@sundaralekhan Day 1: Folklore/local myths
So glad Sundaralekhan is back!! This time around, I'm posing a secondary theme for myself — Arts. In the coming week, I'll be posting art for Sundaralekhan prompts in the form of studies of various art forms that revolve around Hindu mythology.
For Day 1, I chose to do a study of a Bohurupi artist from a shot from a documentary by Anirban Dutta. Bohurupi, literally meaning 'the one with many forms', are street performers that don the garb of popular Hindu gods and can be seen walking around rural Bengal. They are sometimes referred to as 'Living Gods'. This folk tradition isn't very different from fandom cosplay culture, where the artist cultivates unique makeup and clothing to closely mirror (mythological) characters. However, unlike fandom cosplay culture, Bohurupi is a dying art that used to serve as a livelihood for many.
Unfortunately, the artists featured in the documentary remain uncredited. You can read more about Bohurupi here.









