RSSA Catholic center in Goa has been forced to remove several controversial paintings from an art exhibition after Hindu extremists threatened to decapitate the artist.
The Xavier Centre of Historical Research, a Jesuit institution on the outskirts of Panaji, the state capital, said it has “temporarily withdrawn” three paintings by US-based Goan painter-scholar Jose Pereira.
Threats by Hindu Janajagruti Samiti (Hindu Awareness Forum) to decapitate the 89-year-old painter “forced us to remove them,” the institute said on July 27.
The series of paintings, called Epiphanies of the Hindu Gods, denigrate Hindu gods, the Hindu hardliners say.
The paintings depict Hindu Lord Shiva dancing with six naked maidens and Krishna in sexual ecstasy in the midst of several women.
The paintings were part of 16 artworks being exhibited at the center.
We were under intense pressure from the forum, so “we temporarily withdrew the paintings so as not to cause communal discord,” said the center’s director Father Delio Mendonca.
“There have been anonymous telephone calls with many threats of violence, including one to decapitate the artist,” he said.
All three paintings are inspired by Hindu classics and are not my “inventions,” said Pereira, the artist.
“I have taught Hindu theology and traveled all over the country studying temple sculptures. For me, Hindu mythology and the Crucifixion are two great obsessions,” he said.
Pereira, who suffers from Parkinson’s disease, has penned over 20 books. He is currently in Goa to launch a new book on Goan music and restore paintings he donated to the Jesuit center a decade ago.
The same exhibition, recently held in New Delhi, received popular acclaim, said Vivek Menezes, curator of the exhibition.
The Hindu forum has meanwhile submitted a complaint to authorities protesting the “extremely blasphemous” paintings. They also filed a complaint against Pereira for hurting Hindu sentiments.
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