Jasna Salim offers 101 paintings to Guruvayur temple

THRISSUR: Koyilandy native Jasna Salim, who has been offering paintings of Lord Krishna in his infant form to Guruvayur temple for years, is back this time with a collection of 101 paintings. On Sunday she handed over the paintings to the Guruvayur temple authorities. Jasna has been offering her paintings of Lord Krishna to the temple for the past seven years, one each for the occasions of Janmashtami and Vishu.
“It was my dream to present 101 paintings of ‘Unni Kannan’ to the temple, and it took me four months to complete these paintings. During this period, my mother and my friend's mother took care of my children,” Jasna said.
According to Jasna, when she was a child her grandmother used to call her ‘Kanna’, and she remembers getting annoyed when her sisters and others used to call her by that name. Later she also used to get upset when her husband Majeed started to address her as Kanna.
Her husband once showed her a picture of an adult Lord Krishna while they were at a friend’s house. However, she started painting infant Krishna at the age of 24 after she saw a picture of Unni Kannan in a piece of newspaper. “I had no previous experience of painting, but somehow I could paint Unni Kannan fairly well,” she said.
Meanwhile, she faced opposition from people of her community. Her son is allegedly not being permitted to attend the local madrasa. “They are demanding a conduct certificate for my 12-year old son. They said they would probe the conduct of the parents before admitting children to madrassa.
I have not sent my daughter to madrasa, and she is studying online,” she said. “However, my family, including my husband who works in Dubai, support me. I am happy that on Sunday for the first time my father Abdul Majeed accompanied me to Guruvayur to present the paintings,’’ she said.
“I have faith in Krishna, just like I have faith in Allah. I live like a Muslim. And I find no problem in keeping the faith in Allah and Krishna,’’ Jasna said.
Guruvayur Devaswom chairman V K Vijayan, tahntri Dineshan Namboodiripad and other devaswom officials accepted the paintings from Jasna.