Manu Parekh Banaras

Banaras contains more than 1,500 temples and mosques. Almost all of the city’s five kilometres of river banks have been converted into ghats. Banaras has over a hundred bathing and burning ghats, of which Manikarnika ghat is the most sacred. This is the main burning ghat and one of the most auspicious places. Day and night, the fires burn at Manikarnika ghat and the remains of the dead are scattered upon the river. To die in Banaras is to die blessed; many move here to live out their final days.

Manu Parekh has executed a series of paintings inspired by the city. In turn, this book is a collection of the essays by seven writers who have been inspired by his work in this series. Tanuj Berry considers the use of red in the Banaras paintings while Aditi De looks at the theme of holiness and pilgrimage. We hear the voice of Manu Parekh in the inclusion of an interview with the artist in which he explains what attracted him to Banaras and how the city ignited his creativity. Thematic issues are treated by several of the essayists including a comparison with icon painting. These essays offer a thorough assessment of the themes and motivations in the series.

Manu Parekh made a conscious decision to concentrate on landscape in the series to give himself the opportunity to play out the dynamic of faith and fear that he identifies as uniquely Indian. The Banaras series is a symbolic rendering of this relationship. Painted in the Indian Expressionist style these works have a significant role in the development of modern Indian painting.