Savita D. Hindocha, better known by her Ashram name, Huta, passed away quietly on the 17th of November, 2011. Perhaps, it is more than just a coincidence that this fond child of The Mother chose to leave her body on the same date as The Mother did, 38 years before her. When she joined the Ashram permanently on February 10th 1955, in her late teens, The Mother gave her the name ‘Huta’ meaning ‘The Offered One’. Although she had no artistic training, the Mother perceived in her a potential artist and a soul belonging to a world of beauty. She trained her in painting, and worked with her from 1961 to 1966 to create the series of oil paintings illustrating passages from the whole of 'Savitri' called 'Meditations on Savitri' . We present below some of these works by a very special and unassuming child of The Mother.
The Dream Boat
Who was it that came to me in a boat made of dream-fire,
With his flame brow and his sun-gold body?
Melted was the silence into a sweet secret murmur,
“Do you come now? Is the heart’s fire ready?”
(In the painting for “The Dream Boat”, Huta illustrates a boat of fire with a representation of a divine being as a boy standing on this boat. An aura of light surrounds his head and he basks in soft golden light. The sea has a serene movement and merges with the hues of the sky. Gently-introduced pink tones indicate the sweet secret murmur.)
Beyond The Silence
One with the Eternal, live in his infinity,
Drowned in the Absolute, found in the Godhead,
Swan of the supreme and spaceless ether wandering
Winged through the universe,
Spirit immortal.
(For “Beyond the Silence”, Huta depicts a swan soaring upwards as a symbol of the individual soul turning towards the Divine. She lifts the paint in its wings to create feathers and infuses dream-like soft colours for the spaceless ether, bringing a quietude to the canvas.)
Adwaita
I walked on the high-wayed Seat of Solomon
Where Shankaracharya’s tiny temple stands
Facing Infinity from Time’s edge, alone
On the bare ridge ending earth’s vain romance.
(A lofty mountain strikes the eye with its bold colours in the painting inspired by “Adwaita”, and in its rendering the upward strokes of the brush carry the eye to the top where one discovers a temple in white. The subtle blue hues of the sky create a sacred atmosphere around the temple.)
The Divine Sight
A master-work of colour and design,
A mighty sweetness borne on grandeur’s wings;
A burdened wonder of significant line
Reveals itself in even commonest things.
(A divine being almost ethereal is shown in the painting for “Divine Sight”. A suggestion of fields, a river, birds, and a mountain peak in the background, rendered in light-filled, happy tones, create an atmosphere of delight and wonder.)
(Courtesy: ‘Pictures of Sri Aurobindo’s Poems’, SABDA Publications)
”I have seen the beauties and wonders of the higher worlds. Now I think of expressing them in painting by various colours – blues, golds, pinks and whites – with certain vibrations of Light – all in harmony forming the New World.
“I wish to bring down upon earth this New World. Since I have no time physically, I will paint through you.…”
- The Mother to Huta
(Courtesy: SABDA eNews)
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