What does Leela Bhūmi mean?

Dear Friend,

Someone asked me recently, “What does Leela Bhūmi mean?”

I realized it was not just a question about language, but an invitation to listen, to how a word can carry a world.

Leela — divine play, the unfolding of existence itself. Joy and sorrow, creation and destruction, birth and death, all gestures in an endless dance.

Bhūmi — earth, the fertile ground where life takes root.

Together, Leela Bhūmi becomes “Playful Earth”, the ground of divine play. The earth itself moves, breathes, and participates in the cosmic unfolding.

I thought of the Ardhanarishvara sculpture unearthed at the Abhayagiri Monastery Complex: Shiva, both male and female, one body, two energies. Opposites not in conflict, but in harmony, silence and sound, destruction and creation, coexisting in a single field of play.

Layered in time, touch, and memory. Preservation and transformation dance together; the earth itself plays.

In my practice, I photograph this sculpture and layer it with the weathered textures of the museum wall. I inscribe and paint over the image. My hand does not erase the past; it opens the work to new life. Preservation and transformation exist in a single gesture, a dialogue across centuries.

Placed within the vision of Leela Bhūmi , earth as the ground of divine play, this work suggests that heritage is not fixed. Like the earth itself, it cycles, transforms, and renews. Our cultural relics can be touched again, not physically, but through image, imagination, and reinterpretation.

By offering these prints as entry tickets to the Leela Bhūmi workshops, art and access, heritage and participation, collapse into one. The print becomes both key and gift, an invitation into a shared space of play, listening, and Co – Creation.

Step into this space with me. Listen. Play. Carry the Leela Bhumi forward.

With warmth,

Poornima