U Sier Lapalang

The scroll painting is made by preparing a cotton cloth with layers of newsprint and rice paper stuck to it with flour based glue and the last layer topped with a thin coating of suddha matti(whit clay). Scroll paintings are known traditionally for pictorial narrations of stories and songs. I chose to depict the story of ‘U Sier Lapalang’, which hails from my home in Meghalaya. It is the story of a young Stag who chooses to leave his homeland in Bangladesh along with his mother to venture into the hills of the Khasis, in order to taste their sweet vegetation. The story turns tragic when he is hunted by the people and leaves his mother, weeping and singing a mourning song for him that is echoed throughout the hearts of the Khasi folk. In the traditional manner, the story of ‘U Sier Lapalang’ is always told in song and in present times in writing, given that the Khasis have an oral tradition and the introduction of the written roman script came only with the advent of Christianity and missionary institutions. However, I wanted to represent through my imagination and interpretation, the story along with a visually informative approach such as how the particular stag looked like according to the story and his origin, the particular plant that he wanted to eat or even the attire of the Khasi folk that inhabit the place, according to the timeline. The whole idea of a travelling story that can also be sung was an interesting thing for me.