Gods must be Marathi!

Rang Rasiya, a movie on the life and times of Raja Ravi Verma, the legendary painter will be releasing soon… On seeing the promos, some old memories jumped out from a cobweb ridden corner of my mind.

As a kid I used to wonder… “What language the gods must be speaking between themselves?”… Sanskrit the ancient language… or Hindi coz Himalayas are in the north… then how do they understand my pleas in Marathi?

My kiddie logic was that the best parameter to judge was to observe the clothes they wear… Most of the male Gods wore a dhotar (dhoti)… but that is what my Marathi Grandpa as well as the doodhwala bhaiyya used to wear… very confusing! But the goddesses were a clear give away… from Sita to Parvati to Durga, they all wore NavWari Sadees (Nine yards Kashta style Marathi Sarees)… Obviously GODS MUST BE MARATHI! ;-)))

It was only in my teens that I realized that these iconic images that I saw in every second home across India were creations of Raja Ravi Verma… and the fact that his muse was a Marathi lady ensured that all his goddesses “imitated” her dressing style. He undoubtedly changed the image of divinity in every Hindu’s mind for perpetuity!