Portrayal of Women in Indian Art

The women in India have often played a regressive role in society. Bowing to the dictates of a predominantly patriarchal society, the woman was assigned the role of a homemaker, nurturer, a wife, a mother and at times a lover. Indian art and artists has mirrored the social status of women, which is why though most of Indian art does have women as the central theme, their portrayal is often one-dimensional.

The Ajanta paintings are the most famous in the history of Indian art. Here too the ‘heroines’ of the works are portrayed as voluptuous temptresses, stressing on the fertility aspect in their ample curves. This trend is further elaborated in the Mauryan, Buddhist art styles...the ideal of female beauty was always the broad-hipped child-bearing woman.  If women were ever depicted as having power, it was always in the sexual sense - the sculptures of the women in Khajuraho frescos are assured and supremely confident in their sexuality. Yet, even in these depictions, we can glimpse the importance of women in Indian history and mythology. Essentially Indian Gods were nothing without their consorts who were considered the goddesses of wisdom, learning and wealth. A woman was a true ‘ardhangini’ or ‘better half’. Raja Ravi Varma, one of the well known artists of Indian art, portrayed the divine aspect of women, their joy of being alive, as well as the home maker aspect. For him the perfect Indian woman was the dutiful daughter, the loving mother, the ideal homemaker.

This image of women changed with the Mughal period in art where women were closeted behind walled gardens and heavily veiled. The woman was relegated to a decorative item, no thought, no emotion, just she and the birds and her hand maidens in blossoming alcoves, in pretty Mughal miniatures - Typical of the times and the thoughts of the rulers! History has no record of any Mughal queen who dominated Indian politics or society. The legendary Mumtaz Mahal is only immortalised as the favourite queen of Shah Jehan in the Taj Mahal.

The British ‘Raj’ in India brought with it a heightened sense of morality; scantily dressed women were now out. A baroque and posed, almost stiff portrayal of figures and women in art was ushered in. But this was also the time when women began to be exposed to an education. Amrita Shergill, by far one of the most known women Indian artists dealt with the subject of women with a heightened sensitivity. This was not the temptress or the subservient weak woman but one who was struggling to live within the parameters of a male dominated society, hesitant, uncertain yet proud. Women artists seem to have harboured this theme in their works, probably stemming from their own understanding of the travails of women striving to break out of the yoke of domesticity and explore their options in the new world. Anjolie Ela Menon, Lalitha Lajmi are some of the women artists who portrayed life as they saw it with women as the main protagonists. B. Prabha highlighted the hidden strengths of village and tribal women. The male artists tended to still maintain a tunnel vision of women, while M F Husain saw them as a reserve of power and strength, Jehangir Sabavalla portrayed them as mute spectators, their silent and veiled forms interacting in a private world men were not privy to, Akbar Padamsee’s nudes tend to be voyeuristic.  

Today’s contemporary artists too play out the power struggles between men and women. Aniket Khupse prefers to show how the sexes relate on an equal platform as they act out relationships in his canvases. Artists like Chintan Upadhyay choose to highlight women’s issues like female infanticide through their art. 

A study of Indian art is in fact a study of the changing image of Indian femininity!

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