Gomvira

Haren Das was a prominent printmaker and master of academic naturalism, and unlike his contemporaries who were moving away from realism, he remained faithful to this style throughout his artistic career. Having grown up in a farming community in East Dinajpur (in present day Bangladesh), Das extensively documented the pattern of life in the villages of Bengal. This aquatint depicts a Gomvira pala—a traditional didactic performance where two people assume the role of a grandfather and grandson and perform songs in the form of an intergenerational dialogue to raise awareness about a specific social issue.