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Publication Date
11-1-2020
Description
LIBRARIAN'S CHOICE AWARD
Keywords
artists' books, Baker & Whitehill, Librarian's Choice, award
Disciplines
Book and Paper
Student Status
Undergraduate student
Year of Graduation
2024
Major
Textiles, Brown RISD Dual Degree (BRDD)
Materials + Techniques
Silk Thread Embroidery on Handwoven Silk-Khadi Fabric (in a dophar technique, ie. the front of the embroidery is identical to the back of the embroidery) contained in a Hand-crafted Teak Wood Box which is internally painted with natural pigments of fuchsia, lined with a pure cotton handmade khadi paper which is tinted with madder pigments on the back to emulate blood stains, symbolic of a woman's bloodstained path to emancipation, and embroidered with pure cotton, naturally stained embroidery floss in the colours of the Indian flag and embroidered in a pattern derived from Sanskrit text.
Student Narrative
Stories are the most fragile and ephemeral of historical archives. I have always been enticed by the beauty of these generational documents. Some of my favourite passed on stories come embroidered delicately on the silk 12-inch squares of Chamba Rumals: they chronicle the mythological stories of Gods such as Vishnu in his many forms and even the stories which come passed down in the royal courts of the Mughals and Rajputs in India. However, these stories tend to leave the women, who are instrumental in catalyzing change and revolution, in the background of historical documentation. These recreated Chamba Rumals are a re-telling of stories which bring to the foreground female voices and elucidate the intrinsic role that women played, and continue to play, in the Indian landscape. Chamba Rumals from ancient India are small hand-embroidered handkerchiefs that were made in the village of Chamba, Himachal Pradesh. They are adorned with dophar embroidery, which can be viewed from two perspectives; thus, the back of the rumal has the same embroidery form as the front. They illustrate stories and epics of the time. Reminiscent of the dophar technique, these handkerchiefs draw a parallel with the way we see our history as well: from more than one perspective.
I - the women we domesticate The first rumal: a modern-day shikargah (hunting scene) shows women mounted atop horses and catching their prey, instead of the valiant man (for whom hunting as a sport was exclusively reserved). One of the most enjoyed sports of the Mughal era, hunting was a leisure reserved for men. However, Nur Jahan, one of the most iconic women of the Mughal Dynasty in India—who was known for her keenness with politics and court matters; her love for architecture, poetry and botany; and her mighty fierceness on the battlefield—was one of the best hunters of the time. She was called the “tiger-slayer.” In a period when women were concealed behind the veil of submission, Nur Jahan was an idol who defied the confines of societal expectations and rose above the roles of domesticity and piety that were given to women. This shikargah shows Nur Jahan, the sole female hunter, in the midst of an ocean of male hunters, catching her prey with ease and grace—as is the nature of women in all fields of existence. II - the women we rescue The second rumal: a recreation of the epic Ramayana, while a triumphant tale of emancipation, talks about the way a man saves his wife, and considers her impure after. In my iteration, the women in this scene are in fact saving the men, who, here, play the ‘damsel’ in distress. After Sita was kidnapped by Ravana and kept in the sanctuary of his vast gardens in Sri Lanka, Rama (Sita’s husband) embarked on the valiant journey to cross the strip of water that separated the island of Sri Lanka from the mainland. The only way to do so was to fill the ocean with enchanted rocks which, instead of sinking, floated and created a path for Lord Rama to save his wife. However, why is it that Sita needed her husband to save her? In this iteration of the famous epic Ramayana, Sita is not being saved by the mighty Rama, but rather there is a role reversal which gives Sita agency and authority over herself. III - the women we worship The third rumal: a mobile shrine of the eight Mahavidyas (the ten Mahavidyas, or Wisdom Goddesses, represent distinct aspects of divinity intent on guiding the spiritual seeker toward liberation) proudly exemplifies the manner in which women were worshipped, yet treated as objects of the patriarchy for the better part of Indian history. This rumal provides the paradox that is evident in our society: a society where women are forced to fit into the molds of piety, purity and submissiveness, and are disrespected and considered mere objects of the patriarchy, but at the same time, these very women are worshipped and revered in temples dedicated to them for their qualities of power and strength. For example, Kali is the first of the eight Mahavidyas exemplifies the might and fury of a woman. She is known as the “Dark Goddess.” But, she is also an occult symbol of Mother Nature. The multiplicity of a woman character is exhibited here: a woman can be as fierce as she is nurturing. Kali is one of the eight reminders for us as a society that a woman can be—and are—beautiful, strong individuals, who deserve respect and celebration. The wood box is made in the local teak wood and the embroidery into the wood is in the colours of the Indian flag to reiterate the locality of this issue, but the embroidery pattern itself is derived from Sanskrit but contemporized to bring to light to the universality of this pertinent issue. The embroidery is based off a Sanskrit saying from old times which reveres and celebrates women to remind us that our scriptures and our past celebrated and respected women, and question why we are not continuing those traditions even today. The work that I am doing with the Chamba Rumals is connected to an NGO (Non-governmental organization) that I started with my grandmother a few years ago. The money received from the sale of these (whether to Special Collections or otherwise elsewhere after the exhibit) will be entirely donated to the daughters of the original Chamba Rumals artists in Chamba, Himachal Pradesh for their education. Read more about this initiative here: https://handmakinghope.org/chamba-rumal
Recommended Citation
Agarwal, Yukti Vishal; Collections, Special; and Library, Fleet, "The Woman's Way" (2020). 7th Baker & Whitehill Student Artists' Book Contest 2021. 1.
https://digitalcommons.risd.edu/bookcontest7th2021/1
Comments
Music credit: The song in the video is an invocation to the woman to continue to be inspired while inspiring those around her, sung in Sanskrit by Gaiea.