In a country where memory often lingers in stone temples and silent ruins, Dr Beena S Unnikrishnan reimagines an ancient feminine cosmos on canvas. As a first-of-its-kind initiative, all 64 yoginis have been envisioned and brought to form on canvas by a single artist, which marks a significant cultural milestone. She has dedicated over five years to the series, delving deep into the concept.
In Ekaa: The One – The 64 Yoginis Trail, her canvases don’t simply depict. Each of the 64 forms unfolds like a mood, a memory, or a fleeting state of being, sometimes fierce, sometimes tender, often somewhere in between. What makes this series resonate is its intimacy. It doesn’t place the divine on a pedestal. But brings it closer. In a world that constantly pulls attention outward, these paintings gently turn it inward, nudging you to reconnect with parts of yourself that often go unnoticed.
The travelling exhibition, Ekaa: The One - The 64 Yogini Trail, will have its finale chapter in Chennai. A 91-day, 11,000 km national art journey concludes with the exhibition and film preview. The event will take place from April 6 to 11, at Lalit Kala Akademi, Thousand Lights.
A 91-day, 11,000 km journey across 16 cities is no small feat. What were the most defining moments that reshaped your understanding of this project along the way?
It’s not about the scale, but for me, the interesting fact was the shift that happened in people. The interaction with young minds was something beyond my thoughts. They didn’t see the exhibition or yogini as just mythology, but as mirrors. That experience has completely changed me personally and given me clarity. I have seen how my team got emotionally attached to my paintings and the people who came to see the paintings. It’s no longer just mine.
You describe Chennai as completing a “circle.” What does this symbolic closure mean to you, both personally and artistically?
In fact, Chennai is not an ending; it is a return. The circle for me is always like us as well—it doesn’t stop, it goes to the next layer. The circle, for me, represents the completion of a layer without closure. It really brings you back to yourself, and I feel the same artistically. So, like from creation to conversation to reflection, it has a different meaning, which I am not able to access the depth of. For yoginis, it may be coming back home because they have been there for the past 11 years.
Ekaa: The One positions the yogini tradition within a contemporary discourse. How did you strike a balance between spiritual authenticity and modern interpretation?
For me, it was clear from the beginning that this is an internalisation of a reflection which has taken an artistic approach. It is the essence of this energy, rooted in the philosophy of Shakti, rather than thinking about the religious aspects of it, that needs a practitioner or scholar to be represented. It was more of a personal space around me. That is why the contemporary space came in. It is important to represent the yoginis in a contemporary form. However, it just happened with the flow.
The exhibition emphasises Shakti as a universal, not gendered, energy. How do you hope contemporary audiences, especially younger viewers, internalise this idea?
I hope they stop seeing it as feminine in a physical sense. Shakti is the force of creation, action, intuition, and transformation, and it exists in everyone. If young audiences can recognise these energies within themselves, it shifts how they see identity, power, and balance. It moves from worship to awareness, and I am happy that is exactly what happened during the exhibitions.
Your decision to begin each painting with the eyes is intriguing. What emotional or philosophical significance does this hold in shaping each yogini’s identity?
The eyes are the points of presence. This is not a research subject for me. I didn’t have anyone to discuss this subject with. When I begin with the eyes, she is no longer a thought or an idea; she becomes a being. Everything else thereafter follows that consciousness; then there is only an inner dialogue between her and me.