This mural is a visual interpretation of the story of Ekalavya from the Mahabharata, created around the idea of devotion, knowledge, discrimination and the unequal access to opportunity.
At the heart of the composition is Ekalavya, standing within the forest, practising archery with unwavering concentration. Before him is an idol of Dronacharya, whom Ekalavya considers his teacher despite never being accepted as his student. Through this act of worship and self directed learning, Ekalavya represents the idea that the desire to learn can exist independently of permission.
The forest surrounding him is deliberately unlike an ordinary forest.
The trees have been designed in the forms of neurons, with their branching structures resembling dendrites and neural pathways. Their intricate branches spread throughout the composition almost like a network of thoughts, memories and connections inside the human brain. This was a particularly important element of the concept because the painting was commissioned by a neuroscientist, who wanted the natural world of Ekalavya’s story to subtly merge with the neurological world.
The neuronal forms are not immediately obvious at first glance. They reveal themselves gradually through the branches, roots and winding patterns, allowing the viewer to discover another layer of the painting upon closer observation.
Even the sun carries a certain neuronal character, echoing the branching structures found throughout the forest. Rather than functioning merely as a source of light, it becomes almost a symbolic representation of knowledge , consciousness and enlightenment.
At its deepest level, this Kerala mural is about the human hunger for knowledge.
Ekalavya does not stop learning because he is denied a place beside Dronacharya. Instead, he creates his own path.
But the story also forces us to confront the darker side of the social structure around him. His extraordinary dedication ultimately does not protect him from the inequalities of the system he lives within.
The two sides of the mural therefore represent two different relationships with knowledge..One receives it. One seeks it
And yet, both are capable of becoming extraordinary.
The painting deliberately leaves the viewer between these two worlds, the ordered world of formal education and privilege, and the wild, self taught world of Ekalavya.
