Label Type
Cultural/Historical ContextLabel
Born to a Muslim Kashmiri family, Santosh was privy to a culture where Hindu and Buddhist Tantric practice mixed almost unperceptively with prevalent Sufi mysticism. His yantra inspired paintings rely heavily on linga and yoni imagery as conceived in Saivite theology. The coming together of male and female is a metaphor for rejoining the universe or achieving moksha, release from the cycles of life. In this painting, the green disks or breasts sit above a womb holding a yellow orb, new life or the sun perhaps.