Untitled (Babu Subservient)

Kalighat paintings catered to a patriarchal society where it was assumed natural for the man to be in control of his household, and, therefore, 'his woman'. A category of watercolour paintings ridiculing the <i>babu</I> show him fall from his dominant position through images where he is subservient to women, mostly his mistress. This line drawing—an incomplete Kalighat <i>pat</I> or a later period painting—shows the <i>babu</I> massaging his lover's feet. Even though similar imagery is seen in Krishna-Radha paintings, where it implies equality between the couple, here the act of a man touching a woman's feet is a cause for ridicule. We may also notice the difference in proportions between the two figures, as the man is drawn smaller in size to show his diminished status.