Original Sin

13.5x20.5 inches; Pen drawing on handmade paper with watercolour wash (Click on image to enlarge)

Mankind’s suffering started with women! I don’t say it! Says certain myths and religious beliefs! Well, to begin with, mankind gained knowledge of fire and what did Zeus do to punish them? He gave them women! Why else will poor Eve be the one to fall for the snake’s temptation and bring down the wrath of God almighty, on our heads? Islamic beliefs are nothing different on this subject! Sounds very misogynistic, and that’s the way it is! But, it was not always like that! There were times when Women were worshipped for their fertile wombs, for their power to bear children, to create and breathe life into them. They were viewed as Mother Nature incarnate. They were needed, valued and respected, for nature had imbued them with the magic of procreation! I wonder what went so drastically wrong in people’s (of both sexes!) perception of women, to bring about such a huge shift in their status, from being goddesses to being witches! ‘Original Sin’ is my obeisance to that fateful journey of the feminine, from the pedestal of a deity down to being the conniving temptress and ending up as the mere object of pleasure for the male ego.