PATNA, India, Nov 1 (Reuters) – Dozens of artists in the
eastern Indian state of Bihar are painting roadside trees and
their leaves with colourful stories from Hindu epics, hoping to
save the region’s already critically sparse greenery.
The unusual campaign, using coats of paint and brushes, has
been launched in Madhubani, a northern Bihar district known for
its religious and cultural awareness, resulting in hundreds of
otherwise untended roadside trees covered in elaborate artwork.
Artists are depicting the moods of deities, scenes from
Hindu classics such as the Ramayana and Mahabharata, or an
imaginary scene showing an elderly woman restraining a man
coming with an axe to cut trees.
They believe the artwork will prompt the deeply-religious
locals to drop any idea of cutting down the trees out of fear of
incurring the wrath of the deities.
“We are using the deities as a cover”, said Shashthi Nath
Jha, who also runs an NGO dedicated to empowering women and
child labourers, speaking by phone from Madhubani, around 1,200
kilometres (746 miles) east of New Delhi.
“We thought people will not do any harm to trees once they
come across the images of gods and goddesses on them.”
According to Bihar state records, the forest coverage of the
state, which suffers from recurring floods, is currently just
under 7 percent.
The tree painting campaign began in September this year
after Jha managed to overcome numerous local objections,
including doubt that the campaign would last long, worries about
how much the paint cost and fears the colours would soon fade.
“I had to convince them a lot before they agreed to join
me,” Jha said.
“I made several experiments to check the durability of the
paint in the open. Finally we decided to apply a mix of natural
and artificial paints to ensure the painting survives the
fast-changing weather conditions.”
They work in the style of Madhubani painting, a form of
Indian painting done with fingers, twigs, the points of fountain
pens and even matchsticks, using natural colours and
characterised by brilliant geometrical patterns.
“I have painted themes of ‘Sita-swayamvara’ (the marriage of
the deities Rama and Sita) on the tree trunks so that those
willing to cut them would drop the idea,” 19-year-old Kushaboo
told local media.
According to Jha, the initiative has drawn the attention of
the international community as well, with a team from
Switzerland recently visiting to study how art could be used to
convey a strong social message.
The government is taking additional steps to increase
greenery in the region, with plans to plant 250 million saplings
in the next five years and appointing “Tree Friends” to care for
young trees planted along roads and other public places.
But Jha said locals also had a debt of sorts to repay.
“Plants and trees have brought colour to our life. Now it’s
our duty to put colour on them,” Jha said.
(Reporting by Delhi newsroom, editing by Elaine Lies)
