As for “Mata”, at first glance, the Hanuman-like features of the smaller figure’s face jumped out at me too (noticed also that the gold stuff quite clearly links into an Om behind her). But what is more interesting to me is something about the larger figure, the one with the tongue protruding like Kali’s (or, with a vagina-like opening below her mouth). Unlike the smaller figure, whose arms are busy with a multiitude of things, only one hand of the larger figure is depicted as carrying something. In fact, only one of her hands is in the canvas at all, and the arm is disattached from the body. This something that she carries is a mystery — a white blob, only vaguley conch-like (but far less so than the conch the smaller figure holds). It’s this white object or space that most intrigues me.

As Aranyi pointed out, what you see that could be Hanuman’s nose is actually a nipple. The many hands and the different objects held in them made me think of ‘Shakti’. I also think that the various Hindu goddesses (the nine worshipped during Navratri) are all various incarnations of Shakti or Mahadurga and that is why the figure in the center seems to be an integration of all.

The painting you posted a link to above made me think of this right away: ‘The generative capacity of the female’. I am probably way off but I think that she used the almost nude figure to show the birth of ‘shakti’.

Actually, Ennis did a good post on this just three months ago (I probably should have linked to it earlier — oh well). I was thinking specifically of the Bharat Mata painting in this case, since it was in the news again last week.

While none of Menon’s paintings have adult Hindu icons in the nude, they do seem pretty ‘secular’. Her abstract lingam sculptures for instance… And what do you make of this painting (“Mata”)?