ALAPPUZHA: Several people have found their calling in painting, be it acrylic, mural or Madhubani to name a few. But a 21-year-old girl from Mannar in Alappuzha has scripted history of sorts after proving her prodigious talent in Mandala art, an art form commonly associated with Buddhist culture.
The sheer volume of Athira Sasi’s works -- she has drawn more than 100 pictures in Mandala art form -- ensured her entry into the Asia Book of Records, India Book of Records and Kalam’s World Records. She is now set to feature in the Limca Book of Records.
Even more creditably, Athira is a self-taught Mandala painter. The ancient art had prevailed mainly in parts of South and SouthEast Asia namely present-day Tibet, Bhutan, Myanmar and other places in the region where Buddhist culture is deeply immersed.
“I had spent my childhood in Gujarat where my father worked. The Mandala art form is widely used in textile printing in Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and other North Indian states and it got me hooked on. On my return to Kerala, I began to dabble in the art. The two month-long nationwide Covid-induced lockdown had given me ample time to do the 100-odd paintings in the ancient art form,” said Athira, who is pursuing her Master’s in commerce at the Girideepam Institute of Advanced Learning, Kottayam.
“Mandala art is connected with Buddhist rituals. The canvas is divided into several hundred triangles and circles. The middle of the canvas is presumed as the centre of the picture where we paint the gods or goddesses or any other model to be placed as the sacred one. Each triangle has a similar shape. If the measurement of one triangle is different from the other, it will destroy the entire picture,” she says.
Athira is only the second person to achieve a world record in Mandala art. A person from Madurai in Tamil Nadu was the first to script a mark when he created Mandala art on the longest canvas. In Athira’s works, the states and Union Territories are depicted as the central point. Besides, zodiac sign, languages and art forms of states were made the central point.
Mandala art
The word Mandala in Sanskrit means circles. Mandala is a spiritual and ritual symbol in Hinduism and Buddhism, representing the universe.