The Cloth of the Mother Goddess
Chris Wood
V isitors to the V&A’s exhibition The Fabric of India last winter
might have seen a rather special cloth book on show. It
represents both a vibrant Gujarati tradition and, in itself, the creation
of something new, that speaks as eloquently to us in the West as to its
source in the East.
In Norwich, we are fortunate in having a link to traditions much
further East in the form of the South Asian Decorative Arts and Crafts
Collection (SADACC). SADACC has a close relationship with
contemporary South Asian artists and, in particular, with Tara Books,
of Chennai, which works with marginalised communities and
traditional artists and craftspeople, bringing their skills and stories to
wider notice. So, as well as launching the cloth book, The Cloth of the
Mother Goddess, at the V&A, Tara Books came to SADACC.
This is not a typical book. Each copy is a work of art, a limited
edition hand-block print on cloth. Indeed, whilst there is a booklet
included about the tradition and the work of the artist, Jagdish Chitara,
the main part of the book is a cloth bag containing a folding string of
standing panels that forms a cloth shrine in the tradition of Mata-ni-
Pachedi – the Cloth of the Mother Goddess. The cover price of £75
(in the UK) might sound a lot for a book, but in the context of the fine
art print market, this is not so very much to spend.
The Mata-ni-Pachedi began some 300 years ago, created by
nomadic artisans, known as Vaghari, for themselves and other
marginalised people, the outcaste groups in the Hindu caste system,
not permitted entry into the temples. Instead, they employ painted and
printed textiles, draped as temporary shrines and created as offerings
to their community’s guardian Goddess at festivals.
The Mother Goddess represented can therefore be one of many
deities, but She is always shown in the distinctive palette of white, red
and black, which immediately resonates with Western goddess
depictions, with their primal hues of birth, life and death, or fostering,
lordship and forgetting. These are not far from interpretations of the
colours in Hindu myth, which of course also emerge from traditional
materials and from the basic realities of motherhood. Ajā, the She-
Goat and the Unborn, symbolises unmanifest nature, that gives birth
to the world. Her colours are the black of disintegration, the white of
concentration, and the red of enjoyment.
The story depicted on the cloth shrine that forms the book is of
the Goddess, here Vihat, patron deity of artisans, enshrined in the
forest, honoured by Her people. However, the reverse tells the story of
the people becoming complacent and neglecting the Goddess and Her
shrine, which leads to drought, disease and death. Desperate, they
enquire of the shaman, who points out that their lives have become
superficial. They must honour the Mother Goddess, by creating an
image of Herself to offer to Her. This they do and divine harmony is
restored. This story resonates with tales told worldwide of people,
bound up with their daily lives, forgetting the gods, the ancestors, or
the fair folk, with severe consequences. By allowing the traditions to
fall into disuse they desecrate the shrines by neglect, and a Wasteland
is the result. By renewing traditions, life and prosperity are restored.
In this process, the artist and worshipper remake the Goddess.
The painted or printed cloth is a gift to the Goddess of Herself, a vital
rejuvenating exchange of energy, and through it the most excluded
people receive Her blessing and help spread it throughout their land.
By creating this book, Tara Books and the artist, Jagdish Chitara,
not only honour and revivify a tradition that is today practised by a
diminishing number of artists, they also create a new image of the
Goddess, in a new format, to honour Her, send a blessing to people far
away, and show the world that renewal is possible.
Bibliography
Jagdish Chitara (2015) The Cloth of the Mother Goddess, Tara, Chennai:
ISBN: 978-93-83145-31-7: www.tarabooks.com/uk.
Alain Daniélou (1991) The Myths and Gods of India, Inner Traditions, p. 286.
Caitlín Matthews (1989) Arthur and the Sovereignty of Britain, Arkana.
SADACC: www.southasiandecorativeartsandcrafts.co.uk .
