art featuring a painting 'Housewives with Steak Knives' in your exhibition

'BRITISH SUBJECTS: IDENTITY & SELF-FASHIONING'.

City's treasure on way to the USA!

Neuberger.org

The news showed the painting by artist Sutapa Biswas that is claimed to be her self-portrait as the Hindu Goddess, Kali.

Please note that the Deity Kali is revered as the Mother Goddess by millions of Hindus around the world. Depicting the Deity as a gruesome figure as in this painting amounts to irreverence and trivialization of the sacred Deity.It hurts the religious sentiments of the devout Hindu community that looks upon any representation or depiction of a Deity as sacred. Hence,we request your museum to withdraw this painting at the earliest.

Sincerely,

Bhavna Shinde

www.ForumForHinduAwakening.org

Dear Ms. Shinde,

Thank you for your communication of 23 November regarding the Sutapa Biswas painting Housewives with Steak Knives, currently on view at the Neuberger Museum of Art in the exhibition British Subjects: Identity and Self-Fashioning. I write on behalf of all those associated with the museum and Purchase College to whom you addressed your correspondence.

As you are writing from abroad and are not likely to have visited the museum, you should know first that the Neuberger is a teaching institution, committed to the presentation of modern and contemporary art in the interest of promoting broad engagement with and dialogue concerning the most important issues of our time, including the full range of social, political and economic ideas and developments. And as you are unlikely to have had an opportunity to view the painting in question, except in the degraded form of a small digital reproduction, or to access the extensive didactic materials presented on site to frame the exhibition contents, I should also clarify the following: In representing herself, Biswas draws on multiple historical traditions, including those in which Kali is figured not as the purely benevolent deity you describe but as a righteous destroyer of evil, and Italian Renaissance variations on the biblical theme of Judith taking revenge on the murderous Holofernes. Thoughtfully composed, various attributes of her hybrid figure (such as a necklace she wears strung with the heads of some of the twentieth century's worst despots and her self-portrait crowned with a peace sign) suggest that the work as a whole is meant to be understood as a feminist allegory of the potential for good to triumph over evil.

Sutapa Biswas, a Hindu herself, offered the following comments in response to your letter and my qualification of the Museum's position:

"I refute that [this] is a work offensive to Hindus. It falls completely within the paradigms of the imaginative space that exists within the Hindu faith. In other words, there is not one god, but thousands, and a god can take many forms we are all sacred in our ways, and capable of good and evil. The left hand side of the painting is equally matched by the right. What we do with the power invested within us is what defines us spiritually as human beings. We are determined by our actions, and our actions determine who and what we are. The narrative of Kali within Hindu culture is a complex one."

In light of this clarification, I hope you will agree that, far from simply casting the goddess Kali in a negative light, Housewives with Kitchen Knives is a complex and potentially revelatory instance of self-identification and self-fashioning by a very talented Indian artist imagining herself as part of several rich and mutually imbricated histories and cultural traditions. But, of course, it is the nature of the best contemporary art that it remain open-ended in its critical expression; and it is the nature of the interpretation of art that meaning is as much a function of the different audiences it finds as it is under the control of artist-producers. So, it is entirely possible that you will remain unmoved by this letter. If this is the case, though we will continue to exhibit the painting through the remainder of the exhibition (closes 13 December 2009), in the interest of fostering new dialogue, I will be happy to make available in an appropriate
 place in the museum any materials you care to send along to describe your concerns to our visitors.

Please do not hesitate to contact me directly. Until we speak, thank you for your thoughtful consideration and all best wishes.

Yours sincerely,

Thomas Collins

Director

Neuberger Museum of Art

Namaste, dear Mr. Collins.

Thank you for the courtesy of an email, which would enable a dialogue and a healthy exchange of views. It is heartening to know your institute's interest in promoting broad engagement with and dialogue concerning the most important issues of our time. Since your institute recognizes a range of issues concerning society, I would like to bring to your attention one such issue, namely that currently, there are many misconceptions about Hinduism, even among a majority of the Hindu population itself. This is mainly due to the lack of education among Hindus about their own faith. (Hinduism education necessarily includes learning about and putting into practice its principles and Scriptural teachings. Just being born in a Hindu family is not sufficient to claim that one is a practicing or knowledgeable Hindu.) It has resulted in making denigration of Hinduism, in the form of trivialization, personalization and downright contradictions very rampant around the world. Sutapa Biswas' painting in question is an example of such a denigration and her response is an example of the ignorance about Hinduism prevalent among many Hindus today. We ask Biswas to provide at least one Hindu Holy Scriptural basis for her defense of her distorted depiction of Mother Kali with a steak knife (nonvegetarian food is prohibited in Hinduism) and her claim "I refute that [this] is a work offensive to Hindus. It falls completely within the paradigms of the imaginative space that exists within the Hindu faith."

As far as the Hindu Holy Scriptures and principles go,

1. There is a definite spiritual science (Adhyatma Shastra) underlying every concept and practice of Hinduism.

2. According to the Hindu Dharma Shastra, the name, odor, taste, form, touch and sound coexist with the energy of any object or principle. This is true also for the divine Principles or Deities. Thus, where there is the Form of the Divine Mother Kali, there is present Her specific divine energy in the form of specific divine vibrations that benefit the universe due to their divinity and spiritual purity. If the form is distorted or is depicted different from the original/actual form of the Deity (as laid down in the Scriptures and Science of Idols, and as seen by divine vision acquired with intense spiritual practice), the vibrations emanated by the depiction are distorted. (It is akin to the difference between melodious music and noise created by the same musical instrument, used differently.) Such distorted vibrations harm the universe with their associated spiritual impurity. Since Hinduism is essentially a spiritual-purity propagating attitude (sattva-pradhaan vrutti), any propagation of spiritual impurity contradicts the principles of Hinduism and amounts to denigration of the divine as revered in Hinduism.

Her form as per the scriptures captures her energy, hence any variation by artisitic liberty in her form would lead to the denigration of her energy, which is finally denigration of Her. This is a central and basic fact in our scriptures. It is not surprising that Sutapa Biswas has not understood this fundamental principle.

It is true that God has many forms, but it does not mean that we can create any form that we like or we cannot portray ourselves as Goddess Kali or any other deity. God's many forms and aspects are created by God, not by human imagination. Also, being divine does not simply mean depicting oneself like a Deity, it is the divine qualities and features of the Deity that need to be manifest in oneself.

Whether I view the picture physically by coming to your museum or I have seen the picture online, it would not make a difference as the essence behind the picture is the same.

I wish to convey to you, as you have taken up such a major cause for the betterment of the society, then kindly do portray the true picture our point of view in front of this picture too. So that people understand that this is a denigration of the hindu deity of Kali mata (mother Kali).

I have attached an example of a picture of the Mother Goddess, and would request you to exhibit this too for your audience to compare the two and make their judgement. Please see attached.

Sincerely,
Bhavna Shinde.