Lotuses of the Inner Garden

Brit journo swirls into mandala

"The mandala is one of the mythological symbols. It has been recurring all over the world. In old Christian paintings it is there. In old Tibetan paintings it is there. In Chinese, Japanese and Indian art the circle has a fascination. Somehow, when your sight becomes circular, when it becomes a current, joined together, undivided, you begin to see a circle in your vision, in your dreams. That circle represents your reality. In the same way, all symbols represent inner subjective realities. And if a society gives a particular shape to a deity, it becomes very helpful. It becomes very helpful for the seeker because now he can decode many inner visions."

In 1998, Clio Mitchell, a journalist working with a famous publication in England, never imagined that a three-month visit to India would change her life forever.

This journalist-turned Mandala painter is now known as Ma Prem Shashi among her Indian friends. A visit to India with her friend in 1999 prompted her to follow in the friend’s footsteps. Then she started making mandala paintings.

Mandala paintings are mythological symbols, mostly round in shape and depict a pattern or a picture. She essays deep meaning through her art.

In a painting titled Many Paths One Point, she illustrates numerous ways and paths followed by different people to step towards the dynasty of God, but all such paths lead to the Almighty.

Shashi has another passion of whirling, and it is also portrayed in some paintings.

A captivating work titled Circle of Lovers show figures of 96 people whirling together in a spectrum.

One of her favorite paintings The Heart of the Fire is a thought-provoking work which shows intense flames billowing out of a point. “The fire burns the mystic and keep the wheel of life moving forever through reincarnation,” she said.

She uses contemporary methods to showcase her feelings. Compass and gouache (French color similar to pastel colors) are used primarily by her. Having done this, she scans them and changes the background of paintings on a software.

She uses vibrant colors which symbolize joy and pleasure. The paintings have therapeutic properties and they evoke a surge of positive energy. “These have healing effect, inducing the keen spectator to release the tension, to relax and to meditate,” she informed.

Shashi shuttles between Pune and London and loves the contrast between lives at the two places.

“I spend six months at each place. As soon as I come out of the London hangover in India, six months get complete and I move back there. The same thing happens in England too,” says the artist.

"A person should be sufficient unto himself. What I mean by meditation is a state of being where a person is sufficient unto himself. You have become a circle, alone. The mandala is complete."