ARTIST MASOOD HUSSAIN IS DOING A SERIES ON LALLESHWARI OR LAL-DED ..

                                                                                 

ARTIST MASOOD HUSSAIN IS DOING A SERIES ON LALLESHWARI OR LAL-DED ..

In his recent body of work, Masood Hussain turns to the evocative medium of Pashmina to depict Lal Ded, reimagining her as both a spiritual presence and an embodied cultural memory. By rendering her upon this intimate, wearable fabric, he draws the mystic into the sphere of lived experience, transforming her from a distant poetic voice into a tactile and immediate encounter. Hussain is producing a series of remarkable paintings inspired by the Vaakhs of Lal Ded, employing a vibrant palette that articulates the depth of her Tantric consciousness and the philosophical nuance of Shaiva-darshana. He further elevates this vision by presenting her as a Shiva yogini, underscoring her grounding in Kashmir’s Shaivism and the rigours of Tantra -sadhana. Simultaneously, his use of Nastaliq script extends her accessibility to audiences beyond the Devanagari-reading tradition, while delicately bridging cultural sensibilities. The above painting is based on a popular Vaakh of Lal Ded.  My commentary and explanation of above the Vaakh and the painting  is as under:

Vaakh in Kashmiri

“Onkar yeli layi anum, 

Vuhi korum panun paan, 

Shai vot traavith sath maarg rotum, 

Teli Lall ba vaatchis prakaash-sthaan.”…Lal Ded 

Translation 

 “I set my mortal frame aflame with the fire of devotion,

 When I mastered the mystic syllable Om;

 Abandoning the six fold paths of the mind, 

I journeyed alone into the seventh, 

The hidden way; only there, 

In that luminous sanctum, did I, Lallā, 

Behold the radiant abode of Light.”

Commentary on Vaakh

This Vaakh presents Lal Ded’s spiritual journey as an inward transformation from limited identity to awakened consciousness. The opening invocation of Onkar, Om, is not merely verbal repetition. In Tantra, Mantra becomes a living force when sound and consciousness are united. The fire she invokes is therefore the fire of Tapas, spiritual purification, in which attachment, ego and the contracted sense of self are consumed.

Her abandonment of the “sixfold paths” and movement into the seventh suggests a passage beyond divided consciousness. The six may be understood as the many conditioned movements of mind, while the seventh indicates the hidden interior way in which multiplicity resolves into unity. This is deeply consonant with Kashmir Shaivism, where liberation is not the acquisition of something new but recognition of one’s own nature as Shiva consciousness. A relevant Shiva Sutra is “Śarīravṛttir vratam”, Shiva Sutra III.26, meaning “The activity of the body is the sacred observance.” Lal Ded does not reject embodied life. She transforms it into Sadhana, spiritual discipline. Vedanta similarly reads this movement as the dissolution of false identification with body and mind. Her “Prakaash Sthaan”, the abode of light, is therefore not a physical realm but the realisation of pure consciousness, self-luminous, undivided and free.

Commentary on the Painting 

This evocative work presents a deeply layered visual meditation on Lal Ded, revered as Lalleshwari, the Shiva Yogini, capturing not merely her image but the inner cartography of her Tantric realisation within the framework of Kashmir Shaivism. The fragmented, almost torn surface of the painting immediately suggests the dissolution of ego and the breaking of conditioned identity, a necessary rupture along the path of Sadhana. Along the lower plane, Lal Ded appears in seven sequential forms, each seated in meditative stillness before rising flames, representing the seven stages of Tantra-sadhana, each fire symbolising Tapas ( fire used for spiritual austerity/purification /penance  ), the fierce inner heat of purification through which the seeker is gradually refined. Above each form, luminous halos interwoven with intricate Tantric geometry and mandalas signify ascending states of consciousness, mapping her journey from embodied awareness to subtle, cosmic realisation. The artist’s use of colour is particularly striking and deeply symbolic: the progression across the composition moves through a spectrum of reds, oranges, yellows, greens, blues and violets, subtly evoking the ascent through inner energy centres, while the intense reds and fiery oranges at the base convey both destruction and renewal through spiritual heat. Cooler tones, blues and deep indigos, suggest inward stillness and expanded awareness, while the interplay of contrasting hues creates a dynamic tension between turbulence and harmony, mirroring the process of awakening itself. The upper abstract expanse, rendered in bold, almost explosive strokes of colour, further intensifies this effect, suggesting the uncontainable nature of liberated consciousness beyond form.

(Avtar Mota )

CHINAR SHADE by Autarmota is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 India License.
Based on a work at http:\\autarmota.blogspot.com\.