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Prayer on paper

Monique Patenaud from Quebec paints mantras in French and Sanskrit

SALUTATIONS TO THE SUPREME Monique Patenaud with her works PHOTO: T. SINGARAVELOU

Saint Thyagaraja chanted Lord Rama's name all his life and is said to have had a vision of the Lord. And there are also people who write names of gods and mantras over and over again, and artist Monique Patenaud from Quebec (Canada) is one of them. An exhibition of her paintings — mantras on rice paper — is on at the Tibetan Pavilion inside the Bharat Nivas Complex in Auroville.

"When I came to Auroville I started uttering and writing "Om Namo Bhagavate", the mantra chanted by the Mother. Once, I wrote on a roll of rice paper from China and an artist-friend saw it and suggested that I hold an exhibition. So I cut that scroll and exhibited the pieces. Many visitors wanted me to sell it but I refused to make money for myself from selling a spiritual work. So the proceeds from the paintings go towards buying land for Auroville," said Monique.

Using brown, red and saffron colours on rice paper, she has written different mantras such as "Om Sri Aurobindo Mirra", "Om Mirra Ma", "Om Namo Bhagavate" and "Om". The artist has used French and Sanskrit scripts. The translucent papers used have an ethereal feel to them. She feels that chanting or writing mantras is a kind of yoga and that she came to Auroville influenced by the writings of Sri Aurobindo. "Mantras are a part of my life and I have adapted them as a salutation to the Supreme. I think their vibrations have helped me."

According to the Oxford Concise Dictionary of World Religions Mantras are "Instruments of thought, a verse, syllable or a series or syllables used in a ritual or meditative context. They are used for the propitiation of Gods, attainment of power (siddha) or identification with a deity. There are three kinds of chants, linguistically meaningful, linguistically meaningless and combined."

DEEPA H RAMAKRISHNAN

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