IKS to IITs - India’s Gifts to the World | 5' x 5' Gond Painting by Padmashri Bhajju Shyam
5' x 5' Gond Painting on Canvas - by veteran Gond Artist, Padmashri Bhajju Shyam
Indic Civilization & Modern India have been major contributors to the World of Philosophy & Science. Many of its ancient contributions have been Gifts to The World - Astronomy, Yoga, Ayurveda, Mathematics and many more. The Hindu-Arabic Number System and Shunya| Cipher| Zero have been the harbingers of scientific progress in the world.
After Independence from British Rule, the setup of the IITs and the subsequent scientists, engineers and entrepreneurs it produced has helped continue this tradition as Modern India’s Gifts to the World!
The painting, rendered through the sensibilities of one of India’s oldest Folk Painting forms – Gond Painting traditions of 3000+ years, itself represents India’s other contributions to Folk Art, Music, Dance, Architecture and other disciplines of Aesthetics.
India’s Contributions in Astronomy came through the work of many “Rishi like scientists who mediated under the proverbial Banyan or Pipal tree” on subjects of Philosophy and Science. Contributions to Astronomy are represented in the form of stylized forms of the Sun (Surya), Moon (Chandra), Saturn (Shani) and Jupiter (Guru). India’s ancient contributions in Mathematics are depicted through stylized modern symbols of work done on the Decimal Number System, calculations of the value of Pi by Aryabhatta, work on number Series and Calculus by Madhava and the Kerala School, Shunya by Bhaskaracharya, Hemachandra Series (Fibonacci Sequence) and many others like Brahmagupta, Pingala & Varamihira. These works have been captured in their works such as Aryabhatia, Surya Siddhanta, Lilavati and many other treatises and Sutras on Mathematics.
The IITs and Modern India’s Scientists and Nobel Laureates have, in the last 75 years continued this tradition of giving their knowledge to the World. The World has been depicted in this painting through the styles, colours and patterns of the rich traditions of Gond Art. Since the last 75 years, the illustrious IIT Alumni of first 7 IITs and many
other IITs that followed, continue to contribute significantly to the world’s Scientific Progress – now being celebrated at IIT 2026.
As a part of IIT2026 – we are happy to present this painting that is an ode to this contribution
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Bhajju Shyam, renowned Gond Artist, 2018 Padmashri Awardee, with many international exhibitions.
Bhajju Shyam was born in 1971 in the Gond tribal village of Patangarh, in the forests of central India. Sixteen-year-old Bhajju left his village and came to the city of Bhopal in search of work. He found a job as a night watchman, until an uncle of his asked him to become his apprentice. The uncle happened to be Jangarh Singh Shyam, the most brilliant Gond artist of the time, and the one who brought Gond art from the walls of the village into the public eye. Bhajju started by filling in the fine patterns on Jangarh’s large canvases, when his talent became apparent.
Bhajjuji’s work began to be known throughout India, and his first international exposure came in 1998 when he was part of a group exhibition at the Musée des Arts Decoratifs in Paris. Since then his work has been shown in the UK, Germany, Holland and Russia. In 2001, he received a state award for Best Indigenous Artist.
The London Jungle Book by Bhajju Shyam
He was invited to London to paint the interiors of an Indian restaurant. He found the mores and manners of London intriguing, and went on to record his experiences in the form a stunning visual travelogue. With radical innocence and great sophistication, Bhajju turned London into an exotic bestiary, where the Underground is a giant earthworm, Big Ben merges with a giant rooster, and English people are bats that come out to play at night. Bhajju breathes the ancient spirit of wonder back into the act of travel, showing you a London you have never encountered before.
