Kerala, Kozhikode : A 28-year-old Muslim woman’s dream of presenting her paintings of Lord Krishna to a temple came true after she was finally able to offer her artwork before the deity in the Ulanadu Sree Krishna Swamy temple in Pandalam in Kerala.
The painter, Jasna Salim, was offered a chance to present her painting after a group of devotees approached her seeking an artwork to be gifted to the Ulanadu Sree Krishna Swamy temple . Her painting of Lord Krishna with a butter pot went viral on social media after it was presented to the temple on September 26.
She has painted over 500 pictures of Lord Krishna over the past 6 years, and has gifted them to her Hindu friends and temples. But this was the first time that she was given a chance to present it before the deity.
“It was a big dream of mine to see Lord Krishna’s idol and to present my painting before the deity. I’m delighted to have been able to fulfil that wish at the Ulanadu Sree Krishna Swamy temple in Pandalam. I have no words to express my happiness, and my gratitude to the temple authorities,” Jasna said.
Jasna who is now a trained painter said “My hands would shiver when teachers asked me to draw a map. I began to paint Lord Krishna images quite accidentally,” Jasna said, as quoted in a report in The New Indian Express. She was first intrigued by Lord Krishna’s picture she spotted in a newspaper, brought home for household purposes, which ignited the fire in her to paint one such picture which she then gifted to her Hindu friend.
“Later, the family told me that a lot of good changes had happened in their lives after they placed my painting inside their home. That inspired me, and thereafter many people approached me for the Lord Krishna paintings,” Jasna said, according to the report.
The New Indian Express report quoted her saying, “I have been gifting my paintings of Lord Krishna to the Guruvayur temple for the past six years, during Vishu and Sree Krishna Jayanti celebrations. I can only paint one image to perfection — Little Krishna sitting with a butter pot. And everyone is demanding that image. I wish I could gift a Lord Krishna painting to Prime Minister Narendra Modi one day,”.