The Parrot Aripana

The Parrot Aripana

This painting is an Aripana(floral design). The pair of parrots symbolize the love birds and this paintings captures their true mood and emotion. It signifies the union of masculine and feminine power. The different petals of lotus encircle the love birds. The central part of the lotus is where they sit and manifest the positive power of love all around the universe.

Welcome to the Lord who removes all obstacles

Today is Vinayak Chaturthi, the day we welcome Lord Ganesha into our homes and mark the beginning of the 10 days long festival.

Wish all of you all a very Happy Vinayak Chaturthi and may the Lord bestow his blessings on you and your family.

Lord Ganesha was carved out of Earth by the Mother Goddess to guard her at all times. Thus Lord Ganesha commands over the Earth elements and is present in all things natural. To please him or to seek his blessing and guidance, its very important to respect nature and do our best to protect it. It is then, that the Lord acts through us and removes all our obstacles.

This painting features Lord Ganesha seated on a Leaf, a symbol of nature. The painting shows unbounded joy of Lord Ganesha in the proximity of nature and balances the Earth element in the surroundings.

The Elephant Aripana

The Elephant is one of my paintings which features Aripanas dedicated to Lord Ganesha, the elephant God.

The Elephant

These are the floral designs done to invoke the God of wisdom that is Shri Ganesha. The four elephant signifies the four principle qualities of Ganesha’s power; namely innocence, wisdom, benevolence, and discretion. The power of benevolence is spread around the universe. The four floral petals placed in the centre symbolises the four Vedas, the Eternal book of knowledge of Ancient India. The universe is represented by many circles i.e. Mandalas. The red colour is the warmth of love and the bloomed lotuses around each corner signify the happiness spread across the entire creation. The message of Lord is that love alone can give happiness.

The border pattern is a very common pattern used to enclose a painting in a Mithila Painting style.

The Universe

In continuation to the series of article on Aripana, here is another of my paintings called The Universe which has an very intricate aripana done. Aripanas are floral patterns usually made on the ground with many symbolic motifs.

The Universe

This aripana is a representation of the universe. The circles with their different motifs signify various life cycles. These life-cycles are the flora and fauna present on the earth. The water body is surrounds the land and brings together all the elements. The fish is symbolic of being shubh(good luck), the snake is figurative of the growth in the family, the tortise is the denotative  of longevity of life and the crab is indicatory of good fortune. The last circle is filled with motifs of parrots which are a symbol of love. The lotus and its leaf are symbolic of God's presence.

Aripana - Vishnu Aripana

In the coming two weeks, I will be doing a series of blog posts discussing various Aripana and their significance in Mithila Painting. Hope you all like it.

Aripanas are floral designs mostly done on floor. These patterns are also known as Mandala. They mostly consist of circles with different motifs depicting various powers of the Almighty. The following painting is Vishnu Aripana.

Vishnu Aripana

In this painting, the various circles are filled with many auspicious motifs. The four corners are decorated with floral motifs representing the four directions (Dishas) namely North, South, East and West. They bring benevolence from all directions. In the center are the lotus feet of Almighty who is the care taker of all the life cycles which are represented here in different circles around Him. 

Here we see a dominant use of pink colour; signifying the message of Universal Love that God wants to bestow upon us. 

Traditionally these are done on the occasion of pujas like Satyanarayan Puja, Vishnu Puja etc.

The Trident

This painting consists of three powerful symbols - Om, Swastik and Trishul. The painting has a unique value as per Vastu Shastra because these symbols put together purify the whole atmosphere. The green color symbolizes peace and harmony. The red color reflects love and happiness. The painting adds brightness and cheerfulness to the atmosphere due to the use of yellow color. The three most auspicious symbols together bring lot of luck to the family.

Welcome

These art forms are based on traditional Folk Art known as Mithila Paintings. They were mostly done to decorate the interiors. Besides the aesthetics sense, it was believed that these paintings have the power to ward off the negative energy from the living area. Thus, the art form played a vital role in complementing the Vastu Vidya.

The painting at the top of my blog, which depicts the two female serpents termed as Sakhi-the intimate friends. Sakhi symbolizes the values of "Atithi Devo Bhawa" (Guests are equivalent to God).

It is believed that Sakhi is bestowed with the power to create a bonding between the Guests and the Hosts so that both can enjoy each others company to the fullest. It does this by purifying any negative energy which tries to enter the house along with the Guests and thereby creating a harmonious surrounding in the house.

This painting is best suited to be kept in the formal sitting area of the house.