Shades of motherhood from rural India

For Mother’s Day 2022, Village Square pays tribute to all mothers, who embody unconditional love, compassion, care giving and labor. Their list of tasks is endless and roles undefined. They wear different hats at different times of the day. Sometimes a teacher, other times a sibling, a best friend and a confidant. For this Mother’s Day we are featuring photographs which capture the many, beautiful shades of motherhood from across rural India.

May 08, 2022

A mother teaches her small son sitting on drying grains, with two ducks observing

A mother teaches her son Bengali as they are joined by two other unusual students (Photo by Nimai Chandra Ghose)

Mother spinning a charkha while her daughter shows what she has written in a slate

Multitasking mother – A mother reviews her daughter’s work while spinning charkha wheels (Photo by Pallab Pramanik)

A young boy accompanying her mother and other women carrying pots of water

Near Damodar river, in Dhanbad, Jharkhand, a mother is accompanied by her son and friends to get drinking water (Photo by Deepak Kumar)

A mother and her kids outside their hut

A mother and her children wait outside their hut made of dried grasses and cow dung (Photo by Pinks Shah Jain)

A mother with a goat resting in her lap

A special bond – A goat rests in a woman’s lap (Photo by Liza Sahani)

A mother with her a child in an anganwadi

Kanchan with her mother at an anganwadi center Chhatarpur, Madhya Pradesh (Photo by Sohinee Thakurta)