Graphic narrative recalls a tale of love story between two queens in Ramayana

While the queer narrative continues to be explored in India in myriad formats across subjects one area that is usually steered clear of is religion and mythology PriyaDalis Born To Two Mothers The Hero Bhagirath therefore stands out in the milieu The graphic narrative traces the legend of King Bhagirathas birth as told in the Ramayana who was born from the union of two queensDali first stumbled upon the story in academician Ruth Vanitas essay Born to Two Mothers The Hero Bhagiratha FemaleFemale Love and Miraculous Birth in Hindu Texts She had worked on the story while she was interning at Gaysi an ezine catering to the LGBTQ community last year Come September the story will be launched officially as part of the 18story mythology series that the zine will be putting outBhagirathas story has several versions depending on how authors across regions approached the subject of two women in a romantic union Vanita talks about a few versions in her essay from which Dali picked one to work with Some say Bhagiratha was born just to release his forefathers of a curse Theres a version that says he was born without bones as a blob of flesh I chose the version that has gods blessing the union not because of the child that was to be born but just for what it was mdash an act of love The purity of the relationship is honoured Theres a point in the story where one of the queens tries to kill herself because she is so confused especially about how the child was conceived without a man Thats when the gods step in and stop her They explain to her that its not unnatural but rather a blessing says the illustratorPriya DaliDalis visual narrative links the legend to contemporary times where a mother recounts the story to her son It was important to have a contemporary connect So we had a story within a story Here the mother returns from her trip to Varanasi where she stumbled upon the tale and narrates it to her son We have kept some things open ended wherein the son reflects on what he has heard thereby extending the larger conversation she tells us Its interesting how Dali has incorporated the Ganga into the narrative The illustrations are incorporated into a bottle Its a common practice for many to store the holy water of the Ganga in a container as a sign of purification Hence I thought of using that to portray the purity of relationship between the two queensA few frames are risqueacute and Dali was clear that she did not want to hold back The idea is to share these stories in mythology in their truest form If we downplay now these aspects will forever remain hidden Yes some might consider it bold and we live in tricky times But Ive always believed that if you do it from the heart and the story is powerful how much ever one wants to hate it they might not be able to And some of these stories are like that We have not recreated anything here we have only given existing stories a visual language says the 22yearold selftaught artistThe lush visuals might remind some of the bright colourful ones like those of Amar Chitra Katha Interestingly Dali never read any of those as a child in fact most of her research on the subject of mythology began in her third year of design school in Bengaluru for her final semester project which was based on mythology It was a happy coincidence that Gaysi too was working on the same subject around the same time Speaking of the visual language Dali says Even though it has been created completely digitally I like my works to have a handdrawn feel the hand error as they call it Its not the most perfect lines or the perfect colouring I wanted them to have a soft rhythm the colours not too jarring but not dull either Its a happy story and I wanted the visuals to spell it making it as emotive as possible Also Vanitas essay is so powerful that it just evokes certain visuals in you I would pick her words and try to visually translate themToggling with mythology on an unconventional vein could seem like inviting trouble in todays times and the risks are not lost on Dali My work revolves largely around LGBTQ subjects I try not to preoccupy myself with thoughts of negative repercussions Even at home conversations are not always easy In this story for instance my mum was trying to justify reasons for the union of the queens not exactly accepting it It is a process and I dont expect her to understand it all But she also understands the need for such stories to be told and has therefore never tried to stop meCatch up on all the latest Mumbai news crime news current affairs and also a complete guide on Mumbai from food to things to do and events across the city here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates