Well drawn and beautifully executed this painting by Mahalaxmi has both a scholarly appeal as well as an aesthetic one.
It represents Bhamati the long-suffering wife of the great scholar Vachaspati whom she served for years while he wrote his famed commentary on the Advaita Vedanta the non-dualistic school of philosophy based on the Upanishads. When he finally finished the work it is said he looked up and seeing her asked who she was. I’m your wife she replied and thus he called the commentary Bhamati.
Mahalaxmi tells the story with insight. Bhamati bending forward with barely suppressed tears offers a lit oil lamp for Vachaspati’s evening study while he bent over his commentary doesn’t even look up to acknowledge her. The beautiful house with a well ordered open kitchen and clean yard also tells of Bhamati’s effort to make a setting where his work is paramount. Everything organized to shut out the world, from the house bordered by fences and palm trees to the empty clean swept yard.There are love birds over the doorway but no sign of domesticity. Nothing of theirs, no parents, no children. The umbrella hanging near the kitchen area the only hint of a world outside they cannot control.
The work signed by Mahalaxmi and Shantanu Das is acrylic on canvas. Overall dimensions are 41×28 in but picture size is 35.5×23.5 in. 2018.
