The Blasphemous Art Project

In Filipino Visayan mythology, the Goddess Dalikamata is the thousand-eyed diety of health. The eyes covering her body have given her the power of omniscience, for she can see all the good and bad within a person. People often worship her in the hopes of being granted good eyesight, and it is believed that she curses the cruel and unkind with blindness. According to legend, morning dew is a result of Dalikamata crying over all of the evil deeds of mankind that she witnesses. The indigenous priestesses, known as the Babaylan, would collect this morning dew for use in their healing and divination practices. Babaylan were exclusively either cisgender or transgender women who held crucial roles in pre-colonial society. Following the colonization by the Spanish, they were demonized as witches and were persecuted. Here we see Dalikamata meeting with one of her devoted priestesses. While the babaylan would often offer Goddess Dalikamata incense flowers as a token of their devotion, here this priestess has decided to offer herself instead.

In the divine realm of ancient India, Shiva—the mighty destroyer god of transformation, often depicted with a third eye and adorned with serpents—found himself unexpectedly captivated by Sita, the gentle and steadfast princess who was actually the wife of Lord Rama and an incarnation of the goddess Lakshmi. This pairing would have been quite impossible in traditional Hindu mythology, but in this tale, their paths crossed one twilight evening as Shiva meditated in his Himalayan abode and Sita, seeking solace from her earthly duties, wandered into his sacred grove. The cosmic dance of their meeting sent ripples through the heavens as Shiva's fierce asceticism melted before Sita's pure-hearted grace, and her unwavering devotion to dharma (divine duty) found a surprising echo in his own eternal quest for truth. Their love bloomed like a lotus in impossible waters, challenging the very fabric of divine order, yet in its brief existence, it transformed both the destroyer god and the princess-goddess, leaving the cosmos forever changed by their forbidden connection.

In a world of ancient kingdoms and divine beings, Krishna, a blue-skinned god who could take human form, unexpectedly encountered Gandhari, a noble princess from a powerful royal family. Krishna, known for being both a divine warrior and a spiritual guide, found himself drawn to Gandhari, a woman of extraordinary willpower who had chosen to wear a blindfold after marrying a blind king, symbolizing her complete dedication to her husband. Their connection was impossible - she was already married, and he was a divine being who played a complex role in human affairs - but in that moment, they shared a profound spiritual understanding that transcended typical human boundaries. Their brief emotional encounter was less about romantic love and more about a deep, almost cosmic recognition of each other's extraordinary nature, a fleeting moment of connection between two souls who understood the weight of duty, sacrifice, and spiritual purpose.

Rambha—the most beautiful of the apsaras, celestial dancers in Hindu mythology who entertain the gods with their divine performances—felt her heart flutter as she watched Bhishma from afar. The mighty warrior-prince of Hastinapur had earned fame throughout ancient India for an extraordinary act: to ensure his father could marry the woman he loved, Bhishma had taken an unbreakable vow of celibacy and renounced his claim to the throne, earning him the name "Bhishma" or "the terrible," for the terrible sacrifice of his own happiness. Though apsaras were known for seducing great sages to break their spiritual practices at the gods' command, Rambha found herself genuinely drawn to this man whose sense of duty matched the weight of mountains. One evening, as monsoon clouds gathered above the heavenly realm of Indra's court where mortals and immortals sometimes mingled, their eyes met in a glance that contained centuries of longing, and for a brief moment, both the celestial dancer and the unshakeable prince allowed themselves to imagine a different life—one where dharma (sacred duty) didn't stand between their hearts, where his vow to remain unmarried hadn't sealed their fates before they'd even met, where the distance between the divine realm and the mortal world could be bridged by something as simple and impossible as love.

In the epic war between good and evil that shaped ancient India's Ramayana, an impossible love sparked between Mandodari—the gentle queen of the demon king Ravana who had kidnapped Lord Rama's wife—and Lakshman, Rama's fiercely loyal brother who fought to rescue her. Despite Ravana's cruelty and the battle raging around them, these two found themselves drawn together during secret meetings in the palace gardens of Lanka, where Mandodari's healing knowledge and Lakshman's honorable heart created a brief sanctuary from the war. Their love, though pure, was destined to remain unfulfilled—she bound by her marriage to the demon king, he by his duty to his divine brother Rama. When Lanka finally fell and Ravana was slain, they shared one last glance across the burning city, each knowing they had chosen duty over the whispers of their hearts.

In the quiet corners of Hastinapura's palace gardens—where Bhishma, the legendary warrior-sage bound by his vow of lifelong celibacy and unwavering devotion to the throne, often sought solitude—an unexpected meeting changed everything. Draupadi, the fierce queen married to all five Pandava brothers and known for her unmatched beauty and intellect, found herself drawn to the aging guardian's wisdom and noble bearing. Their forbidden connection bloomed through shared discussions of dharma and poetry, each recognizing in the other a depth of devotion and sacrifice that few could understand. Though they never spoke of it aloud, their stolen glances carried the weight of a love that transcended their sacred duties—his as the eternal protector of the Kuru dynasty, hers as the woman whose honor would later spark the great war of Kurukshetra. In those brief moments when their paths crossed, time seemed to still, and both wondered if, in another life, they might have written a different story together, free from the bonds of duty and destiny that now kept them forever apart.