Why not close Khajuraho? By Damodar Mauzo, Majorda

The objection to the paintings of Dr Jose Pereira raised by the Hindu JanJagruti Samiti is highly deplorable. The organisation does not represent the Hindu community as such, and has no right to talk on behalf of Hindus. A professor of theology, Dr Jose Pereira is a scholar, musicologist, researcher and polyghot, besides being a great painter.

He is a Sanskrit pundit who can speak chaste Sanskrit, putting many a Sanskrit scholar to shame. He is a philosopher who has digested the essence of the world’s religions. Though he lives in the US, he has Goa and India at heart. This is evident from his writings, which centre around Goa, Konkani and Goan traditions.
Dr Pereira is an icon whose artistic genius is beyond question. An intellectual of his calibre can never portray anything condescending or derogatory. His recent series of paintings – ‘Epiphanies of the Hindu Gods’ – is the result of a deep study of Hindu Gods and the faith. It is a pity that the self-styled leaders of the so-called Hindu JanJagruti Samiti do not have the intellectual depth to assess or evaluate the beautiful depiction of our deities by this great son of the soil. If at all the HJS objects to nudity in religious art, let them first go to Khajuraho and shut down those timeless temples, where nudity and ‘shringaar’is the focus of the art. Let them delete ‘Raas-krida’ or ‘Raas-leela’ from the Hindu religious scriptures before they target others.