Tree of life in London

Seema Kohli's Tree of Life was one among many other captivating works in London recently at S.A.Fine Arts Cromwell Place. She creates vibrant yet meditative?works on paper and canvas, ?inspired by the traditions of?Indian miniature painting. Her Tree of Life reflects her ability to use the?ancient as well as modern techniques,?jewel-like colours, and decorative, burnished as well as bronzed surfaces to create?paintings?with a modern cross-cultural twist. sometimes a terracotta tensile tenor and sometimes a lush tropicana. She explores its visual language and hones it to create works that reflect her dual life in the modern world yet taking a peek into antiquity.This Tree of Life (kalpavriksha) is reminiscent of many things and she has been creating works on this subject for 30 years.

It brings back the papers and research of the brilliant Professor Vasudeva Agrawala, former head of the Department of Art and Architecture at Banaras Hindu University, who identified a sculptural depiction that is strikingly similar to the description of the wish-fulfilling trees described in?Mahabharata?and?Ramayana?in the western face of the western pillar of the southern gates of the Great Stupa of Sanchi. He says:

This representation is so close to the literary tradition portrayed in the epics that it appears to suggest a conscious treatment by the artist of a theme which literary tradition had made popular. The sculptors of Sanchi and Bharhut have carved time and again the lotus creepers as producing ornaments (muktavaiduryachitrani bhushanani). Kalidasa in the Kumarasambhava VIII 68, refers to necklaces (harayasti) hanging from the top of the Kalpavrksha tree. In the Meghaduta he mentions Kalpavrksha as the one complete source of all objects of adornment and toiletry used by the women in Alaka. For example, beautiful fabrics, intoxicating love glances, flowers and tender leaves, a variety of ornaments and lac dye for painting the feet are the Kalpavrksha products used for making female beauty make-up (abala-mandana).

This work by Kohli is a masterpiece in meditation and the history of trees in sacred as well as fictional fantasy. We think of many things in mythic and social history ; what are the real roots of such a mythical tree that seems to pervade the Indian religious landscape? How far do they go back in time? Agrawala hints at rich interconnections of the wish-fulfilling tree which, perhaps, dates back to the very beginning of Hindu culture itself.

The mind is the Kalpavrksha or the wishing tree which gives us everything at the mere thought of it. In a very real sense, the mind is the most powerful creator, the perennial source of all our enjoyments, and the inexhaustible fountain from which pleasure (rasa) constantly oozes out. Thought (sankalpa) is the nature and power of the mind which makes life teem with innumerable blessings. The artists made full use of a rich connection like this and employed the Kalpavrksha as one of the symbols which adorned art both in respect of beauty of form and depth of meaning.