Parikrima, 2013
Single Channel Film, 16:9 Aspect Ratio
19 minutes 19 seconds
Video is available on demand
Concept, Script, Direction & Art: Seema Kohli
Camera: Marlene Popovic
Editors: Seema Kohli and Marlene Popovi
Music: Sahil Vasudeva
Vocals: Bindhu Malini and Vedanth
Animation: Gaurav Singh Bedi
Technical support: B.Sakthi Doss
”I empty myself to maya.
Maya captivating me,
Surprising me by my own responses to her different
Forms and manifestations.
The more I understand her, the more I want to realise her…
Maya… the illusion, and the creator of the illusion.
I look within the womb to discover that which is outside.
I become the womb.
Armed with solace and caring, I am the Earth:
Ancient, primeval, modern and all-encompassing.
So the world, all nature, tells me.
And so it should tell you.”
The Saptamatrikas, who they say struck terror, were venerated thus for their dangerous fecundity and their terrible wrath. Yet, were they not simply fulfilling their destinies? Were they not being protective? Nurturing?
In their zeal, they came to be represented for their darker powers, venerated in temples as goddesses to be appeased, associated with Gods either as their spouses or as their forms of energy. They are female principles that have been ritualised, iconised, cherished and feared.
And so I undertake a journey, a Parikrama. Is it of self-realization?
Further Reading:
1. “Seema Kohli – Parikrima” / a catalogue text by Charty Dugdale
“When Seema Kohli first visited the 81 Yogini temple at Bheraghat on the Narmada River five years ago she knew she would be back. She wanted to do something there to mark her connection with the space. “I wanted to burst out, ” she said. In 2012 she returned with photographer Marlene Popovic – the central portion of the Parikrama film shows her “bursting out” in response to the energies she perceived so vividly there.”