MF husain : Awarded for denigration

Nithin Sridhar

The recent decision of the Kerala Government to felicitate noted painter MF Husain with the Raja Ravi Varma Award needs to be critically examined. This is in view of the fact that many formal police complaints and court cases have been registered against MF Husain for denigrating Hindu deities by painting them in the nude.

Some of the paintings of Husain depict Durga in sexual union with a tiger and Lakshmi naked on Ganesh’s head. Other paintings include a naked Saraswati, a naked Parvati, and a naked Hanuman and Sita sitting on the thigh of Ravana. However, Muslim poets Faiz and Ghalib are shown well clothed and the Prophet’s daughter, Fatimah, is also depicted fully clothed. This contrast clearly indicates that Husain’s paintings are basically for denigrating Hinduism by showing its gods and goddesses nude. This hypocrisy on the part of a noted painter like MF Husain is not desirable.

Further, if we compare his paintings with that of Raja Ravi Varma’s, we notice a stark contrast. The paintings of Varma were sattwik (aesthetically pure), whereas those of Husain can be termed pornography under the garb of modern art. Hence, the Kerala Government must be asked whether they are not insulting Raja Ravi Varma by giving award named after him to MF Hussain and if they are also legitimising this denigration.

It may be argued that art is a medium of expression of our feelings and thoughts and every artist should have the freedom to express himself. But it should be noted that there is a difference between such art and the deliberate lampooning of the beliefs of a particular community. There is a difference between genuine art and pornography. For, more than a thousand years, Hindus have been oppressed and their beliefs and practices have been made fun of.

First it was the Muslim rulers who smashed and burned Hindu idols. Then, it was Christian missionaries and the British who concocted the Aryan invasion theory and published numerous anti-Hindu writings. Now, it is the crop of self-styled artists who paint Hindu gods naked or depict Hindu deities on toilet seats.

If self-respecting Hindus protest such denigration, they are termed ‘Hindutva fanatics’ by ‘intellectuals’. The idea of ‘freedom of expression’ had, however, vanished from their intellect when Muslims protested Danish newspaper cartoons depicting Prophet Mohammed.

Source: http://www.dailypioneer.com/indexn12.asp?main_variable=EDITS&file_name=edit4%2Etxt&counter_img=4

Related HJS Section
Defamation: Abuse on Hinduism