Raza’s Mahatma

An exhibition expressing SH Raza’s reverence for Mahatma Gandhi marks the veteran modernist’s 95th birth anniversary today

THE FORESTS of Mandla, 100-odd kilometres from Jabalpur, played no significant role in the Indian independence movement. But it did give India one of its most celebrated artists, SH Raza. In several of his interviews, the veteran modernist shared his first encounter with the Mahatma. At eight, accompanied by his father, Raza recalled listening to Mahatma Gandhi address a public meeting in Mandla during the freedom struggle. He did not remember what the political leader had stated then but the image of the Mahatma, frail in frame but assertive in his speech, and holding on to a lathi, remained entrenched in his mind. Years later, when India gained independence and the communal riots had people fleeing their homes, Raza, then in his 20s, refused to accompany his family — including his brothers, sister and first wife — who migrated to Pakistan. “He said he wanted to stay in his own country, in his “watan”. He thought he would be betraying the Mahatma if he left the nation,” says Ashok Vajpeyi, a close associate of Raza and trustee of the Raza Foundation.

Months after Raza’s demise in July 2016, Vajpeyi has contributed to the book Gandhi in Raza that will be released today at the India Habitat Centre to mark the artist’s 95th birth anniversary. The publication will be accompanied by an exhibition that comprises a series of seven canvases painted by Raza as a tribute to Gandhi. “They are an expression of his reverence for Gandhi. It is like a parikrama by a painter around a great soul who always inspired him,” says Reena Lath, Director of Akar Prakar Gallery, who has organised the exhibition with the Raza Foundation.

Painted in 2013, two years after Raza moved back to India after spending six decades in Paris, Vajpeyi recalls probing Raza on the series when it had just begun. “One late afternoon in 2013, I found him doing a canvas in very subdued hues. I was intrigued since his usual geometrical shapes were not there. When we met in the evening, he told me that he had decided to do a set of Gandhi paintings. The painting in question was the first one which had the last words of the Mahatma — ‘Hey Ram’ — which he uttered as he fell down dead to the bullets of his assassin,” says Vajpeyi, referring to an acrylic with thick brush strokes in white that is all-encompassing, except for the solid brown border on its edges, possibly suggestive of the strong will of Gandhi.

In another work, Peed Parai, the brown and white divide the canvas in equal parts, as Raza paints words from one of his favourite bhajans, Vaishnav jan toh tene kahiye. There is more text in Thoughts of Gandhiji and Swadharma, inscribed with Gandhi and Vinoba Bhave’s words. In multiple hues and geometric patterns, typical of Raza in his later years, the works Satya and Shanti, on the other hand, depict Gandhi’s relationship with truth and Raza’s own belief that all energy is held in the “bindu”. It is also, perhaps, the same energy that drove him to work till he breathed his last. “He felt that everyone should sooner or later discover his/her swadharma and act accordingly. His own dharma, he was clear, was to paint and he stuck to it throughout his life,” adds Vajpeyi.

The exhibition opens at India Habitat Centre today and continues at Akar Prakar gallery, Hauz Khas Village, from March 1 to March 31

(Clockwise from above) SH Raza, his works titled Sanmati; Hey Ram, Shanti and Swadharma