Sacred Sensuality : Beyond shaming and celebration

A reflection on art, culture, and the feminine form

The Question of “Bold”

“Why do you do such bold work?”“Don’t you feel shame in exposing your body?”“Our culture doesn’t allow this.”

To Yogesh: “How can you allow your wife to do this?”

And endless trolling that becomes part and parcel of the journey. 

We hear these questions often. Some call me inspiring, others shameless. But a single image is not casual – it comes after months of reading, writing, sourcing fabrics, designing, long hikes, starting shooting before the first ray of the sun hits the earth and then sleepless nights for post-production. Each work draws on the Nayikas, on mythology, on folklore. These are not pictures, they are stories, meant to move hearts.

So when people dismiss it as vulgar, I ask: Is it the art that offends you, or the baggage you carry?

Even the Natya Shastra itself says:“Where the eyes go, the mind follows; where the mind goes, there arises the sentiment (rasa).”

Culture Forgotten, Culture Remembered

Every age expresses its soul through art. Our ancestors were not ashamed of beauty, desire, or the body — they celebrated it.

From Meghaduta , Gatha Saptashati, Kama sutra, Shrungar Shatak, to the sculptures of Khajuraho and Hampi, sensuality was not sin, but truth. Goddesses, Yoginis, Yakshis, Sursundaris and so on  embodied fertility, power, and creation. They stood bare, free, unapologetic. The shame arrived later carried by colonisers, imposed on us until we mistook their guilt for our tradition.

A bodybuilder today can flaunt his muscles nearly naked on stage in front of thousands and society calls it strength. But when a woman uses her body to tell her story, society unites to shame her.

Frithjof Schuon wrote:

“The body is the form of the Essence and thus the essence of form.”To reject it is to reject our own sacredness.

The Vulgarity We Ignore

Men walk bare-chested in public, urinate openly, even harass women. These vulgarities we ignore. But a woman who creates art with dignity and intention? We call her indecent.

The Kama Sutra reminds us:“Pleasure is indeed a human purpose.”

Carl Jung observed:“The healthy man does not torture others — generally, it is the tortured who turn into torturers.”

If men who suppress their own desires turn into harassers, what we need is not policing women, but healing men — through art, education, and therapy.The Mirror We Refuse to Look At

"यत्र नार्यस्तु पूज्यन्ते रमन्ते तत्र देवताः"“Where women are honoured, divinity blossoms there.” – Manusmriti

We like to call ourselves civilised. But civilization is not about moral posturing; it is about respect. Why is a woman’s form acceptable when sold in cinema for male entertainment, but unacceptable when she claims it for her own art? Vulgar dances are celebrated and even encouraged in schools for girls to dance on those songs. But they are not taken to temples / heritage sites to educated them in art where erotic sculptures are carved.

Carl Jung warned:“The repression of sexuality leads not to virtue but to obsessions, perversions, and neuroses.”

What we repress comes back as violence and control. By silencing women, we silence the very roots of our own culture.

The Knowledge Foreigners Take, We Shame

When a woman’s art is shamed, it is not her morality at stake, but society’s maturity.

Our temples once declared:काममयं जगत सर्वम  ।“The whole world is filled with desire.”

But today, while we shame our own heritage, foreigners study Tantra, Ayurveda, Bharatanatyam, Sanskrit poetry and sell it back to us. Their women enjoy artistic freedom that we deny to our women. They profit from our culture while we keep it locked in shame.

The Bhagavad Gita teaches:“Desire is ever present in all beings as an enemy; only by understanding and channeling it can one be victorious.”

Our ancestors knew how to channel desire into art and spirituality. We turned it into fear and policing.

The Real Problem and the Way Forward

The trolls, the obscene messages, the moral policing — they are not about art, but insecurity.

True sanskara is not about fear. It is about refined taste, seeing the sacred in both form and formlessness. If we can admire men’s strength and nature’s beauty, why not a woman’s?

Artistic literacy, not moral panic, is what we need. Because art is not going anywhere. The only choice is whether we meet it with maturity, or with fear. The destruction of our heritage is due to ignorance and fearfulness from sacred feminine forces. When men became weak the art and heritage of our land got destroyed so the women's were raped, tortured and killed. When men are educated, grounded in their masculinity they do not fear their women's freedom but they also rise and create a beautiful world around them.

तेन नवरन्ध्ररूपो देहः ।

नवशक्तिरूपं श्रीचक्रम् ।

वाराही पितृरूपा ।

कुरुकुल्ला बलिदेवता माता ।

पुरुषार्थाः सागराः ।

देहो नवरत्नद्वीपः ।

The Bhavana Upanishad says the human body is itself the Sri Chakra, a sacred mandala. To shame it is to shame the divine. If we are proud upon our heritage we need to teach our next generation about it and there's no alternative than art education, respect for everyone and freedom.

Freedom Is Not a Threat

“Where women are outstanding, men there are also strong; they rise together.”

A cultured society does not fear women’s voices. It does not punish dignity. 

Our ancestors carved, danced, and wrote of the body with reverence. To silence it now is not culture, it is cowardice.

Carl Jung said:“Where love rules, there is no will to power, and where power predominates, love is lacking.”

The problem is not bold art, but the fear of losing control. A patriarchal society is comfortable when the female body is silent. The moment it speaks, it is condemned.

But the body is the cosmos: यत् पिण्डे तत् ब्रह्माण्डे . As science too reminds us, what is within is reflected without. A society that fears the body will always fear freedom.

When we silence women, we fracture harmony. When we honour them, culture thrives.

Closing

The question is not whether art should be bold or modest.The question is whether a woman has the right to decide that for herself.

Because when she does, she is not just making art she is making history.And history will remember whether we silenced her, or stood beside her.

Writeup & photography : Yogesh Kardile

Muse : K Raginee Yogesh

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