Cosmic Doodles

This week our class travelled back to ancient India, to learn about the millennia-old doodle art form — mandala drawing. Mandalas have spiritual significance in Hinduism and Buddhism. Practitioner of this art form channel cosmic forces into their patterns as they enter a meditative headspace and doodle into patterned shapes.

Symbolic of the wholeness of the universe in its ideal form, mandala drawing spread along the Silk Road as a tool for meditation and achieving focus. Our guest teacher Supriya Doshi brought the ancient wisdom of the cosmic doodle to Byculla prison this week. An architect by training, Supriya practices mandala drawing and believes it signifies the transformation of human suffering into joy.

created by a prisoner at Byculla Women’s Jail

“Mandala drawing engages the brains intellectual and artistic aspects and builds inner strength.” Supriya said. She introduced symbology of the form — the wheel with spokes, the lotus, flowers, leaves, and patterns and explained the meanings of different lines and patterns in the mandala tradition.

“The mandala gives a person a sacred space to meet their inner self” Supriya writes in her class notes.

This class was extremely popular — many new people joined in and many asked us for more patterns and designs so they could keep making these drawings in their own time.

The following week, they came running at us with papers flying in the air “ma’am look at my my drawing.”