The project titled 'Waiting For Ananda aims to show case photographs and
document role of women who have played important roles in the contemporary spread
of Buddha Dharma including strong practitioners, nuns, yogini’s, lay women, patrons
and women who have somehow contributed to the development of Buddhism.
1. Exhibition of Photographs on wall panels and horizontal, names and maps
of nunneries in India.
2. Film by renowned artist Seema Kohli
The Photography Exhibition will showcase a total selected 108 photographs. These
photographs will be a mix of old archival photographic records and recent photographs
from India, Tibet, China, Taiwan, Bhutan, Singapore, Thailand, Canada & USA all
coming together to create a unique, first of its kind photographic library on the
contribution of Women in Buddhism. Excerpts, poems and verses from Therigatha and
other texts will also be put on panels interspersed with this photographic melange.
Film waiting For Ananda: Seema Kohli, an artist with a deep spiritual understanding
of the universe as reflected in her art, has shot a film in 2013 titled ‘Waiting
for Ananda’ with the backdrop of an ordination ceremony held in 2012 of Buddhist
nuns and Samaneri’s in Vaishali concept by Rekha Mody and sponsored by Habiart Foundation.
Background:
In the 21st Century, where the role of women is seeking to redefine it-self in every
country and in each society, it is indeed a paradox that in India, the country of
Lord Buddha, the practice of ordaining nuns is absent.
On the death of Suddhona, Mahapajapati Gotami, along with 500 women walked to Vaishali
to seek ordination and form a Bhikuni Sanga. This request was refused many times
until Ananda sat at the Buddha's side and argued on behalf of the ordination of
women. The Buddha continued to refuse the request. Finally, Ananda asked if there
was any reason women could not realize enlightenment and enter Nirvana as well as
men. Ananda had made his point, and the Buddha relented. Pajapati and her 500 followers
became the first group of Buddhist nuns.
At the time of Ashoka, women continued to serve Buddhism. Their Saghamitta went
to Anuradhapura with 11 of her followers and the Bo sapling from the Jaya Siri Maha
Bodhi in Bodhgaya to establish Bhikkuni Sangha in Sri Lanka. It is recorded that
till 1017A.C. the order of nuns flourished in India and in Sri Lanka, it slowly
disappeared in this region.
Though even without a Bhikkhuni order there is ample scope for the participation
of women in Dhamma work. Both laymen and laywomen have become arahants in the past.
Thus the door to the highest goal of Buddhism is not barred to women simply because
the Bhikkhuni order has become extinct.
Yet it is interesting to note that while women continued to flourish in Jain religion,
Buddhism which propounded the theory of the possibility of ultimate spiritual liberation
to a woman, is today at a crossroad with many women within its fold, seeking equity
and justice.
The Documentary: Waiting For Ananda
A documentation showcasing patrons and women who have contributed to Buddhism in
nunneries, in prayer, in meditation, in working for society. The film documents
ordination carried out by nuns from six countries, India, Tibet, Sri Lanka, Thailand,
Vietnam, Malaysia.
A large number of Nuns and Bhikunis from different countries gathered for the ordination.
Ordination at Maha pajapati Nunnery at Vietnam Temple at Vaishali (Bihar built in
memory of Mahaprajapati Gautami). The ceremony was inaugurated by Ven. Prof. Dr.
Bhikkhu Satyapalji, Head, Department of Buddhist Studies, University of Delhi, on
28th July, 2012.
Habiart Foundation team Rekha Mody, Bryan Mulvihill and artist Seema Kohli visited
Vaishali and made a ten minute documentary with direct interviews and ceremonies.
Waiting for Ananda film captures the essence of women’s contribution to Buddhism.
It is for the first time since Independence that an ordination program on a large
scale was organised in Vaishali.
Habiart Foundation:
Habiart Foundation has been involved in the promotion of contemporary Indian art
since 1989. The Foundation prides itself on a comprehensive exhibitions program,
drawing upon local and international sources to secure the finest collections available
for public viewing. Through workshops, seminars and art exhibitions the gallery
has also provided impetus to a growing number of younger artists.
Today, the Foundation is also at the forefront of Indian efforts to seek an intelligent
dialogue with the arts of our region. The SAARC nations of Bangladesh, India, Pakistan,
Nepal, Burma, Sri Lanka and Maldives have a common cultural base and it has long
been felt that SAARC Art Forum to encourage inter-cultural art exchanges is much
needed.
Our International & national art events include a topical art protest named 'SPHOTE'
at the World Economic Forum, Davos, India Splendour in Los Angeles, Exhibition at
Parliament Annexe, Presentation of 'Peace Panel' to His Holiness The Dalai Lama
among several exhibitions pan India with Indian and foreign artists. Waiting for
Ananda is a sponsored project of the foundation.
The Play Vidyotttama: After centuries, an enquiry into the role of Vidyottama
in the writing of the great poet Kalidas has been envisioned. There is a fine line
between truth, imagination and perception. Many a times, what appears to be imagined,
perceived keenly emerges as the truth. Looking at Kalidas from a gender perspective
has been interesting experience for us.’ - 'Rekha Mody'
Habiart Foundation presented a play Vidyottama, based on the life of Kalidasa in
2007 at the Kamani Auditorium, Vidyottama is a contemporary play reassessing history,
with a gender perspective, very subtly highlighting the untold story of women's
contribution to art and literature. Vidyottama is not a mere inspiration for Kalidasa
but an actual equal partner in creation. The spectator is made a privileged viewer
of the entire process of creation and in the end, it is left to him to decide as
to who then is the actual creator.
'For us the value of a work of art lies both in the modicum of expression as well
as in its ability to sensitize the imagination towards hitherto unforeseen innuendoes
and subtle implications. Mohanji has very successfully combined the known reality
with the possibilities of such innuendo. This is a play that will be remembered
for a perfect match of genre and content, and an equally brilliant exposition of
actors' inherent capabilities.' - 'Dr. Ratna Lahiri'
Rekha Mody:
She is the founder of Divya Chaya Trust established in 1984, Habiart Foundation
1987, Stree Shakti - The Parallel Force 1998. "While men are fighting, women are
bonding," said Rekha Mody. She feels that women all over the world are interconnected
on various underlying gender issues. With this thought she started the Global Women
Forum in Singapore in 2010 with an aim network with women from SAARC & ASEAN nations.
Collectively all her efforts are aimed at Self Reliance, Equity, Equality and dignity
for women.
She was the Vice President of Mahabodhi Society of India 2010-13 and was nominated
on India Cultural Fund 2013.
She has edited 'A Quest For Roots', a book of more than 300 posthumous biographies
of women from India significant in South-Asian history. It is an attempt to rediscover
and recount women’s histories that are inspirational and relevant even today.
Rekha Mody has also served on the Board of United Way, New Delhi from 2008 and Women
Founders Collective USA, 2006.
Bryan Mulvihill:
Bryan Mulvihill is a Buddhist Contemporary Artist and Scholar who has does extensive
research on Early Indian and Trans Himalayan Buddhist art history. He is a graduate
of the University of British Columbia, Canada who worked for many years under the
guidance of C. Y. Radha; Chime Rimpoche, Keeper of the Tibetan and Himalayan Archives
in the British Museum, London.
He has lived and travelled extensively amongst the Buddhist communities of North
India, Nepal and Bhutan working on research and developing an contemporary art practice
that incorporates Buddhist understanding into contemporary art and culture. Bryan
has exhibited widely internationally and is the founder and artistic director of
the World Tea Party Society that promotes inter cultural understanding through the
ancient arts of Tea Ceremonies.
Seema Kohli: Artist / Film Maker
Seema Kohli's works reveal a claiming of feminine subjectivities, an altered concept
of feminine sexuality. Her works bring into focus a woman's physical attributes,
her intellect, thought, dreams and realities. There is a celebration of beauty,
sensuality and intimacy in her art.
Seema's most recent thematic engagement has been that of the 'Hiranyagarbha', that
evolved from a mantra of the Yajur Veda, reflecting the quiet and subtle beauty
of constant procreation. All the works are a prayer to the eternal self - a way
of meditation. These works are spiritual but not religious, exploring with them,
a poetically elegant and richly sensuous female form.
The 'Golden Womb' is a celebration through which the supremacy of a female is established
and how she procreates and keeps the journey of life, forever on. Her work is symbolic
of the progress and recycling of thought processes in the human mind, which is portrayed
as calmer, more mature and serene both in terms of the palette and the form. All
her works are a gesture of the divine, a prayer to the eternal self, a way of meditation.
Her work validates in different mediums in the past eighteen years, some constant,
being the search for the self, while other being an extension of her conceptual
and creative growth as an artist and she works in both small and large formats with
layers of drawings and colours. Seema has recently been facilitated by Lalit Kala
Academy for being an achiever as a woman in Contemporary Indian Art. She lives and
works from her studio in Delhi.