The Eye, the Sky, the Altar

Rithika Merchant's monograph chronicles her creative journey and underlines how myths everywhere are born from the same human response to nature.

- RAJASHREE BALARAM

For fans of Rithika Merchant, her new monograph, The Eye, the Sky, the Altar, can be as precious a collectible as any of her works. An object of beauty, it spotlights her immersion in comparative mythology, from tentative beginnings to a gradual deep dive that has enabled her to discern parallels in lands far removed from each other. "The history of myth and traditions shows links between cultures that often aren't highlighted in classical history," says Merchant. At a time when lands everywhere are riven by fresh battle lines, Merchant's throwback is a reminder that for all the migration that shaped our different racial identities across the timeli