Motifs of Human Figures and Objects

By Rashmi Singh

The human figures are all typically of women climbed upon exquisitely decorated animals such as elephant, horse or birds resembling peacock. It is important to note that all these women are raised high, their arms too are raised up and directed outward. They are essentially bare head, in liberating, dancing and joyous postures. The palanquin motif shows three indentical human figures, one who is being carried by the other two palanquin bearers. By tradition, palanquin bearers were typically men carrying women or young girls in it. In the image, the physical representation of the palanquin bearers is exactly the same as the image of the person being carried. This cleary indicates that all the images in the palanquin motif are of young women. Therefore, this motif is uniquely reflective and representative of the hidden desires of role reversal. The “hookah” motif inserted somewhere between these seemingly happy and free women motifs stands tall as a reminder of the “hookah”, a commonly found object and symbol of patriarchy in most feudal households of Bihar. The “hookah” was smoked up by the patriarch (eldest male-head of the family) or elderly women (mothers or sisters of the male-head). All the above, as depicted on the “Awalkhana”, are an antithesis to the prevailing social, cultural, political and economic relationships, controlling and governing the lives of upper caste women in patriarchal, feudal households. Their everyday life otherwise was contradictory and dialectical to the manner in which they are depicted and illustrated in the “Awalkhana”. Our social reality, then and now, celebrates and romanticises friendships between men while most often underplays the women to women camaraderie, pushing it into the closed spaces of their households. At the time and age of my grandmother, the only mode of transporting women from one place to another was the palanquin that ensured complete purdah and minimised all possibilities for women to uninhibitedly access the public spaces. The palanquins were mostly seen at important life cycle events such as leaving natal homes after marriage, revisiting natal homes and pilgrimages. These motifs are very bold and extremely creative expressions of women fantasizing emancipation, innately desiring to break away from all the normative and stereotypical roles they performed in their everyday life.