M F Hussain And His 'Offensive' Paintings

By Sumit Paul, New Age Islam 24 January 2025 A Delhi court has ordered the seizure of two paintings by renowned artist MF Hussain, which depict Hindu deities Hanuman and Ganesh. The paintings were on display at the Delhi Art Gallery (DAG) in Connaught Place. The order, issued by Judicial Magistrate First Class Sahil Monga of the Patiala House Courts, came after a complaint was filed by Advocate Amita Sachdev. She alleged that the paintings were offensive and hurt religious sentiments. (MFHussain) ----- Sachdev visited the gallery on December 4, took photographs of the paintings, and later lodged an FIR on December 9. During a follow-up visit on December 10, the paintings were no longer on display. While Maqbool (or Madhuri?) Fida Hussain dared not depict Islamic revered figures the way he delineated Hindu gods and goddesses, I still defend him and his works. Hindus, like Advocate Amita Sachdev, must grow up. Looking for religious elements in every work of art is stupidity. Quite a few lithographs of Raja Ravi Varma show topless Hindu goddesses. They were never viewed as offensive or objectionable. But today, it's a moral and religious issue. Hindu mythology has always celebrated the beauty and even nudity of its deities. Kalidas' Sanskrit classic Kumarasambhavam extolled goddess Parvati's callipygian derriere. Yet, it was on the syllabi of Sanskrit Literature at many Indian Universities. No one objected. In 1980, the maverick Khushwant Singh launched a bold magazine, New Delhi, which folded up within a couple of years. In one of its issues, Khushwant's equally iconoclastic friend and painter Francis Newton Souza's paintings appeared. A couple of paintings of Hindu goddesses were pretty explicit. But, no Hindu reader took umbrage at them. The late Pritish Nandy admired those paintings. The legendary editor of now-defunct Debonair, Anil Dharker carried a few explicit poems of Kamala Das (later Suraiyya as she whimsically embraced Islam) in the late 70s. The poems had mythological themes and revolved around the sexuality of Hindu gods and goddesses. Debonair's last erudite editor Derek Bose ran articles in the magazine that had erotically bold mythological themes. There was no hullabaloo. The point is: We've suddenly become too touchy about everything. Hindus used to be quite open to all these things until two decades ago. But the scenario has drastically changed. The connoisseurs of art and aesthetics have a fundamental right to see the proscribed paintings of M F Hussain. There's no need to be so squeamish about the nudity of deities. It's not pornographic or sexually embarrassing. We've all the time in the world to cavil at even the most innocuous works of art, culture, literature and aesthetics. Calling everything prurient is a puerile behaviour. ------ A regular columnist for New Age Islam, Sumit Paul is a researcher in comparative religions, with special reference to Islam. He has contributed articles to the world's premier publications in several languages including Persian. URL: https://www.newageislam.com/spiritual-meditations/m-f-hussain-offensive-paintings/d/134416 New Age Islam, Islam Online, Islamic Website, African Muslim News, Arab World News, South Asia News, Indian Muslim News, World Muslim News, Women in Islam, Islamic Feminism, Arab Women, Women In Arab, Islamophobia in America, Muslim Women in West, Islam Women and Feminism