Eigltrrn
D4-ys - Sri Ptirto-ldrt!d's MstApur-lild
especially His right foot. I hacl to sit between His feet, on the lotus stand, lacing the same direction as Him, and lean down and paint His toes like I would my own. Ahhh, the things a girl has to clo... The feet o[ the deities are very, very beautiful-l'm sure there will be many, photos oI the installation getting around, and you will all see for yourselves. 1 tl-rink it's [air to say lhat sometimes the feet of deities are rather chunl<y and very aesthetical- ly "challenging", so to speak. But noL these leet-all five deities have beautiful, finely carved, long, elegantly shaped feet. l've never seen more beautiful feet.... and Their toenails defy description: they are sirnply, absolutely perfect. And so now lhose feet have the first coat on. Bhakta Gana (Bharata's wi[e) is the one who paints Radha Madhava and the gopis, and she's in charge of all the paint- ing. Today was simply the primer (or undercoat, in toenail polishing talk!). There's a lot more to "painting the cleities" than I ever imagined. I doubt rnost devotees are aware of the enormous effort and attention to detail it requires. And naturally, Bhakta Gana's job wasn't straightforward... Bhahta Gana Deyl Dasi - Jananivasa Prabhu and I had discussrd tht painting nceds in dttail while tht deitics were in prodtrction. He had de cided to paint the bases, dhotls, .fett and toenails, hands and fingernail-s, e-ycs, lips, tilaka, and hair. This, I lznetv, was a hu,ge tash, but I also had ryite aJew devatees ofl'er to help, so I Jelt assured wt could contplete it on time. The first day I vtent to pa,it1t, GangA Prabhu scnt mc away becattse lhc .stlrc?paris needed to do thc final polish. Then lananivasrr decidtd not to paint the bases, .so I told onc of tfu devotees that their help wasn't needed. The se cond day I wctrt, Pltambara and Maitrtya wtrc puttirtg up the scaffolding behind the dcities and thty stnt me away. fhg, Jananivasa decided not to paint the dhotis, so I told anot'her deyotrc t'lrcir help wasn't netde d. The third day I went they wcre putting up the bamboo scaffold"ing in front of the
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