EARTH AS THE BODY OF GOD.

Already from far away, we are drawn by the image of the Holy Mountain. It is like the spire of a Temple, or a Cathedral. Symbolically, it is the axis of the universe. Everything seems to be drawn towards this focal point. The road seems to draw us towards the mountain. For me the landscape is always a spiritual sign. The landscape reminds us that the spiritual reality has to be incarnated into the every-day, embodied in the forms that we see around us. The earth is the body of God.

THE MOUNTAIN OF SPRING AND SUMMER

The Holy Mountain has a personality of its own, that reminds us of the different moods that colour each person's character. In a way these different faces of the mountain relate to the different seasons of the year.  The mountain reflects the colours of the sky, but also the different shades that predominate in the terrestrial landscape When the fields are dry, and the soil has the warm flesh like folds of the human body, then the mountain seems to lift these naked barren aspects of the soil, like a voice crying to the flaming sky . Everything burns with the passionate spirit of spring and summer.

THE MOUNTAIN BEYOND THE SHRINE

There is a relationship between the mountain and the shrine The shrine is like a window through which we can see and understand the significance of the mountain. In a way, the shrine represents the microcosm--it is on the human scale of the worshipper  The mountain, on the other hand is like a finger that points to a cosmic dimension. Here the shrine is dedicated to Ganapathi who is the guardian of the fields. He is a popular deity who speaks to the hearts of the peasants who work the land around the base of the mountain. Seen from one angle, one can notice that the form of the mountain is not unlike that of the seated, earthy figure of Ganapati.

The Mountain can be circumambulated. In that way it is like a primordial sculpture, which can be seen from different angles as we approach it from different perspectives. But the landscape that is related to the mountain also reminds us of the different seasons. It is the link between earth and sky. In the mountain we see how the moods of the sky effect the different moods of the landscape, and particularly the fields that lie at the base of the mountain. This images tries to picture the season of rains, when the great rock that points up towards the sky, becomes the recipient of the gift of life giving waters that flow down to irrigate the land beneath the mountain. This in fact is the basis for the ancient myth of the way in which the Shiva gave the Ganga to renew the earth which was parched as a result of a terrible drought  The myth of the 'descent of the River Ganges' is represented in one of the earliest monolythic masterpieces of Indian Classical art on the rock face of the temple complex on the seashore at Mahaballipuram

THE HOLY MOUNTAIN AS THE LOCUS OF THE SPIRIT.

Shiva Ganga, the Holy Mountain that is not far from where we live in Silvepura, is a place that we have often visited as a family, and I have represented it in landscapes based on views of the mountain taken from different sides  This face of the mountain is related, according to local tradition, to the image of Ganapatti, the Lord of earth spirits (Ganas) who are associated with the Hindu deity Shiva.  In fact from ancient times Shiva has been associated with mountains, and storms. In that way Shiva can be compared to the ancient Hebrew belief in the archangel Michael, who is also often linked to the manifestation of the Divine that takes place on mountains, like Mount Sinai in the Biblical tradition.

A group interested in the forest as having a language of its own, went into the forest in Wyanad to gather impressions. These were given form through poetry, but also installations, using objects that had been gathered from the forest.

I can’t hold

                                                                The shadows and the sunlight,

                                                                The spaces and the stillness ,

                                                                The slight stir of movement

                                                                Or the sounds of  falling ripeness.

                                                                I can’t hold

                                                                The order of disorder

                                                                And the mingling of meetings

                                                                Layer upon layer,

                                                                Side by pulsing side.

                                                                I gather just some syllables

                                                                That alone mean nothing

                                                                But when together

                                                                Sing a world.

                                                                                                Jane

HONEY GATHERING IN THE WYANAD

A workshop was held in the Wyanad on the way in which language uses metaphors derived from the landscape. We met in the home of Baby and Shirly, and a short walk from their home were paddy fields leading down to a stream. On the other side of the stream was the forest. This movement from cultivated land to the forest wilderness has been understand in Indian thought as the distinction between Nadu and Kadu.  Visually it was the contrast of open spaces with the vertical pattern of fields leading down to the stream, and on the other side the vertical tall tree trunks of the forest reaching up to the sky.