Mumbiram has mused about a wide variety of paradigms of man-woman encounter. The story of Androcles and the Lion has been one of Mumbiram’s favorite. Androcles is a slave who must go in the woods with his axe to gather wood for his master. One day in the woods he encounters a mighty lion groaning pitiably in agony. Brave and compassionate Androcles gingerly approaches the mighty beast only to discover that a tiny vicious thorn in the lion’s paw was causing such great distress. Androcles promptly and deftly removes the thorn to the lion’s great relief. They must part but not forget.
As luck would have it, some time later, Androcles the slave is thrown to a hungry lion in the arena for the amusement of the Emperor and the spectators. And as luck would have it, it turns out that it is the same lion that Andy had rescued from agony in the woods. Much to the awe and amazement of the Emperor and the arena, the lion affectionately licks Androcles’ feet, instead of devouring him. Emperor sets both the Lion and the slave Androcles free.

In Mumbiram’s Androcles Paradigm of man-woman encounter, the woman is the beautiful and mighty lion. The man is the brave, compassionate and skillful Androcles. He appears in her hour of distress and brings relief. They must part. Yet, there will arrive a time when she will be the only person who can rescue him.

Here in this vision, we can speculate, they are reading something together. She seems to be sitting on a jumbo-size book. He is kneeling next to her. They have already been through the woods and the arena. Now they are both free. It has been a story of Courage and Compassion and Gratitude. As in all Mumbiram renderings, they both are handsome and tastefully attired and gracefully united. It seems Mumbiram cannot stand it any other way.

Other viewers have shared with us other amazing interesting speculations about these two here sharing their reading experience. Some have noticed how her crossed legs are touching his left thigh with her feet. Some have have other observations about the easy harmony of their togetherness. That is what Rasa Art is all about.