story, illustrations and design by ananya
hi! a big hello to you. today seems to be a rather beautiful sunny day, wouldn't you say? on this beautiful day lets go ut, shall we? but where shall we go??? how about the zoo? but wait! this is a rather special kind of zoo. for one it is huge, and it is full of curious creatures of all kinds. from the mighty mountains to the vast plains, the great deserts to the dense forests, we will see them all today. so pace yourself and lets set off together!
First we come to the village of Madhubani in the land called Bihar where women paint stories on the walls and Peacocks reiterate the love of Radha and Krishna in the lush gardens of Vrindavan. The birds fly around the trees and all around us, full of promises of stories and secrets
The great elephants of Bihar greet us and wish us good healtyh on our journey. They are so big and beautiful, their presence calming and comforting. They maove about slowly, lazily, like they have all the time in the world and drin k and spray water from the ponds. The ponds are full of fishes, big and small and all shapes and sizes and almost every colour that can be imagined! The fish wish us luck for our endeavours and so we carry on ahead on ou journe, more excited than ever!!!
As we skip ahead, we come to the Great Deserts of Rajasthan, the land of warriors, the brave Rajputs, the demigods, Devnarayan and Pabuji.
This is where horses and elephants lead their kings to victory, where starcrossed lovers, Dhola-Maru rendezvous on camels in the desert, which has become a symbol of their love. The trees may be sparse but they are home to many many birds Moving ahead we jump over streams full of fish, and come to the forest, and what do we see? a ferocious tiger lying in wait, ready to pounce on the deer, blissfully unaware.
Moving futher west, we come to gujarat and what do we have here, a wedding procession. the stories spun by bhils and rathwas of the wdding between pithoro and pithori, attended by godsand other beings. while the twin tigers guard the doors, protectors of the tribe, the horses carry the guests and carts full of grains and clothes and the elephants wish the couple good fortune.
AS we come to madhya pradesh, we see the gond tribes. they live closely in harmony with nature and animals and use simple expansion of lines and dots in different shapes and colors to form images reflecting the tribal worldview. trees nurture and give life while peacocks and fish danvce merrily. the deers feed their young and elephnats stand guard. the goinds colour their surroundings with their imagination.
Moving further down west, we come to the land of the marathas. Here on brick red walls in villages far, stories sing in rice and flour. This is the land of the warlis, simple rural folk who don't concern themselves with stories of great epics but find joy in everyday things of life.
while men and women dance in circles and celebrate the little things that bring happiness to them, the horses gallop around the village, where the ox pull carts carrying crops and grains. the tigers hunt the deer and the peacocks dance in merriment and rejoice in the onset of rains.
as we go happily ahead, we come to the land enriched with the kalam, where butterflies fly around trees laden with fruits and flowers, inviting us to play in the shade. here peacocks are mighty, magnificent and majestic in all their glory and elephants march along lazily.
Moving on to the dense forests of bengal, we come across the peacocks and the parrots getting ready for the wedding. whose wedding you adsk, but why its the wedding of the fish and the entire forest is invited. all the animals except the cat are going to the wedding. the fish are hppily dancing and celebrating while all the guests are getting ready.
the cat meows and stares greedily at birds and the fish waiting for the perfect opportunity to grab and run ever so sly ever so cunning almost ready to pounce
And then we come and witness the great epic of mahabharat in the eastern land of orissa where the forest is full of horses, deers, elephants and lions and the rivers and streams are full of fish. this is the place where stories of great battles are sung. this the place where the spectacular mythical beast, navgunjar, nine animals in one, rooster, peacock, lion, tiger, bull, elephant, antelope, sepent and human, made a believer out of arjun.
and thus ends our rather adventurous journey. we saw so many creatures, big And small FROM LANDS NEAR AND FAR, heard so maNy stories, old and new. wouldn't it be sad if they were to vanishand the only thing to remember them by would be stories, pictures and drawings? seems that it is upto us to not let that happen, its upto us to protect these curious creatures and the folklore surrounding them.
"cURIOUS CREATURES OF LORE" IS A COLLECTION OF CREATURES FROM FOLK/TRIBAL PAINTINGS IN INDIA NAMELY MADHUBANI PAINTING FROM BIHAR, PHAD PAINTING FROM RAJASTHAN, PITHORA PAINTING FROM GUJARAT, GOND PAINTING FROM MADHYA PRADESH, WARLI PAINTING FROM MAHARASHTRA, KALAMKARI FROM ANDHRA PRADESH, KALIGHAT PAINTING FROM WEST BENGAL AND PATTACHITRA FROM ORISSA. THIS BOOK WAS CREATED AS A PART OF THE DESIGNER'S GRADUATION PROJECT WHILE STUDYING AT NATIONAL INSTOITUTE OF FASHION TECHNOLOGY, NEW DELHI.