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.