On one of the walls of the museum stands a woman’s bust with a straight gaze that appears to confront many things—rhetoric, unfreedoms, male hegemony, and a narrow view of textbook history that is being rewritten to suit political agendas. This could be the female gaze that casts itself on other female figures in the big hall. The futuristic gaze in the gold-emblazoned bust by Ravinder Reddy emphasises everyday Indian women exuding casual sexuality and encompassing the feminine. This is no sideward glance. It is almost a challenge to the ways of seeing, a reminder almost to see women as subjects and not objects. At this exhibition titled Women and Deities—on display at Bihar Museum in Patna for its 2022 Foundation Day celebrations (it runs through September)—you see more than just relics from the past, or just breasts and butts. You see the feminine and feminist principles fuse in resistance against the hysteria in the name of religion. It’s a timely offering of perspective and hope.