National Museum, a great destination of Art Treasures, with a modest beginning, was initiated by Royal Academy, London. In May, 1946, the Blueprint for establishing the national Museum was prepared by Gwyer Committee to curate an Exhibition of Indian Art in Delhi and London. Great Exhibition as it was known, organised in Burlington House in London and Rashtrapathi Bhavan Delhi on August 15, 1949 inaugurated by C. Rajagopalachari, the then Governor General of India, and turned out as a great Success. The Foundation of the present majestic structure was laid by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru in 1955, and the first phase was inaugurated by Dr. Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan, then Vice-President of India in 1960, subsequently the rest of the building completed in course of time. Today, the National Museum holds a staggering number of 2,00,000 rare objects painstakingly collected covering the time span of 5000 years of Indian Cultural Heritage, the most valuable treasure trove of our country. Apart from its theme wise dedicated galleries, the fabulous Nizam Jewellery Exhibition and a unique textile exhibition of Balachuri saree heritage are special ones drawing the attention of visitors’ world over.
Motherhood is one of the great stages of womanhood, experienced by a woman herself and revered in all cultures, even the taboo of the phenomenon of unwed mother is diminishing. The Indian feminine divine tradition is centred around the concept of ‘The Mother’, with all its aspects of fertility, nurturing, caring and giving, as such the feminine divine is seen as supreme with all the attributes that are fundamental to human existence itself.
The earliest imagery of Mother in the tangible form makes its beginning in the Indus-Sarasvati valley period during 2000 BCE. The images were created in baked clay, the terracotta was most favourite material for creating art objects during the various phases of Indus valley civilization. Indus art has the basic feature of simplicity when compared to the complicated process of later Indian art styles. The animal and human figurines are well modelled in stone, terracotta and bronze with naturalistic treatment of body elements. One of the master pieces of Indus Valley art is the image of the Mother Goddess. The concept of the Mother Goddess is still the guardian of the house and villages in India, presiding over child-birth and daily needs. The Grama Devata (tutelary deity of every village) tradition is very much part of the present-day life in towns and villages of India. Several manifestations are associated with the Grama Devata concept. Thus, the presence of Mother Goddess sculptures in all the phases of Indus civilization makes it clear that Mother Goddess was a popular cult of Indus valley culture. The mother goddess figurines are numerous at Harappa and Mohenjodaro, but not in Kalibangan, Lothal, Surkotada and Dholavira.
Mother goddess: Mother worship in India has a long and unbroken tradition. One of the strengths of Indian culture is the adoration of the mother. The agricultural society revered the earth as mother. A large number of terracotta figurines have been found in Harappa and Mohenjodaro with characteristic features like figures in standing posture with legs apart adorned with an elaborate girdle, a loin cloth, necklaces of different types and fan-shaped headdress. Therefore, it is the evidence that this cult flourished in the Indus Valley and continued in later periods of Indian history.
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There are good examples of women with or without children, lying on beds or in the state of pregnancy convey the idea of fecundity. Two figures of reclining woman with a child, one each from Harappa and Mohenjodaro is surprisingly without any kind of decoration shows the sense of propriety while nursing a babe. A striking example of a female figure with pot-belly suckling two babies from Harappa is moulded on the wheel. Some female figures are portrayed as doing household chores such as grinding the grain and kneading the dough from Harappa is hand modelled in baked clay.
These figures are well-attended by the artists in adding suitable decorations in the form of costume and jewellery. The mother and child images continue even in Mauryan period and further in Gupta and medieval times, as seen the stone sculptures epitomise this concept with greater variety of themes. Jaina Yakshi Ambika in Jain art, Maya with child Siddharth in Buddhist art, Parvati with Skanda and Ganesha, Yashoda or Devaki with Krishna, Seeta with Lava and Kusha, Kunti with Pandavas are all portrayed as mothers with their children. In one of the Pala sculptures from the collection NM, a reclining mother with her child is comforted by several women around and she is blessed by all celestials.
Another interesting theme is the celebration of motherhood in the imagery of Saptamatrukas. Number seven is very sacred in India. In language, the seven are identified with the vowels. Seven figures with long plaits and standing before a tree are often depicted on Harappan seals and may be a prototype of the Seven Mothers.
Seven Mothers who are mentioned specifically in the Rig Veda but are not named until post-Vedic times. The usually accepted list is Brahmani, Maheshvari, Kaumari, Vaisnavi, Varahi , Indrani, Chamunda (or Narashimhi). The seven represent the motherly aspect of the Great Goddess (Devi). They are the female counterparts of the gods, Brahma, Mahesvara, Kumara, Vishnu, Varaha, Indra and Yama. The mothers are armed with the same weapons as their respective gods. They also have the same mounts and banners. Each mother may be shown with a child either standing or seated on her lap. Sometimes Skanda or Ganesha is placed on the extreme left of the matrukas symbolising as their status of mother. Even if the child is not associated with them, they are considered as auspicious as seven mothers and they are known as Matruka images. The best representation is seen in the Rawalaphadi cave of Aihole, where they are in dancing mode and Shiva is the teacher teaching natya to these matrukas . In this Pratihara sculpture panel of NM, the saptamatrukas are dancing at ease in chatura pose with their attributes to the tune of Shiva as veenadhara , who is also dancing in blissful mood with the saptamatrukas . The most enjoyable is the Chamunda, dancing in ecstasy.
The concept of mother and child was immortalised in Mysore Traditional painting. Artists of Mysore were in great demand to paint this imagery considered as auspicious. Every household had Yashoda and Krishna in their pride collection.
Dr. Choodamani Nandagopal is an Art Historian, UNESCO fellow and has more than 22 books on art history and culture in English and Kannada. She has been awarded the prestigious Tagore National Fellowship at National Museum, Delhi. Her Research project for the tenure of Fellowship is ‘The role of Female Messengers (Duti/Sakhi) in Indian Art Thought and Literature’, on the art collections of National Museum New Delhi. She will be writing on the masterpieces at the National Museum.
