OJAS
The story of the universal woman reaching beyond boundaries.
Commissioned for the Mad and Divine Conference 2011 at Karthik Fine Arts Chennai, Ojas I am a woman. I am a mother. I am a wife. I am a dancer. I am a woman. I have resisted and overcome patriarchal influence. I have pushed boundaries imposed upon me. I am part of a history abundant with stories of women who lived their lives as examples, breaking tradition, refusing to be subdued and contained within the walls of societal limitations. They were called mad and worse but that did not stop them. 3 such women were saint poetesses Lalleshwari, Meera and Akka Mahadevi. In search of spiritual union with
Shiva, Krishna & Chenna Mallikarjuna respectively, they wrote poetry that no one during their times understood, they sang and danced like nobody was watching, one even roamed the streets as a naked mendicant. Resisting the tugs and pulls of the mundane, they let the lotus within their chakras blossom. Reaching beyond yet reaching within, yearning, they succeeded in connecting with OJAS – spiritual energy. Their stories are my story. Their stories are your story and your story. The yearning for what is beyond that equates us all. This is the story of the universal woman reaching beyond boundaries.