Navarasas x Navagrahas: The Cosmic Sutra of Emotion and Identity

Abstract

This artwork, Navarasas x Navagrahas: A Cosmic Sutra of Emotion and Identity, explores the intersection of Indian classical aesthetics, cosmological symbolism, and contemporary visual storytelling through a cross-cultural lens. Inspired by Dr. Vimala Perumal’s Navarasas photography series, which captured the emotional language of Bharatanatyam, this painting reimagines the nine rasas (emotional states) through a mythological and astrological framework by integrating the Navagrahas, the nine planetary deities in Hindu cosmology. Each dancer in the composition embodies one rasa and is conceptually linked to a corresponding graha, positioning human emotion within a cosmic order. Executed in a style influenced by Gustav Klimt, the work incorporates golden spirals, sacred geometry, and symbolic mandalas, evoking both the divine and the ornamental. The celestial background and astrological grid ground the narrative in metaphysical time and cultural space, presenting a layered interpretation of identity, fate, and emotional resonance. Situated within the thematic context of Sustainaissance: Emotion. Expression. Identity, this piece interrogates sustainability beyond ecology, extending into the emotional, cultural, and mythopoetic spheres. Through this work, emotion is reclaimed as a sustainable practice, and visual storytelling becomes a medium for preserving intangible heritage. By aligning rasa (emotion), graha (celestial influence), and visual form, the painting offers a new artistic sutra, in which expression becomes ritual, identity becomes constellation, and the canvas becomes cosmos.