There is no God in the Temple

Initially Shaurya Kumar’s oeuvre can look rather baffling as he uses such a variety of mediums and diverse set of tools and processes. The distinct conceptual underpinning of his research requires one to engage with the premise to get the full import of his works. An artist born and bred in New Delhi but living in the US since 2004, the idea of India hangs heavy on his consciousness. An ancient civilization in transition where marginalization and loss of history is an everyday commonplace occurrence.

The stunning visuality of the work that shares the title of the show is an exquisite porcelain work. Oi mandire kono debata nei (There is No God in the Temple) in Bengali type font is paraphrased from a poem ‘Deeno Daan’ by Rabindranath Tagore, penned in 1900. The poem is about a sage who refuses to worship in a grand sky-scraping temple that the king has built spending “two million gold coins” in a year when his subjects are struck by a calamity. They were turned away by the king when they came to seek alms desperately. The miffed king asks the sage why he refuses to pray in the purpose-built grand temple? The sage replies – it has no God in it but is filled with the king’s vanity.