A pair of artists in Mathura have drawn the story of India's martyrs in their own blood.

They hope to take the 150-portrait 'Shaheed' exhibition across the country "since it is the only way of creating awareness about the sacrifice of the martyrs. Those born in the post-Independence era cannot feel the struggle of freedom fighters," Ravi Chandra Gupta, a retired vice-principal said.

He came up with the idea of painting India's story in blood in 1992 and, along with artist Guru Darshan Singh Vinkal, the two have made portraits of freedom fighters from Netaji Subash Chandra Bose to the soldiers who fought the Kargil war in 1999.

Gupta said he went to Vinkal for a portrait of Netaji and "hardly had he begun work when I gave him some of my own blood taken from a diagnostic centre and requested him to make the portrait".

The problem of blood clotting was overcome as a doctor at the centre added a powder to it, said the 66-year-old Gupta.

Gradually, the paintings increased and vignettes from the freedom struggle, Kargil war and other events were sketched.

He said Vinkal added 50 portraits from his own blood to the collection. "It is a rare work. The atrocities of past rulers have been exposed through portraits prepared in blood and it is praiseworthy. It is a symbol of committed patriotism," Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Sadhvi Ritambhara said inaugurating one such exhibition at Vatsalya Gram Vrindaban Monday.

The VHP leader told him that she will assist in "setting up an international museum in Vatsalya Gram with my works and would later be extended to other exibits".