In the Dappled Light: Seeking Nature in Art, Science and the Spirit

In India, it is the peepul. With branches so intertwined with the faiths of the Subcontinent, it’s called the sacred fig, ficus religiosa.

An artist, a scientist and a mystic walk into the shade of a peepul tree. What does each one see?

The artist notices the shape of the leaf. There exists in the vault of the National Museum in Delhi, a gold pendant resembling a peepul leaf, complete with lines like radiating veins. It dates to the Indus Valley era, crafted nearly 1,000 years before the shape was popularised by European artists as the symbol of romance, and 2,000 years before ❤️ became the most used emoji in the world.

The scientist observes that locals collect the bark of the tree. In traditional Indian medicine systems, ingredients from the peepul tree are believed to treat disease, heal wounds and counteract venom. And it’s not just humans who seek comfort here; its name in Sanskrit, ashvatta, means ‘tree under which the horses stand’.

The fig tree is a keystone species, sheltering a wide range of plants, animals, birds and reptiles. Its roots stabilise the soil, its branches store water and the tree itself is a massive carbon sponge, cleaning the air around it. The average peepul lives for over 900 years; no wonder we search for secrets of longevity at its gnarled feet.

The mystic looks skyward, following the flight of a wasp as it emerges from a fig. Heavy with pollen, it holds the fate of the sacred fig balanced on its tiny wings. As it has done for over 70 million years.

How strange that a tree so vast it can nourish entire cultures, and so sturdy its roots can crumble rock, how strange that the survival of this giant depends on the instincts of a creature you could trap in the palm of your hand. Does the Tree of Life know fear? Or does it simply believe?

In our 2022 exhibition, Echoes of the Land, we examined how Indian art bears witness to a changing planet. Now, we turn to explore how India's natural world has influenced the quest of artists, scientists, healers, and seekers through the centuries.

When viewed in the dappled light of a rustling green canopy, art, science, and spirituality reveal unexpected facets, each illuminated by the same profound encounters with the wild.

Naturalistic art flowered during their reign, evident in the finely rendered florals that began to appear in the borders of miniature paintings.

KP Pradeepkumar's art reflects his journey through ​the varied lush landscapes of Kerala ​and the climate crises looming over them. The artist seeks to illustrate a moment of interconnectedness between all life forms.​

In the series, The River Flowing Through Me, he creates “autobiographical landscapes” documenting organic forms and movements, and the resilience of flora and fauna. Nature is more than just a passive backdrop in his paintings, serving as both a record and a reflection of the delicate balance between us all.

This rare book offers compelling insights into the botanical wonders of western India through the eyes of an amateur artist couple who spent years living in and around Bombay city.

Mary Butt made the original paintings of any fresh plucked flowers and plants that caught her eye, and these were later finished in water-colours by her husband William.

Most paintings are accompanied by her handwritten inscription in pencil. These mention the name of the flower (native as well as Latin), its location (Bombay, Matheran, Nashik etc), as well as notes on its purported medicinal, nutritional and culinary value.

Japani’s style is characterised by her fascination with pigments; she is on a quest to rediscover the lost natural colours once derived from the soil of her village in Patangarh.

Her art offers an intricate and imaginative detailing of wildlife, indigenous trees and the customs specific to her community of Gond-Pardhans.

Gulistan presents a meticulous botanical tapestry comprising 24 sets of five paintings each, arranged in a grid that echoes the geometric harmony of Mughal charbagh gardens. Each set features Gopa Trivedi's poetic yet scientifically precise illustrations of plants that, while foreign in origin, have become integral to Indian cultural identity.

The collection showcases species spanning fruits (guava), vegetables (tomato, cauliflower), spices (clove, red chilli, saffron), herbs (coriander), and flowers (marigold) that were once transplanted from distant lands but now flourish as beloved staples across India.

Through this diverse assemblage, the artist contemplates notions of cultural hybridity and migration, drawing parallels to our country’s remarkable pluralism. The work's title references the poem by Muhammed Iqbal, Saare Jahan Se Acha, and its memorable description of the gulistan that is India.

In 1830, John Gould received a large collection of birds from the Himalayas. Then the curator of the Zoological Society of London, he catalogued them in this book, which was the first major European publication to detail Himalayan birds.

Containing 80 lithographic depictions, A Century… it set a new standard for realistic depictions of birds in illustrated ornithological works. The book was largely illustrated by his wife, Elizabeth Gould, and the accompanying descriptions were written by Irish zoologist Nicholas Aylward Vigors. 

Gould’s ornithological works were known to be of such high quality that he counted Queen Victoria and Prince Albert among his regular subscribers.

This rare book is the result of botanist Joseph Dalton Hooker’s expedition to the Himalayas between 1847 – 1849. It contains 24 plates of paintings, accompanied with descriptions, of plants from this ecologically sensitive region.

Renowned botanical illustrator Walter Hood Fitch illustrated these sketches. Hooker’s expedition produced 7,000 species samples and led to a series of publications, like this one, on the bio-diversity of the Himalayas. 

Plantae Asiaticae Rariores, published between 1829 and 1832 is a 3 volume work by Danish botanist-surgeon Nathaniel Wallich, who was one of the most influential botanists of the 19th century. Wallich served as the superintendent of the Calcutta Botanical Gardens from 1817-1846.

In many works of botany during the colonial period illustrations were done by local artists but rarely credited. Refreshingly, for this work, Wallich credited the two Indian artists - Vishnupersaud and Gorachand who had worked on a bulk of the illustrations for the volumes.  

The illustrations in themselves are works of art, at once precise in detail as well as vibrant with colours of the flora and fauna of India.

Indian Botany by Robert Wight was published in 1840 and primarily documented plants in South India. Wight was trained as a surgeon in Edinburgh and later worked professionally in the Madras Presidency, where he developed a deep interest in botany. 

In the book, Wight, like Wallich, credited the artists he employed. Most of the illustrations were completed by Rungiah and Govindoo, each of whom is credited with their name at the bottom left of the plates.

Depicted here is one of the most popular motifs in Madhubani paintings called the ‘kohbar’ or the ‘puren’. These were originally painted in the ‘kohbar ghar’ or the nuptial chamber where the bride and groom consummate their marriage.

Renditions of Kohbar depict faces within the rings of lotuses and atop the stem piercing the plant’s central ring. The stem anchors the lotus leaves to the pond’s bottom, while the lotus symbolises a woman’s fertility—a symbol of plenty drawn from local ponds, blanketed edge to edge with lotuses during the monsoon.

The mangled creatures of Anindita Bhattacharya’s painting rage against the terrible impact of humans on the planet’s ecosystem. These beings are offered to us as a hypothetical pantheon of gods and goddesses for our age of ecocide.

Collapsing boundaries between species and environments, the fragmented organisms mirror the breakdown of our ecology and the human lives intrinsically connected to them. 

But they also represent nature's capacity for renewal. This work is a reminder that even in decay, life persists and evolves into new forms of being.

Covering India and Bangladesh, the world’s largest mangrove forest is home to over 450 species of wildlife and around 6,00,000 people. In this Pattachitra, Tagar Chitrakar reimagines the Sundarbans through the lenses of fantasy, mythology, and realism.

At the centre of this sprawling jungle, the artist places Goddess Durga, who is surrounded by a variety of wildlife. Created with natural pigments on handmade paper, the piece honours the spiritual and cultural heritage of the Sundarbans while staying true to the storytelling traditions of Pattachitra art.