Hindu Art at the Met Gala? It was a Whole Moment!
- authored by Mayuri Mukherjee-Pascar
KJo brought Raja Ravi Varma’s iconography, a fashionista dropped Durga Puja vibes, Isha Ambani arrived with pichwai from Nathdwara, a maharaja showed up with his Suryavanshi lineage, Ananya Birla channelled Chola bronzes, a philanthropist carried the Telugu Hindu cosmos, and Manish Malhotra spotlighted the artisans who make it possible.
The theme of the Met Gala this year was “Fashion Is Art” — and it was fascinating to see Hindu artistic traditions make their way onto those iconic steps: from the visual world of Raja Ravi Varma to Pichwai, Kalamkari and more. If you grew up around any of this, you probably did a double take too!
Raja Ravi Varma, but Make It Met
Hindi filmmaker Karan Johar’s Met Gala debut was a six-foot hand-painted cape by Manish Malhotra, and it was essentially a walking exhibition of the works of Raja Ravi Varma—the 19th century Kerala painter who brought Hindu epics to canvas in the European oil tradition, and made it available to every household through mass reproduction.
The cape carried Varma’s Krishna Shishtai—the moment from the Mahabharata where Krishna arrives at the Kaurava court as a peace envoy and is nearly taken captive; as well as his Arjuna and Shubhadra, depicting Arjuna disguised as a sadhu, trying to convince Shubhadra to run away with him. And who could miss his iconic Damayanti, waiting for word of her beloved King Nala from a swan messenger; or his stunning Urvashi, the apsara who is caught mid-departure from King Pururavas.
Kalamkari, Main Character Energy
Philanthropist Sudha Reddy ensemble, also by Manish Malhotra, was a homage to Telugu art through Kalamkari. Its central motif was the Kalpavriksha—the wish-fulfilling tree of Hindu cosmology. Around it were the Palapitta bird and Tangedu flowers associated with Andhra Pradesh and Telangana’s Bathukamma festival dedicated to Goddess Gauri; and Jammi Chettu, the shami tree worshipped during Vijayadasami. Sun and moon symbols marked the cycle of festival time that structures the Telugu Hindu year. This was Kalamkari in its most exquisite temple tradition.
Pichwai x Gajra Moment
Businesswoman Isha Ambani’s sari was one for the details. Designed by Gaurav Gupta and woven with pure gold threads by master artisans at Swadesh, the sari’s border may not have caught the attention of the untrained eye; but if you looked closely, you’d notice the gorgeous pichwai work—the devotional cloth paintings made for Shrinathji’s shrine in Nathdwara, Rajasthan—hand-painted by Trilok Prakash Soni. In her hair, Ambani carried a gajra (jasmine garland) sculpture by Brooklyn-based artist Sourabh Gupta who shaped each flower individually by hand. Gupta’s piece was directly inspired by childhood memories of his father bringing jasmine flowers each morning to the family puja room in Hiranagar, Jammu and Kashmir. Together, they made for the most elevated gajra moment in recent memory, sculpted beautifully between devotion and couture.
Just Suryavanshi Things
At the back of Sawai Padmanabh Singh’s Phulghar velvet coat, designed by Prabal Gurung, sat the most interesting detail: a mirror sun motif drawn from the Sri Niwas residence at the City Palace in Jaipur. Singh, better known as Pacho, is the titular head of the former royal family of Jaipur, and the motif is a reference to his Suryavanshi lineage, marking his descent from Surya, the solar deity, the same dynasty as Ram. He completed the look with a Matsya and a Gajraj brooch by Raniwala 1881. Matsya, the fish, is the first avatar of Vishnu while Gajraj is the elephant king, one of Hindu iconography’s most enduring symbols of divine power.
Bronze Devi Era
At the Met After Party, entrepreneur-artist Ananya Birla arrived in “The Bronze Woman—The Aftermath I” by Ashi Studio, modelled on an 18th-century Hindu devi figurine. These figurines were carried through temple corridors during festival processions and anointed with oil and camphor, producing the oxidised finish that Birla’s outfit so precisely recreated.
Her jewels, by Raniek, carried the same reference — drawing from the Shaiva tradition of the Chola and Hoysala dynasties of southern India. The neckpiece mapped the Shaiva cosmological axis: a yellow diamond for Surya at the top, a Paraíba tourmaline in the colour of water in the middle, and a cognac diamond for the Deccan soil on which their temples still stand.
Birla’s entire look was a tribute to the extraordinary artistic legacies built by both dynasties. The Chola workshops, active between the 9th and 13th centuries, produced some of the most sophisticated devotional objects in the world, including the Nataraja; while the Hoysala temples of Karnataka have the most intricately detailed temple surfaces, made possible only because they were built in chloritic schist, a soapstone that was soft enough, when quarried, for artisans to carve minute details, like a single strand of hair or the links of a necklace, directly into the temple walls.
Made by Hand, Obviously
The presence of Hindu artistic traditions this year wasn’t just in what was worn, but in how it was made, and who was acknowledged in that process.
Tastemaker Diya Mehta Jatia’s gown, by Mayyur Girotra, brought two Hindu craft traditions together in one garment. The base: Kanjivaram silk, from Kanchipuram, which is the fabric of temple ritual and Hindu weddings across South India. Layered over it was Shola-pith work from Bengal. Known as ‘vegetable ivory’, it is hand-carved into the ceremonial crowns (topor for men and mukut for women) and other adornments that are most commonly used during Durga puja and have defined Bengali Hindu ritual for generations.
Finally, designer Manish Malhotra’s dramatic cape was embroidered with the signatures of the artisans he has worked with over 35 years. This celebration of the craftsman, of course, resonates deeply in Hindu tradition. The Shilpa Shastras position those who work with their hands as sacred practitioners, and every year, artists and tradespeople are at the heart of Vishwakarma Puja.
(The author, Mayuri Mukherjee-Pascar, is a Montreal-based writer exploring Hindu culture, politics, and identity.)