Tears and triumphs
MADHU GURUNG
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Durga Bai's paintings show a gentle tribal world, increasingly under threat by a dominant culture.
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History in paint: Durga Bai displays her work.
PAST the flowering trees and placid environment of Bhopal's Professor Colony is a mud house covered with plastic sheeting for a roof. Outside, a clothesline flutters with an assortment of garments. Inside, seated on on a plastic dari, is Durga Bai dressed in a nylon sari, her glass bangles clinking, her face caught in complete concentration as she hunches over a painting. Using tiny brush strokes, she makes a peacock come alive atop a tree surrounded by rats, owls, spiders, scorpions, an army of ants and tribal women collecting mahua flowers.
Each painting has a story — the stories that Durga Bai heard as a child are now translated into images in brilliant flamboyant colours.
Early start
What makes her work interesting is her ability to be able to translate the oral history of her Gond tribe into images. As a child, helping her mother adorn the walls of their home back in Barbaspur gaon in Dindori zilla, was a happy pastime. They used cow dung as a backdrop for the traditional geometrical patterns painted in black, red and yellow mud. "We call it Dhigna and it is done elaborately during Deepavali and other festivals." She spent most of her time trying out different patterns and the more it was praised the more she painted.
She was just 12 when she was married to Subhash Vyam who did screen painting and made intricate wooden toys for a living. By the time she was 15, she had borne her first child — a son named Mansingh. Two girls followed in quick succession. She began helping her husband in his work. Sitting alongside him, she would use old sheets of paper to paint geometrical patterns, creating new designs by incorporating the traditional ones she had learnt as a child. It was at a workshop she attended with Subhash, organised by the Adivasi Kala Parishad, that she first understood what she wanted to do in her life. Her eyes light up and her voice rises a notch as she speaks of how the famed Adivasi artist, Jangarh Singh, praised her and taught her to paint using the brush. Painting was to metamorphose into an enduring passion.
Using brushes and acrylic paint, Durga began painting myriad hued birds, animals, and gods and goddesses, drawing upon the stories she heard as a child. She shows a series of paintings. "This story is about the Ahir and the firefly." Her face is animated as she tells the story. The Gonds call cowherds Ahirs. One day an Ahir took his cow, with her young calf, to the forest. The forest was full of tender green grass and the cow was happy. Eating the choicest grass and forest berries, she wandered far. As the day passed and twilight drew near, the Ahir looked for his cow but could not find her. When night fell like a dark blanket, the Ahir was very afraid for his cow because wild beasts roamed the forest. Holding the young calf, helpless Ahir cried aloud in despair. A firefly heard the Ahir's helpless cry and flew up to inquire. "I cannot find my cow," cried the Ahir. Seeing his unhappy face the firefly said, "Wait here, I will go and look for her."
The children's book she has illustrated.
Durgabai's bangles clink, like tiny wind chimes, as she imitates the firefly flying through the dark forest. "The firefly flew, lighting her way through the ominous darkness of the forest. She travelled far and finally spotted the frightened cow shivering under a huge peepal tree. The cow was afraid without the Ahir and she missed her little calf. The firefly told the cow that she would bring help. She flew quickly to the Ahir. The Ahir followed the firefly and was soon united with his cow. Ever since then, the Ahirs and the fireflies have been the best of friends."
Contemporary images
The stories she heard, says Durgabai, allowed her imagination to run riot and perhaps that is what stands out in her paintings. They are a rendering of a gentle tribal world, which is increasingly under threat by a dominant culture. Increasingly though she has begun integrating contemporary images and characters into her work — aeroplanes over cloudless skies find a place above forests resplendent with animals and flaming mahua trees.
She now paints in different mediums and sizes of canvas, pricing her work for anything between Rs. 5,000-25,000. The large canvases take over 15-20 days to paint while the ones on paper take about three days and cost Rs. 600. She travels extensively to sell her paintings. "I go to Delhi, Bombay, Dehra Dun, Chennai and other places some of whose names I have forgotten. People buy and the more they appreciate, the more I want to paint."
Legacy of skill
Her three children work around her, copying her designs, each one honing their skill as these Gond Adivasi paintings now fetch a fair price. Durgabai would like to paint as long as she lives and have her children carry on her legacy after her. "Mere pas koi training nahi hai, bus ek pagalpan hai painting karne ka." (I have no training, just a madness to paint.) It has been 11 years since she first took painting seriously. "My paintings have got me recognition. I got a State Award," she says, pointing to a small shining shield that sits on the mantelpiece along with the family's television set.
She has illustrated two children's books published by Tara publications called, One Two Three and Sultan Dreams. "If I was educated, I could have written books about my stories and illustrated them. I am educating my children. They should do what I could not."
However, years of painting under poor light have taken their toll. "A year ago, my eyes would water continuously. I have to wear glasses but because I paint on the floor they keep falling off," she says.
The children have heard her stories many times but they urge her to tell me some more from the Gond legends. The list is long and, above the babble of happy voices, Durga bai smiles. There is a childlike simplicity about her, as she pulls out her paintings and using her hands and animated eyes tells her stories. It is like being transported into another world, sitting beside a campfire where the village gathers to tell stories of courage, magic, human frailties, tears and triumphs.
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