Three paneled screen

Vijender Bharti, an artist from Jaipur, drew inspiration from a line drawing in sepia in the Pahari style, done in the first quarter of the 19th century. The painting is of Kabir weaving while addressing two Muslim followers.

In the artwork on the three-panelled screen, Vijender has added Hindus and women to the audience and woven the words of Kabir’s poem into the yarn on the loom with his paintbrush, flecking them with gold leaf.

He attended a calligraphy workshop and has been experimenting for over two years with scripts in miniature form. He chose to weave Kabir’s famous poem 'chadariya jhini re jhini'. Being a weaver, Kabir’s metaphysical thoughts were often expressed through the idiom of yarn, the loom, dyes and cloth.

The words on the loom of this work convey how a person must live his life, contributing to it rather than sullying it. It says life must be lived purely as many venerable persons had done and he had tried to do. His visionary ideas and moral ethic reached the common folk, influencing them far beyond the span of his life.