The hand that creates beauty

The hand is central in any artistic creation and even the word akriti incorporates the word kar which is the hand, suggesting that it is the hand that is the main tool of human artistic creativity. The potter's wheel, the needle of the embroiderer, the mould of the textile block printer, the brush of the Kalamkari maker, the chisel of the sculptor, the kalam of the calligrapher, the spindle of the weaver, the adept hands of the flower seller making garlands, the tender hands of a young girl learning the first steps of handling cow dung and the bare hands of the housewife making rangolis, these are the basic tools of akritis and are a testament to human creativity. An ancient memory In them resides knowledge, an ancient memory, a beautiful energy, in them are bodily rhythms of trackless generations; from their movement will arise metaphors and motifs passed down from mother to daughter and above all in these hands is the living and pulsating desire to create a beautiful akriti. From these hands will come objects that are both functional and beautiful at the same time, making it hard to decide where function ends and beauty begins, because in these akritis there is a constant interplay between usefulness and beauty. We will touch and caress and smell these objects, wonder at and admire their evocative shape, adorn our bodies and our homes with them; we will use them in our lives and they will give us visual delight as our eyes will be drawn to them, and we will lose ourselves in their patterns and textures, their forms and shapes, their colours and hues, and in them we will hear hushed sounds of moving fingers and we will discover hidden truths about life and living. These hand-crafted objects will pulsate with the heartbeat of human creativity and move with the life breath of human imagination. Expressive hands Hands, thus, have a language and a voice, a music and a rhythm, a song and a dance, a story and a message, and all this through the various akritis that they produce. When cotton is picked in the farm and from it come threads, and when these threads are woven into a fabric, in all of this there is a voice and a song. And when a potter collects a handful of earth and fashions it into a pot, he whispers a song as he turns the wheel, and when a housewife gathers old and worn saris and embroiders them she sings a bhajan taught to her by her mother, and makes these fabrics into a kantha and a newborn child lies on it, it no longer remains just a fabric but becomes a mother's blessing. When Deepavali approaches and the women of the house apply fresh cow dung to the village home, they do so with singing and chanting, and the new bride decorates it with alpana, it is not just an adornment but a visual prayer for the whole family, for in it she will portray not only the feet of the goddess but also paint her hidden longings. And when the Kalamkari artist takes his handmade brush and draws stories from the Puranas to a scroll, he murmurs to himself sacred words and relives those ancient stories through his hands.