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Before I start, let me apologise for the bad quality of the Mumbai timeline enclosed in last weeks article. I have recd many many complaints about it so have uploaded a fresh copy at http://theindipatriot.blogspot.com/2008/03/mumbai-timeline-clear-picture.html
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I normally discourage the circulation of any email the facts of which have not been thoroughly checked by me. Thus to date, I have kept my mouth shut on the nonsense circulating about MF Hussain but cannot restrain myself anymore.
I’m sure a lot of you have received this mail wherein there are pictures said to be painted by MF Hussain which show that he’s a Hindu Hater and a Muslim lover. Its one of the most circulated mails on the internet.
The straw that broke the camels back and made me break my silence on this mail is a piece of rabid nonsense quoted to me by a fanatic who in turn, was merely quoting a well known writer who has professed himself to be an authority by de-riding the ‘so-called’ Hussain paintings.
I am pained to see sensible balanced Indians lapping up this nonsense and then re-circulating it.
To begin with, let me say that I have done a search on the net and cannot find any of the paintings sent to me, except 3 – the Draupadi, the nude Bharatmata and Saraswati ones, as confirmed Hussains.
These are the same paintings which the Honorable Court has taken cognizance of as being possible offenders of public morale.
The others may or may not be the work of someone with Photoshop and a lot of free time. (As a matter of fact, I would not mind buying some of the paintings as they are quite good and who knows, someday they may even become invaluable “piece-d’arts”)
Hussain, according to me, is nothing but a man for whom adulation has gone to the head – someone who has now started abusing his artistic license by making paintings on the edge.
The one about him in the form of a bull in copulation with a Manaxi signed as a "Mcbull " is Freudian at the very least and reflects a mind which needs some serious "meditation".
Artists are known to be a bit edgy ( for example Van Gogh was put in an asylum and shot himself in the end or Chintan Upadhaya sits nude as his own installation). But, someone needs to sit Hussain down and tell him the facts of life.
However despite Hussain and his eccentricities , I do not see any greater sinister design in these paintings, except perhaps some manipulation by some clever politicians over a bunch of weak minded fools for their own gain.
I found that upon trying to research MF Hussain there are very few links to paintings done by him and a lot of blogs repeating and attributing the same unconfirmed pictures said to be drawn by him.
If any of my readers have confirmed links to any of the images I have labeled as unconfirmed, then please do forward these links to me immediately, so that I can do a follow-up for our readers.
Now, here’s my interpretation of the paintings (even if the unconfirmed ones have been done by him) as compared to the misinterpretation in the mails sent to me:
1) Hussain unconfirmed ( Durga on a tiger)  | Explanation of this painting sent to me: Goddess Durga in sexual union with Tiger My reading of this painting; How does one have sexual union with a tiger in the middle of his back ? and isnt Durga's mount a tiger, wouldn't it be more logical to assume Durga riding a tiger since shes on the tiger instead of vice versa. What king of sexual union are these people used to ? I've heard of woman superior position but this is too much. Also why has no one objected to the use of 3 breasts on Durga instead of 2, isnt that an insult ? |
2) Hussain unconfirmed: ( 4 leaders)  | Explanation of this painting sent to me: Out of the four leaders M. Gandhi is decapitated and Hitler is naked. Hussain hates Hitler and has said in an interview 8 years ago that he has depicted Hitler naked to humiliate him and as he deserves it ! How come Hitler's nudity cause humiliation when in Hussain's own statement nudity in art depicts purity and is in fact an honour ! This shows Hussain's perversion and hypocrisy. My reading of this painting; Buddhist art has used a symbol for Buddha with things like sun showing that his light was so big that it could not be shown as a normal being. Can we not also read this like Gandhi's light of knowledge was so brilliant that Hussain was overwhelmed by it and a sun has been used to symbolise it. Whats more important why is no one talking about why Gandhi has only one arm in the picture ? perhaps because it would not serve any political purpose ? |
3) Hussain confirmed : ( Bharatmata nude)  | Explanation of this painting sent to me: Naked Bharatmata - Hussain has shown naked woman with names of states written on different parts of her body. He has used Ashok Chakra, Tri-colour in the painting. By doing this he has violated law & hurt National Pride of Indians. Both these things should be of grave concern to every Indian irrespective of his religion. My reading of this painting; Hussain during this time was a person in a madness phase overwhelmed with the adulation which mad people gave him by quoting 100 crores for 100 paintings. He's a monster created by us and the media and now he's come back to bite us. |
4) Hussain unconfirmed:  | Explanation of this painting sent to me: Full Clad Muslim King and naked Hindu Brahmin. The above painting clearly indicates Hussain's tendency to paint any Hindu as naked and thus his hatred My reading of this painting; Can this painting not be seen as an evil Muslim leader pulling a wicked looking sword behind the back of a defenseless innocent Hindu ( the nudity symbolizing defenselessness) , thereby be-lying the claims of the detractors of Hussain who say that he shows Muslims in good light and Hindus in bad. |
5) Hussain unconfirmed:  | Explanation of this painting sent to me: Naked Lord Hanuman and Goddess Sita sitting on thigh of Ravana My reading of this painting; Hanuman is a monkey god, would it be right to clothe him ? I dont see Ravan wearing a loin cloth, so why are the people not protesting that ? Is it ok to show the genitalia of villians ? I don't see Sita sitting on Ravan's lap. What I do see is a Sita behind Ravana in a repeat of Sania Mirza-Indian Flag controversy. What I see is a ferocious Hanuman fearlessly coming to rescue Sita after Ravana has tried to outrage her modesty. |
6) Hussain confirmed : ( Draupadi)  | Explanation of this painting sent to me: Naked Draupadi My reading of this painting; Offical title is Draupadi on dice. It is supposed to symbolise Draupadi who fell after she was lost in a dice game and the cloth covering her almost nudity ( along with her falling motion which is a symbol of her helplessness at the hands of the men who used her as a plaything) symbolises the cover she was provided by Sri Krishna. ( If Hussain really wanted , he could have made the cloth transparent like the ones we see in a lot of older Hindu paintings so that we could see her nudity, just the fact he made it opaque says volumes) |
7) Hussain Unconfirmed:  | Explanation of this painting sent to me: Naked Shri Parvati My reading of this painting; I'm not even sure this is a genuine Hussain since the style is definitely different but I could be wrong. Why are we not seeing an objection to Parvati being portrayed with three arms like a freak instead of 2 ? |
8) Hussain unconfirmed:  | Explanation of this painting sent to me: Goddess Lakshmi naked on Shree Ganesh's head My reading of this painting; Again style seems different doesn't it. Again 3 arms ? What does this man have with 3 arms / why not 2 or 4 or any other even number? Is there is Christian conspiracy with the Holy trinity being shown in the three arms subminally ( just joking)
(There is another piece of rubbish circulating on the net talking about the Christian Churches and how they control the media. Why are these jokers not alleging that perhaps the Christian Churches could easily have bribed Hussain to Show the Holy trinity sublimely in Hindu Gods thereby pushing Christianity as superior to Hinduism) |
Among all the mails showing Hussain as against Hindus there were a few pictures which said he was slanted towards Musims since he showed prominent Muslim and other figures he respected as clothed.
So I went out and found some pictures confirmed as done by Hussain which we can compare with the unconfirmed and confirmed clothed paintings in the mail which are said to portray the evil Mr. Hussain.
This shows that all in all we should not make hasty judgements by just pulling a sample out.
Hussain unconfirmed sent in mail to me:
Title: Muslim poets Faiz, Galib are shown well-clothed | Found by me : Ganesh Clothed
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Hussain unconfirmed sent in mail to me: Well clothed Muslim Lady
| Hussain Confirmed found by me: Clothed Indian Sitar player
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Last but not the least, a Hussain I found was a durga but alas , fully clothed:
As to Mr. Hussain , if he wishes to paint himself as Mc bull or any other kind of animal in a copulatory or any other pose, he's welcome to do so as long as he keeps the sensibilities of the public in mind.