Mithun Babu

Mithun grew up in the lush South Indian state of Kerala. As a child, he experienced visions, and his parents thought he had mental problems. They saw him make idols of goddesses and play with them like dolls. It wasn’t until he received proper spiritual guidance from his gurus that he was able to make sense of his experiences and gain self-control.

With his teachers’ guidance, those visions were nurtured into spiritual insight and directed toward spiritual practice (sadhana). So sacred art came naturally. It is his Dharma, his sacred duty. Today, he “feels suffocated” when he is not making art. For him, the purpose of art is to help people to enjoy life generally. But in practice, most of his clients ask for goddess icons to use in ritual worship (darśana murtis).

Mithun is an ardent devotee of goddess Mookambika. With the blessing of the Goddess and the guidance of his gurus, he has developed “Chitraupasana”, a spiritual art methodology comprised of a mixture of meditation with mantra, mudra, pranayama, and pooja. “Kalamithunam” (Art of Union) is the name he uses for his artworks.

He earned a diploma (3 years of study) in Mural painting. His art guru was Kr Babu, of the Malayala Kalagramam school of Fine Arts in Kannur district of Kerala, India. Kr Babu was a student of Mammiyoor Krishna Moorthy, the founder of Guruvayoor institute of Kerala Mural Painting.

After completing his mural painting degree, Mithun graduated from NIFT (National Institute of Fashion Technology) with a 4-year degree. During this time, he also studied Ashtanga Yoga in Mysore with BNS Iyengar. He also taught mural painting in Mysore at Lakshmi Puram, at Ayurveda Yoga Villa in Wayanad (Kerala), and to many private students.

He has two spiritual Gurus: The first, who have him deeksha, is Swami Maha Rishi Tathada, based at Kollur Mookambika Dharmapeedam. The second, whom he met at age fourteen and continues to learn from, is Sri Samudgata Swami (a disciple of Tathadaji). His gurus encouraged him not just to paint images, but to actually embody the disposition of the deity being painted, to act out their gestures physically so as to transfer their personality into the artwork.

Mithun is available for commissions of paintings, murals, drawings, and personal art instruction. His art can also be seen on his Instagram feed.