4 0 S p i r i t ua l i t y S t u d i e s 5 - 1 S p r i n g 2 0 1 9 Kālī and Dhūmāvatī are connected with all that is heat and destruction: to fire (light), lightning, Sun. Shodashī is connected to the refreshing elements; the water and the Moon. The important point of the approach was the search for the material that would best convey the deep nature of the Goddess. As I began to work on the Goddesses, I soon realized that it was impossible for me to restrict my understanding solely to the traditional perspective. I would have found this too confining. Thus, the presented images link to the age-old tradition, but meanwhile breathing a contemporary air. You will see that I took my liberties with respect to the tradition and I treated the subject with my European sensitivity. 2 Dhūmāvatī Dhūmāvatī is the grandmother, the ancestor, the guide. She transmits the knowledge that comes from the harsh experiences of life. She is the widow, feminine principle unassociated with the masculine. Linked to potential, unmanifested, and latent energies, she governs the end of life. In Hindu iconography Dhūmāvatī is represented as an old wrinkled woman, tall and thin, with ruffled hair. She arouses fright, her complexion is dark, her stare hard, her nose long and crooked. Dressed in rags that reveal her withered, sagging breasts, she seeks quarrel and is always hungry and thirsty. Sitting on a cart that goes nowhere, accompanied by crows, she gathers in herself all that is bad omen. Her representation joins the archetype of a witch, the Baba Yaga of the Slavic tales. However, some representations show her with an understanding smile and her right hand in abhayamudrā, a gesture that dispels fear. With her ugly and repulsive appearance, Dhūmāvatī teaches us to look beyond the illusion of ephemeral beauty. The wicker screen she holds in her left hand invites us to discern the real weave of the world. Under ugliness, beauty lies. We must not stop at appearances but seize the deep nature of things. Open the door of the unmanifested. The outer beauty fades, but our divine Self remains intact. Dhūmāvatī is our guide in failure when everything falls apart. She shows the way to letting go. She is the emptiness in which all forms are dissolved, the cessation of the agitation of the mind, the ultimate silence. On the cosmic level, Dhūmāvatī is Mahāpralaya, the Great Dissolution. 2.1 Dhūmāvatī Creation Notebook Here is the rough description of how my creative process had been proceeding when I was making an attempt to depict Dhūmāvatī. There was one of the myths of Dhūmāvatī’s birth at the beginning. She is said to be born from the smoke of Satī’s body, consumed by the flames in the sacrificial pyre set up by her father. As such, she maintains the aspect of the insulted and outraged Satī. As smoke, she would be an extension of Satī’s physical form. Dhūmāvatī should be shown as hiding, obscuring space in order to get open access to another reality, through dissolving forms. This means the portrayal of a dissolving shape, giving importance to voids and white highlights, to imply climbing, flying and disappearing movements as the underlying energy is stirring the space between the solids. It has to look like a staggering approach, she is not going anywhere; this is about spiritual elevation. I had to find the material and the technique to tell the dissolution and chose that Dhūmāvatī would be drawn from smoke. To get in reliance with this particular state, I practiced Yoga nidra, to reach the state where we no longer perceive the outer world, invoking the Goddess: Dhum Dhum Dhūmāvatī Swahā. Smoke involves movement in every direction but mainly upwards, before it dissipates. So verticality had to be the principal trait of her silhouette. In order to find the inspiration for elevation, I looked upon Giacometti’s sculptures and drawings and chose for her to be vertical and slender, like a Gothic cathedral, carrying away our sight towards the sky. What a joy to note that on a smoky background, it is possible to create forms by taking away the smoke with an eraser! At the same time, the gesture being symbolic, when I erase the smoke, an empty space appears. By this technique I get even closer to the nature of the Goddess. Once again, I feel a connection with the cathedral: the importance of empty spaces inside as well as outside. The choice of BLACK and WHITE with shades of gray is essential: the color would prevent me from going to the essential. I use charcoal (which is a branch of charred wood) and pencil. Light touches, wavering. I use the bread crumbs’ eraser. Sometimes, a touch of bold pastel (Fig. 2–4).
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