Outlook Talks | Chinki Sinha in conversation with Anjani Kumar Singh, The Director of Bihar Museum - video Dailymotion

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In a world dominated by images of men and gods, Baua Devi of Jitwarpur village of Madhubani district in Bihar was trying to paint a scene from Sita’s childhood where a young Sita picks up a bow and her father looks at her with awe. It was too heavy for a young girl and yet, she picked it up. Thirty-five artists, mostly women who do traditional Madhubani and Manjusha paintings and Sujani art, had come to Bihar Museum to depict scenes from the life of Sita, who they consider Bihar’s daughter and an ecofeminist and a woman who personified dignity and empowerment.   Vaidehi Sita, the exhibition, curated for the museum’s foundation day on August 7, is a brave endeavour because of the politicisation of Lord Ram in recent times. Sita, who was married to him, was eventually abandoned and for artists like Shanti Devi and Dulari Devi, it was a betrayal.   For them, Sita’s story is what many women must see and hear and break free from everything that shackles them.   Outlook speaks with Anjani Kumar Singh, the director of Bihar Museum, about the exhibition and the coming together of artists, many of whom belong to lower castes who weren’t allowed to paint the images of Ram and Sita up until the 1980s.  Camera: Suresh Pandey   Follow us: Website: https://www.outlookindia.com/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Outlookindia Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/outlookindia/ X: https://twitter.com/Outlookindia Whatsapp: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaNrF3v0AgWLA6OnJH0R Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@OutlookMagazine Dailymotion: https://www.dailymotion.com/outlookindia  #VaidehiSita #SitaExhibition #BiharMuseum #MadhubaniArt  #WomenArtists #CulturalHeritage #Ecofeminism #ArtAndHistory

Transcript

00:00Sita is a human being and her life, she has you know all those things like she also gets

00:05enchanted by seeing a golden deer.

00:19Hi this is Chinky from Outlook and we are with Anjini ji from Bihar Museum.

00:22He is the director and the patron also of various kinds of things and he has been really

00:29pushing the envelope when it comes to the folk arts in Bihar and right now they are

00:34doing this exhibition for Founders Day which is based on Sita.

00:38You know Sita they think like you know Bihar's daughter.

00:42So I just wanted to ask Anjini ji ki aapne yeh exhibition jo kar rahe hain yeh Founders

00:48Day ke liye hain and it's a very unique concept ki poore desh bhar mein log Ram ke baare mein

00:52baat karte hoon aur achanak se Sita ka narrative aur aapne jo art chuna hain wo Madhubani hain,

00:58Anjusha hain, yeh saara folk art hai aur cast ka bhi ek angle tha kyuki wo batari thi Shanti

01:03Devi ki pehle Ramayana unko banane bhi nahi dete the toh it's very interesting toh kya

01:08sochke sir?

01:09Sita ka jo Bihar ka context hai toh hum log chahate the ki Sita ko poore roop se jaane

01:18duniya.

01:19Abhi kya hota tha ki Sita ke baare mein kuch kahaani thi, kuch geet thi aur unke jeevan

01:24ki kuch ghatna thi but somehow it was not being placed on a platform where people can

01:29see holistically kaise wo nature se judi hoi thi, kaise dharti se nikli aur dharti mein

01:35sama gayi, pir kya kya unke jeevan mein hua, wo toh ek model women ka poora depiction hai

01:41but yeh holistically kahin hon nahi pa raha tha toh hum logon ne chaha because this year

01:45we are celebrating our Foundation Day on 7th August so we selected Sita as a theme, Sita

01:50belongs to Bihar, toh wo background tha then humne 193-4 tukde mein program ko kya, ek

01:57mein toh humare jitne ache folk artist hai and all folk forms from Bihar like Mithila

02:04painting, Tikuli, Sujini, Aplik, Manjusa, so we invited all senior national level artists

02:15and those artists we have got Padmasree, so these artists came and we gave them a theme

02:20from the life of Sita and they were supposed to paint or create an art based on that theme

02:27so 30 participants are doing it and luckily out of 30, I think 25 are women, so it is

02:36Sita's life is being depicted by women, which is also very, that is important, ek toh aapne

02:45se keh rahe hain, women are depicting the life of Sita and they are highly empowered,

02:49we spoke to them and their whole version of Sita is also saying that Ram left Sita and

02:53Sita did not go back, Sita actually went back into the earth, so they are doing a lot of

02:58these very powerful, and closeness of Sita with nature, exactly, another aspect is we

03:05are also collecting songs related to Sita right from her childhood, when she is playing

03:12in garden or in nature and life, marriage, everything in jungle and how Ravan took her

03:24to Lanka, all those things are getting depicted, so with these exhibitions, people will know

03:29the whole life of Sita and of course, Sita will include Ram, Lakshman, everything, but

03:37the central model will be Sita, that is one part through art and through music, third

03:44part is there are enough literature on Sita, but again that has to be placed in a context,

03:51it has not been done, so what we are doing is we are inviting 3-4 known, very famous

03:56people who have really researched life of Sita and they have a very good work, some

04:03people have published articles, some people have published books also on Sita, so those

04:09senior people will come, researchers will come and they will talk about Sita, so that

04:15will be to the audience of Bihar, they will know their views and their interpretations,

04:22because like these schedule cast women in Mithila painting, they were doing only using

04:30black and white colour and they were doing only, they were not, they were painting for

04:35forest scenes, gardens, etc, but not Ram and Sita, but so we have given them chance, so

04:42now they are painting, even in Godhna style, they are making the life story of Sita.

04:48And the other interesting part was that they said, Sita we are looking not as a goddess,

04:53but the daughter of Bihar.

04:54Sita is a human being, in our whole approach, Sita is a human being and her life, she has

05:02you know all those things, like she also gets enchanted by seeing a golden deer, because

05:08she sees it's a golden, so she wants it, so you know that type of human, with all human

05:14frailty and you know empowerment, and compassion, compassion everything, so that and it should

05:22be well received, because we are getting very good feedback, and people from neighbouring,

05:27even we are getting enquiries from UP, and you know this Orissa, they also want to come,

05:34so we are inviting.

05:35Have you heard that there is a big temple being built in Sitamari also for Sita?

05:38Yes, Sita, Sita, so that is getting revived, because you know that region, that region

05:43Mithila, Sita is almost everywhere, in the songs, in the rituals, all your marriage rituals,

05:52the symbolic is Ram and Sita, most of the songs are Ram and Sita.

05:57Thank you so much sir.

Outlook Talks | Chinki Sinha in conversation with Anjani Kumar Singh, The Director of Bihar Museum

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