These three are meeting at a sidewalk cafe in Leipzig with the famous Nikolai Church in the background. The two in the foreground are engaged in a lively discussion over some books. It has captured the attention of the third person who is happily looking at us.

It must be a memorable moment captured in here as Mumbiram has a very personal connection with Leipzig. It was in Leipzig that the zestful collaboration between the artist and an admiring group of young art lovers – “Distant Drummer” publications – has started.

Leipzig was important for Mumbiram. It was a historically important center of Indology. Max Mueller learned Sanskrit in Leipzig. Mumbiram stayed in Leipzig nearly all his days during his first visit to Germany. Mumbiram visited the university and spent time in the Indology department. He was the happiest in the Sanskrit library there.

Mumbiram knew about Goethe’s admiration for Kalidas’ celebrated Sanskrit play Shakuntala.
Many consider Goethe’s Faust to be the greatest literary work of the German language. In that play Mephistofeles, the representative of the Devil, takes the erudite Faust, the protagonist of the play, to a tavern in Leipzig. Mephisto makes a deal with Faust to assist each other in this world and the next. At Faust’s request Mephisto arranges it so the young and innocent Gretchen is in love with Faust. He does this with the help of some Jewelry and an older neighbor of Gretchen named Marthe.

Have you discovered the little bird pins that each of them is wearing on their shirts ? Mumbiram has been fond of collecting different pins of birds to decorate his self-designed attires. Here one can see a pin of a peacock on the lapel of the man. Those familiar with Mumbiram know that peacocks as well as peacock feathers appear prominently in Mumbiram’s art. The other bird is a parrot, the third a swan. All three of them have a unique meaning in the world of art and poetry in general. In Mumbiram’s Rasa Art these are aalambana vibhaava, objects that invoke certain Rasas in the personalities concerned.

This charcoal rendering of remarkable grace and simplicity is rich and complex in its emotional content. One can only speculate who the three personalities at this table are fashioned after. One can also speculate if the drama presented in this rendering is echoing in some subliminal way the happenings in Goethe’s Faust.

Mumbiram’s Rasa Renaissance may have germinated during Mumbiram’s years in America. Mumbiram’s “Leipzig Renaissance“ is a tribute to the support German youth spontaneously gave to a young Mumbiram in America, India and Germany.

This charcoal rendering has been included in an anthology of Mumbiram’s other charcoal renderings depicting loving couples sharing their book reading experience. This anthology is titled ‘Book Readers, Love on the Gutenberg Galaxy’.