Bharat Bhagya Vidhata, 1990

M. F. Husain

M. F. Husain’s Bharat Bhagya Vidhata, an ode to the dispenser of India’s destiny, borrows the verse from the country’s national anthem penned by Nobel-laureate Rabindranath Tagore and succinctly encapsulates the idea of India. Through symbols, it creates the vision of a modern nation, the masterstroke being the way a female figure—presumably Mother India in a dance pose with anklet bells—orients herself along the country’s coastline on the map.