·Acknowledgement ter-National Cultural Centre wishes to thank The Imperial Tobacco .ny of India Limited for their valuable help in bringing out this entative collection of Folk Paintings of India Also the generous on received from them makes it possible for the Inter-National al Centre to publish this volume in its present form ction was made with the help and advice of Dr Moti Chandra, Director, Prince of 'useum of Western India, Bombay, Dr Vermier Elwin, Adviser for Tribal Affairs, int of India, North East Frontier Agency, Shillong, Prof D P Ghosh, Curator, Museum Indian Art, Calcutta University, S D G Kelkar, Raja Kelkar Historical is, Poona, Srı Karl Khandalavala, Bombay, Sri Rai Krishnadasa, Hony Director, iala Bhavan, Bonoros Hindu University, Srı Tinkari Mukherj), Ant Section, Indian Calcutta, Dr Vikram Singh, former Secretary, National Museum of India New Delhi M L Sinha, Secretary, Bangiya Sahitya Porisat, for general guidance and the permission luce from the collection of Acharya Jogesh Chandra Mfuseum of Vishnupur Branch of rya Sahitya Parisar We also record our gratitude to Dr A Aryappan, former ndent, Government Afuseum, Madras, Dr Kalyan Kumar Ganguly, Lecturer, Calcutta Sri C I Jeydey, Curator, Anthropology Section, Government Museum Hadras K Mishra, Curator, Chandradhanı Museum, Darbhanga, Sri Krishna Chaitanya, on Officer, Press Information Bureau, Government of India, New Delhi, and S PR in, Curator, Archacology and Art Section, Government Museum, Madras for their suggestions rier Elwin kindly contributed the foreword "Folk Paintings of India" ·Folk Paintings of India by Verrier Elwin Comfort is so strange and wonderful a thing to the masses of mankind that simple men everywhere have explained its presence in their hard lives as a special gift from the gods There is a famous story of a very ugly girl, so ugly that no one would marry her When she died frustrated and miserable, her soul went to God who looked on her with pity and asked her what He could do to console her 'Send me bach', she said in my next birth as something which all men wall desire'. So God made a plant grow from her grave, it was the tobacco plant, whose leaves the whole world loves, and millions and millions of men now kiss with their lips the once unattractive girl in her new form This story is a parable of the belief of the folk in transformation and re-creation which is the secret of art, something so exciting that it can only be described in theological terms So, in onc Buddhist tradition, God seeing men dull and flat, sent clowns to cheer them up elsewhere God taught women to weave, and showed them how to draw inspiration for their patterns and designs from natural things — the wings of butterflies, the markings on a snake, the ripples on the surface of a mountain stream, the interlacing of leaves and branches against the sky, the colours of the rainbow God put the tool into the wood-carver's hand He gave the brush to the village painter At the early stage all the arts are one, and the designs of basketry, the patterns and colours of hand made fabrics the ever varied form of clay, the vigour and realism of carvings in wood or stone the rhythm of the folk dance are allied to painting This book explores the art of the folk painter of India It does not pretend to be a comprehensive treatise that would have required a decade of travel and re Search It is rather a journey, an adventurous journey through little known and often remote areas whence the traveller has brought home surprising ful treasures such as the very fine Muhtla designs, the exquisite "Todi Ragını' from Kulu, the four wonderful pictures from Rajasthan which alone make the book 7 and delight ·worth having the unexpected astrological paintings and the delicate Ladies at a Lotus Pool from the south This book is a sign of India s new and always growing concern for her anonymous mulutudes it takes us back to a day when the artist was not someone isolated a professional but when everybody as in parts of village India even now was or could be an artist A great merit of this book is that it relates the paintings to the traditions and setting of the people who made them Here history sociology and geography meet in a fruitful alliance The architectural wonders of Orissa appear in the pats of Jagannath the ceremonial temper of Banaras is obvious in the paintings on the walls of its houses The art of Rajasthan grew out of a princely warlıke and chnal rous tradition Gujerat businesslike and shrewd is appropriately represented by a Market Scene In a painung from the Buddhist areas of the North Fast Frontier We see the fantastic imagination of a people who live among great mountains and the vast forces of nature In colourful Bengal the artist seems to have sought relief in sober subdued tones in bare and arıd Rajasthan he found contrast in exciting colours The Himalayan painters liked soft powdery shades The Santal pictures are bright and simple well adapted to their purpose to cheer up their little cottages Folk painting depends of course to some extent on the availability of appropriate materials in Uttar Pradesh the smooth whitewashed walls hrve provided a large canvas In the Saora hills of Orissa the walls are washed with a red clay and the paintings therefore are done on this in white and black In Assam how ever the walls of village houses are generally of cane or bamboo so wall painting is not found there instead a tradition of painting on pith came into being an unlikely medium which has most unexpectedly attractive results And there is painting on leather on stiffened newspaper on pottery or cloth It is I think unsound to distinguish too sharply between court and temple art and the art of the folk For the courts of long ago were not like the Royal Enclosure at Ascot, they were homely places where the people loved to come and their atmosphere inspired the village home 7 he temple too was a centre of the peoples interest and even today simple Buddhist temples in north east India little more than huts of bamboo and thatch enshrine carvings and paintings of great beauty and are the centres of dramatic and pictorial creativeness as well some as of religion 3 ·It sometimes happens specially in Orissa that the artist works from inherited blue prints and some of his work is that of a copyist Yet such blue prints help the tradı tion to resist the ravages of time and the original beauty which would otherwise have perished long ago is thus able to survive Since Independence there has been an exciting revival of the creative spirit throughout village India but painting still lags behind the other arts I wonder why this should be so One reason is undoubtedly the lack of patronage and that is why a book of this kind is so important I hope that copies of it will find their way into the villages for it should do much to re create the folk artist s self respect to see his creations reproduced so beautıfully and treated with the honour they deserve Then there is the competition of the cheap oleograph the commercial calendar the gaudy mythological reproduction the political leader in bad print These are not only easy to obtain but they have the false prestige of modernity and the village artist becomes haunted by a sense of inferiority and ceases to create Indeed it is this inferiority complex that is the castrator of the artistic impulse in every field and unless we can encourage the villager to believe in himself the folk arts which cinnot be kept alive by merely artificial stimuli will perish Art teaching where it cxists at all in the village schools tends to be stereotyped and uninspired The dreary examples of jugs and chairs make no appeal to a childs imagination Yet wherever free drawing is allowed and practised good results are obtained and the example of the child artists of Carrolup in Australia and the success of experiments in West Africa have shown that once children are encouraged to draw and paint things they love things that are deep in their tradı tion they can do well I believe that a revival of folk painting is possible The age of commerce the ugly girl of the folk tale will be reborn as something that men wall desire that will give them comfort and happiness This rebirth will be of beauty for which the heart of man craves. Thus the folk paintings in this book are of supreme importance Some are alive with magie Some are the text books of history Some mark the great incidents of life birth growing up death Others prophesy the future or reveal man s dreams of the other world suggest the wonder and possibilities of love and take us to a never never land populated by splendid animals heroic men and lovely girls ·From the North-East dragon painted on wood is a representatic example of Monpa art The theme is a traditional Buddhist onc the dragon in any case, has close resemblance to his next of kin on the other side of the Himalayan barrier A wild mountainous country spread like a giant horse-shoe between the Himalayas to the North and the Brahmaputra Valley to the South - the North East Frontier Agency is the home of at least 25 distinct tribes with considerable divergence of cul ture In Western Kameng the westernmost division of the Agency on the boundaries of Tiber and Bhutan, lose the Monpas gentle, courteous people deeply influenced by Buddhist ideals They culate on ter races, weave colourful carpets paint deli cately on wood and wooden vessels and turn out on ceremonial occasions in picture sque brocade costumes and headgear - 2 Towards the South West across Bhutan arc the districts of Kamrup and Goalpara in Assam and Jalpaigun in North Bengal here the rainfall is copious and natural drainage defectric Recd grows in abun dance in the many shamps and it is left to the natac genius of the Valakars and Solakars' to put it ca god use Thes cante out the solid red or join the different preces cogether to make images maths and toys birds and interesting animal forms Buddhist religious scrolls are fairly com in the Monpa country, and the mon 3

·Monpa Painting on Wood, NEFA
Courtesy Dr Vernier Elwin
They also scoop out the pith to paint on
it gods and goddesses from the Hindu
pantheon, and characters from religious as
well as profane legends - the distinction
berncen the two is not always clear
host of subsidiary characters thrown in
The lines are bold and the colours used on
pith soak into the surface to give it an over
all soft tone which is the special charm of
paintings on pith The demon on pith is
from Manasa-Mangal', so is the angler
whose quaint 'European' headgear the
artist's favourite device to signify an out
landish character
Wanasa Mangal is a favourite theme -
"Wanasa', apparently the deity of the
snakes, 18 the central figure with a whole
6

·Lo
VILNI
Pointing on Puth Goalparo Assoin
Courtesy Asutosh Museum of
Indian Art Calcutta

·A Living Tradition in West Bengal In Bengal, painting as a popular medium of cultural expression developed in compara tive independence from the conventions of 1 temple art, and free from the influences of a royal court In the painted scrolls and 'pats' of rural Bengal we have in fact, one of the few genuine folk traditions surviving down to the present century In the villages of 24 Parganas, Bankura, Birbhum and Burdwan, one still meets the 'patuas'. selling their pats' ----small, squared up illustrations — at village fairs taining the unsophisticated rural audience with their 'jarano-pats', literally, rolled paintings Painted usually on paper of the cheapest variety -- sometimes even on old news papers :- the jarano pars' average twelve to fifteen feet in length and are one or two feer wide Apart from popular mythological stories, the theme sometimes is a condem nation of social injustice, ending with a picturization of hell and of the evil-doer being tortured in retribution The pictures on the scroll are arranged in rectangular panels, one below the other As the scroll is gradually unfolded, the 'patua' sings ex planatory dirties of which he is often the composer Or enter Primary colours - yellow, red and blue - are generally used by the 'patua' some times also green and brown, all laid in flat washes Hot tones are always avoided and 8

·AUT
YUKLE
Playing Cards from
I ushnupur West Bengal
Courtesy Pro D P Ghosh Calcutta.

·ANIMHUNT
सिंहासनाविदिष्यलाहायाजायनवनियिचित्रपनाया
सिविन्नतिरनाईहि सुरिनिजप्रभुरधुराई
WITH
antim
बारिमनिन तमाशारिसिंगरसनीसक्ष्याई॥
यनितासरना धरनेकिनयिमत
जगविकासोनानिमियानी सरनामवीननजानी
From an illustrated Ramayana
manuscnpt, Midnapur, West Bengal
Courtesy Asutosh Museum of
Indian Art, Calcutta

·'A Noblemon and 'Gourango Nityananda'
Two pats' from Kalighai, Calcutta
Courtesy Indian Museum, Colculla
the overall effect is profoundly quiet Somc
of the 'pats', particularly the early Rama
yana rolls, remind us of temple murals in
colour and composition
The classical
Indian modelling quality of the line is
however, absent
centuries were the golden age of the Kali
ghat artist The entire family participated
in the execution of a painting even the
ladies were as dexterous as the men
The line drawing asserts its claims as a
powerful medium of expression in the
works of the folk artists from Kalighat who
originally produced their paintings for
mass sale to prigrims thronging to the
Kalı temple The 18th and the early 19th
The Kalighat patua worked on religious
subjects later antagonized by the grow
ing
influence of the English and French
artists of the day, he made his art a power
ful instrument of saure to mock at 11 estern
ization To compete with cheap prints
imported from Europe and to cater for the
new aristocrats' of 19th century Calcutta,

·1
1
f
1
Rama and Hanuman From an Avatar
scroll Vish wpur Il est Bengal
Courtesy Jogesh Chandra Museum
Bang'ya Sahitya Parisal Vishnupur
hc cten distorted his art and produced some
banalities Lithographs from Germany had
ruined him completely by the turn of the
century
century The illustrations were the work of
Midnapur artists The Krishna Lila is a
modern effort while the Avatar scroll
and the playing cards — representing per
haps a tradition of 1200 years — are from
the Faujdars of Vishnupur — hereditary
artists some of whom are still living and
painting the old way
12
Of the paintings reproduced here one is
from in illuminated Ramayana manus
cript executed towards the end of the 18th

·All
'Kashna and Milkmaid's
Part of a Krishna Lila' scroll,
Midnapur, West Bengal
Courtesy Sn Benoy Chose, Calcutta

·Pats' from Puri
Orissa in Sanskrit is Utkala Desa' ie the
Glorious Country Puri on its south-east
ern shore is 'the City' - abode of Jagan
nath the Lord of the Universe
the obvious choice This would remind him
of the Lord as He stands with His sister
Subhadra and brother Balarama in the
inner sanctum - Garva-Griha' of the
great temple These 'pats' were supplied by
the 'Maharanas', hereditary chitrakaras'
(artists) who lived -- as some of them still
do-close to the temple precincts
To Puri for centuries have ocked devout
Hindus from cvery corner of India The
pilgrim had to take back home a suit
able memento-a Jagannath pat was
14

·som
'A Lady with a Violin
A pat' from Puni, Orissa
Courtesy Prof D P Ghosh, Calcutta

·'Sharaza'- a 'pat from Orissa Courtesy Asutosh Museum of Indian Art, Calcutta A simple Jagannath pat' would perhaps satisfy the majority of the pilgrims The rest would demand something suggestive of the temple arabesque, its architectural splendour and the classic lines of its carved figures To satisfy them the artist had to wed successfully the art of the miniaturist with that of the mural painter This pro bably explains why a ‘pat was often designed in a big way, and yet finished with such decorative splendour 'master prints' Later, as the taste of his patrons grew more catholic, he started making daring experiments tackled secu lar subjects and yet managed to preserve the naiveté of his inspiration, the vivacity of his colours and the peculiarly Orissan exuberance of ornamentation A Lady with a Violin' with the ampli tude of its design indicates that the artist was essentially a muralist The painting was done on newspaper, after giving the surface a white coating and the outlines drawn with brush in ochre and black The For the artist was governed by conven tions and based his paintings on inherited ages 16 ·Vastraharana'a pal from Puri Courtesy Prof D P Ghosh, Calcutta 'Vastraharana on stiffened cloth, is from an artist whose works are remarkable for ineticulous detail and refined lines popular subject he can also be seen frequently on house walls Some of the refinement and the traditional moufs of the pats' from Puri are to be found on the arcular playing cards of Orissa The Sharaja'--a peculiar creature men tioned in the Puranas' is apparently a 17 ·On Mud Walls in Mithila Alithila is roughly the area covered by the districts of Darbhanga and Aluzaffarpur, parts of Monghyr, Bhagalpur and Saharsa, and the four southern districts in the Kingular of Alp Machil'is & asunt literary language and Mithila has an artis tic tradition of its own as represented by the paintings done on mud walls by its village women and milk, and applied with the ‘Pihua', a biush made out of rug or with grass Lamp black is used for dark shading, the sticky core of the wood apple is mixed as a faritener Favourite subjects are various gods and goddesses, besides floral and ornamental patterns and animal forms, executed at the entrance, on the walls of a coridor or of the 'Gosain Ghar' where the family denty is worshipped Festivals like the Chhath', the Chauth Chand ie the fourth day of the Hindu month of Bhadra' (August September) and the Devatthan Ekadası' provide the for the painting There is the 'Aripan' – similar to West Bengal's 'Alpana'- of geometrical and decorative patterns described with a white paste prepared out of finely ground rice But more important is the painting donc on mud walls — in affluent hoines nowa days on brick walls — with homemade colours from cinnabar, orpiment and vegetable matter, mixed with oil, water main occasions But there is hardly anything to surpass the Intricacy and the exuberance of the de 18 ·On the walls of a 'Gosain Ghar From a village in Mithila

·eller
10
طی
A Lowar Dess fon 1 tl la
signs done inside a Kovar - the bridal
chamber at the brides home where the
newly married couple resides for at least
one week and the Purhar- an oil lamp -
is lept burning throughout the day and
might for the entire period Some of the
designs vcre originally meant to interpret
physiological facts and cxecured with
considerable candour
20

·The Art of the Santali and Saoras Painting is not common among the tribal While the Santals paint on a white back people of India, but the Sancals who are ground the Saoras work on walls washed widely scattered among the forests of with a red clay in paints made of white Bengal Bihar and Orissa and the Saoras rice powder or black ash The pictures are who Ire in the beaunful hills of Korapur painted in honour of the dead to avert and Ganjam, build their houses wuh thick disease, and to celebrate certain festivals mud walls which provide a 'canvas for They are especially interesting as being some remarkable wall paintings inspired by dreams and so portraving what the artist has visualised about life here The Santal paintings which reflect the natural vivacity of the tribal spirit are after They are regarded as 'alore', full of magic, and are made for use rather than geometrical done by women and their for display They are not intended to make strangeness makes them unusunlly fascina a house more cheerful in fact it is desir ting They may once have symbolized able that human beings should not look at material objects their purpose today is them they are intended to flatter the gods essentially aesthetic - to make the Santal demons and ghosts who might otherwise cottage a more cheerful place to live in atrack the home This accounts for the or to give it a new look before a wedding crowded character of some of them for or the great festivals of Danga and Sıharai symmetry and balance are less important The special charm of Santal painting lies than the need to include ciery item that in the total absence of self-consciousness in might please the denizens of the other the simplicity of its vision The resultint world They are specially important as the product is perhaps art in its most elemen record of Saora dreams their eschatological tary form and for that very reason replete hopes and fears and the dramatization of with vitality their theological beliefs 21

·PLTE
Adivast l'all Painting
Singhbhuin, Bihar

·The Magic Scroll of the
Jadu.Patua'
The 'Jadu Patuas' or the 'Duarı Patuas'
(*Jadu'-literally magic,
Duarı' those
who wait at the door) are a community
of painters sull found in Midnapur,
Bankura, Birbhum and Manbhum an West
Bengal, and Singhbhum and the Santal
Parganas in Bihar They make a living
by going from village to village inhabited
by the Santals with pictures on long scrolls
of paper, painted nowadays with bazar
colours They show these and tell the
story
23
The scrolls stem from an old tradition of
'Paralaukik-Chitra' ie the picture of a
dead person enjoying earthly comforts in
the world hereafter After a death in a
village home, the Duarı Patua' would
appear with a 'painting' of the deceased
complete in every respect except for the
iris of the eyes The implication was that
the dead person was wandering blindly
in the other world when his eye-sight
could easily be restored for a small consi
deration The dead man's relatives would

·'Baghut Bonga,
Santal 'pat Bihar
Courtesy Dr V'errier Elvin
*

·Digay sa lal pat West Bengal
Courtesy Jogesh Cia dra Mfuscum
Bangria Sal 13n Pariset Vishnupur
provide the potua with a little money or
some articles of daily use for transmission
to the deceased whereupon the patua
would do the Chakshudana je
the sighr by filling in the iris of the eyes
on the paintings.
restore
from life — feasting music and dancing
illustrations of folk lore Santal versions of
Hindu religious legends and sometimes
assumed the levity of comic-strips The
Baghut Bonga depicted here is the Tiger
God of the Santals while the Dongay is
the mixed dancing of the entire village
community after a hunt in which inci
dentally bows and arrows are used - 10
promote greater fertility of the soil
The practice gradually ceased to be so
exclusively funereal the subject list was
expanded to include pleasanter scenes
25

·On House-Walls in Uttar Pradesh Much of the colour of life has today gone from the cities under the impact of a modern industrial civilization But in some of the ancient cities of Uttar Pradesh and beyond them on the roads that link the still unsophisticated townships together some of the old colours and patterns persist and some fail to please but not all can be rejected as the commercial efforts of an urban painter when we consider the reasons for such artistic activity and the code that governs it Take for instance Banaras and its out skirts The walls of the numerous temples dharam shalas (free guest houses for pilgrims) akharas (wrestling arenas) and even many humble homes are gaily painted with what look like huge prints composed in bold lines and filled with vivid colours There is much that is trite Paintings are executed on house-walls to mark a mundan ie the shaving of the head for the first time when the child is five seven or nine months old a marriage an important social celebration or just to welcome an honoured guest The painters are the kumbhars - potters who also make images and painted pottery The idea is to give the home a brighter look and a definite stamp of respectability 26 ·House IVall Paintug Ultar Pradesh in the old days the colours used were made at home nout of course bazar colours are used The preference is for bright colours they are rarely mixed and there is very little shading There are no stencils a preliminary sketch in bare out lines is sometimes drawn with a chalk But the experts of experience paint the images straightaway with the brush their sense of colour and proportions rarely failing them Modern drawings are dis 27 couraged characters from the religious legends predominate There are also foral patterns birds and animals sold ers riding out to battle or on guard duty Even national leaders are allowed occas ccasionally to appear But anything that would depict cheap humour or suggest modern glamour is invariably treated as reflecting poor taste There are minor variations in style according to the social status of the patron and the locality he stays in with years ·On House Walls in Uttar Pradesh Much of the colour of life has today gone and some fail to please but not all can be from the cities under the impact of a rejected as the commercial efforts of an modern industrial civilization But in urban painter when we consider the reasons some of the ancient cities of Uttar Pradesh for such artistic activity and the code that and beyond them on the roads that link the governs it still unsophisticated townships together some of the old colours and patterns persist Paintings are executed on house-walls to mark a mundan ie the shaving of the Take for instance Banaras and its out head for the first time when the child is skirts The walls of the numerous temples five seven or nine months old a marriage dharam shalas (free guest houses for an important social celebration or just to pilgrims) akharas (wrestling arenas) and welcome an honoured guest The painters even many humble homes are gally are the kumbhars - potters who also painted with what look like huge prints make images and painted pottery The composed in bold lines and filled with idea is to give the home a brighter look vivid colours There is much that is trite and a definite stamp of respectabılıty 26

·House IVall Painting
Uttar Pradesh
In the old days the colours used were
made at home now of course bazar
colours are used The preference is for
bright colours they are rarely mixed and
there is very little shading There are no
stencils a preliminary sketch in bare out
lines is sometunes drawn with a chalk But
the experts with years of
experience paint
the images straightaway with the brush
their sense of colour and proportions rarely
failing them Modern' drawings are dis
27
couraged characters from the religious
legends predominate There are also floral
patterns birds and animals soldiers riding
out to battle or on guard duty Even
national leaders are allowed occasionally
to appear But anything that would depict
cheap humour or suggest modern glamour
is invariably treated as reflecting poor
taste There are minor varianons in style
according to the social status of the
patron
and the locality he stays in

·On House Walls in Uttar Pradesh Much of the colour of life has today gone and some fail to please, but not all can be from the cities under the impact of a rejected as the commercial efforts of an modern, industrial civilization But in urban painter when we consider the reasons some of the ancient cities of Uttar Pradesh for such artistic activity, and the code that and beyond them on the roads that link the governs it still unsophisticated townships together, some of the old colours and patterns persist Paintings are executed on house-walls to mark a 'mundan' ie the shaving of the Take for instance Banaras and its out head for the first time when the child is skirts The walls of the numerous temples five, seven or nine months old, a marriage, ‘dharam-shalas' (free guest houses for an important social celebration or just to pilgrims), 'akharas' (wrestling arenas) and welcome an honoured guest The painters even many humble homes are gaily are the kumbhars'--potters who also painted with what look like huge prints make images and painted pottery The composed in bold lines and filled with idea is to give the home a brighter look vivid colours There is much that is trite and a definite stamp of respectability 26

·House IVall Painting
Uttar Pradesh
3
In the old days the colours used were
made at home now of course bazar
colours are used The preference is for
bright colours they are rarely mixed and
there is very little shading There are no
stencils preliminary sketch in bare out
lines as sometimes drawn with a chalk But
the
experts with years of
experience paint
the images straightaway with the brush
their sense of colour and proportions rarely
failing them Modern' dranings are dis
27
couraged characters from the religious
legends predominate There are also floral
patterns birds and animals soldiers riding
out to battle or on guard duty Even
national leaders are allowed occasionally
to appear But anything that would depict
cheap humour or suggest modern glamour
15 invariably treated as reflecting poor
taste There are minor variations in style
according to the social status of the patron,
and the locality he stays in

·The Spirit of the Himalayas The hill states of the Punjab Himalayas now merged in the Himachal Pradesh with Kangra in East Punjab Here with a few exceptions founded by princes of Rajput blood Thirtyeight principalities once flourished in the fertile valleys flanked by high hills thick forests and placid moun tain lakes The area measuring barely two hundred miles in length and one hundred miles in width has yielded about fifty thousand paintings apart from those scat tered by time and irretrievably lost to us tradition of fresco painung which had originally trickled in from the Buddhist monasteries of Western Tibet However the contact with the plains was close and continuous before the Mughals occupied Delhi and the Punjab and cut the hill potentares off from their hinsmen in Rajasthan The affinities between primi tive Rajasthan paintings and early Basohlı (one of the states) art confirm this close relationship Painting in the Punjab Himalayas is often regarded as an offshoot of the art that deve loped on the plains which is not wholly correct There was for instance a local When the Mughal power began to disinte grate in the middle of the 18th century people started trekking out from Delhi and the surrounding areas for the provincial centres Among them were merchants 28

·FLINE
Tod Rag ni Arla
Courtesy Patronal fuscum
of Indo Ter Delhi

·'lVomen Flying Kites', Kulu
Courtesy National Museum
of India, New Delhi.
Tag
craftsmen and artists, interested in the were artists who painted for the delight of
peaceful pursuit of their avocations. Many the common people. The Kulu Valley, for
went to the Punjab Hill States where they instance, in addition to its sophisticated
were well received by the rulers.
and refined art, developed a folk style
in which the colouring was simple and
'Pahari' painting thus developed rapidly, soft, contrasts few and the overall effect
aided by the fine workmanship of the very pleasing. Mandi too had a strong
refugee artists from the Mughal capital. At folk tradition.
its peak at the end of the 18th
century,
it
was undeniably a princely art. Yet there The ‘Pahari' painter drew his inspiration
30

·Part of a scroll Aulu
Courlesy Bharat hala
Bhatan Banaras
from the Hindu epics religious legends as Ragını and Women Flying Kites reveal
well as popular folk stories -- as much as the lyrical grace and the delicate senti
his counterpart on the plains His punting ments of thc Paharı irtist and his abanı
however was characterized by a sensitive dlon in the portrayal of women The scroll
appreciation of the sub-Himulayan land also from hulu tells us about the wars
scape and the flowering ind romantic and exploits of 1 hill chieftain It takes us
countryside
to a dreamland pxopted by the distinct
ethnic type of Kulu with their short stature
of the paintings reproduced here Toda bright fair faces and colourful costumes
31

·In Romantic Rajasthan
They fought innumerable wars in ancient
Rajasthan often amongst themselves to
establish their little kingdoms later to
hold their own against external aggressors
Two essentially feudal qualities emerged
from this constant participation in war
fare -- chivalry and a deep regard (or the
honour of the clan These coupled with
the tender feelings of the soldier for the
sweetheart he had left behind at home
were the favourite themes of the bards of
Rajasthan and perennial sources of ins
piration to the Rajasthani artist
was the great Vaishnava revival of the 15th
century which appealed to prince and
peasant alike and proclaimed that the path
to salvation lay in the worship of Krishna
Episodes from the life of the blue God
particularly His amours with the milk
maids proved to be a powerful inspiration
for a great deal of artistic activity
Painting in Rajasthan developed in three
phases The parent style was that of the
illuminated Jain manuscripts of the 14th
and 15th century from geographically
contiguous Gujerat The local genius of
Rajasthan developed when the Mughal
32
At another level yet no less important

·"Rāsa Mandala , Afartar, Rajasthan
Courtesy National Aluseum of India,
New Delhi

·'Krishma Eating Forest Fuc, Vertar Rajasthan Courtesy Prince of Tales Museum of li estern Indiu Bombay the Mughal power started disintegrating in the second half of the 18th century to create a new Rajasthanı art which conti nued in full vigour for about seventyfive years until progressive attrition set in under the impact of a modern age school of painting came into contact with the parent Gujerati style at the end of the 16th century Yet in a way this 17th century Rajasthanı art was the pictorial analogue of the contemporary Brajabhasa poetry with its fervent devotion for Krishna The composition was simple and the treatment less sophisticated than that in Mughal paintings In another hundred years as the Rajas thanı princes became the satellites of the Mughals the Mughal style swamped that of Rajasthan which almost became a pro vincial variety of the imperial school The indigenous ideals reasserted themselves as 34 Painting in Rajasthan developed primarily under feudal patronage But there were also many anonymous painters who paint ed for a distinctly plebeian clientele and as the late 17th and 18th century examples reproduced here will indicate some of the output based on folk tradı tions and inspired by folk ballads was indeed fascinating

·16
Rama and his brothers playing
Ci angaan (Polo) Bikaner Rajasil an
Courtesy Matronal Museum of India
Tew Delhi

·मन्याउत्तारदारना
'Setu Band, Mewar, Rajasthan
Courtesy Bharat Kala Bhatan, Banaras

·From Western India In Gujerat the Jain community played a very important role in the development of art including painting The tradition that had grown up over the ages in Gujerat vas that the nobility and the moneyed classes should establish libraries -- Jun Gydna Bhindars (literally storehouses of know ledge) — which they did in large numbers They also commissioned artists to produce illuminated versions of the Jain sacred texts for these libraries on palm leaf paper or cloth and bound occasionally with wood en covers Even these manuscript covers were works of exquisite draftsmanship texts equally well and even cxtended to secular compositions A cultured and afflur ent iniddle-class which flourished on com merce gradually took over the patronage of are from the nobility The quality of the pictorial idiom krs probibl lowered as the new emphasis *75 on narrative skill and fluent cxecution Yet the earlier decortve tradition was not thrown overboard and from the time of Albar ons ud as forcign motifs started flowing in the trend was towards a harmonious blending of Indian and alien elements This mediaeval idiom of manuscript illus tration served Jain and Hindu religious 37 Apart from commissioned works paint ings were produced for a popular market Some of these rcffected the life of the ·A Procession Part of a Il estern Indian scroll Courtesy National Afuseum of India New Delhi ordinary people who crowded to the many of old pomp and pageantry But the centres of pilgrimage in Gujerat offered Market Scene in its sconography and glimpses into domestic interiors and atmosphere represents contemporary interesting commentaries on dress and Gujerat as seen by an ordinary artist who living habits The reproductions here are had incidentally, retained the old pen of early 19th century items The Royal chant for decorative borders and brilliant Procession is a rather nostalgic recollection colour schemes 38

·LEN
A Market Scene Part of
a II estern Indian scrol!
Courtesy National Museum
of India Ner Dell :

·II all Pannlig Saurashtra Shilawat' of Saurashtra Sihore an ancient and picturesque city in Probably there were a few witnesses Saurashtra was once the chief city of the certainly some local artists who saw the rulers of Bhavnagar State now merged in feudal levies and mercenaries march out Gujerat Or else aided by local raconteurs and a The Bhavnagar rulers often fought with lively imagination they were able to record the hathi Chieftains of Chital Tana and their impressions of all the fuss created Patna in the years 1793 96 AD The skır over sporadic warfares on the walls of the inishes between feudal overlords and re Darbargadh —the old palace at Sihorecalcitrant feudatories were not fought over in the early 19th century noble principles nor did they produce any saga of heroism They executed the frescos with vigour 40

·EMZA
günch
Il'all Painting Saurashtra
coscring large areas in vivid water colours,
painting the rulers, soldiers and politi
cians with a keen eye for detail. and
for varying moods and
tempos Their
indigenous style of painting was known as
the 'Shilawat' style and was once popular
throughout Saurashtra
and Dwarka, Junagadh and Palitanı, on
the walls of old residential l»uildings and
cien on mud walls, onc comes acroxs huge
paintings on mythological subjects and
particularly the Krishna legends, executed
in bright colours and some of the old lines
The walls of thc hillochs near Palitana also
provided the rural artists with a free and
wide canvas. to paint on mythological
themes and to record their impressions of
village liſc
The frescos do not exist any more cien in
bare outline, except as replicas on some old
playing cards But even today. in Jamnagar

·Art in Astrology An astrological chart has always been considered an important document in India Though drawn up at the time of its subject s birth it is supposed to outline his career with biographical fidelity And in the old days it was not only an elaborate forecast but for those who could alford it -- a work of art as for example in Maharashtra Maharashtra Kumbha is Aquarius the eleventh sign of the Zodiac hanya is Virgo the sixth sign The paintings indicate a highly developed rural culture and a typically Marathe way of handling the brush Some of the human types in the illustrations were so representative of the times that a fully laid out astrological chart could be considered an interesting social document Written and illustrated on handmade paper the illuminated horoscope was a substantial volume with the text in Sans knit The sun the moon the major planets and the signs of the Zodiac were depicted on the chart strictly as described in the Jyotish-Shastras -- authoritative astrologi cal texts This form of painting became extinct about a hundred and fifty years ago and the few extant examples Tre with private collectors and ancient families Thev are incidentally the works of un known astrologers and artists who gave all their thoughts to their clients and to the work at hand, and did not even bother to leave their own names anywhere on the charts The reproductions here are from late 16th century examples from Satara 42

·সাবাশৰিাথছিঠি৷
Kumbha' Astrological Painting Deccan
Courtesy STD G Kelkar Poona

·अथेचननावोपरिष्टि
पा
AWALI
Kanya Astrological Paint ng Deccan
Courtesy SMDG Kelkar Poona

·LUN
Saraswaty' Pratisthana Painting
Godavarı Plateau Deccan
Courlesy Sri D G Kelkar Poona
Paintings of Pratisthana
now
Paithan an obscure township in
became famous for its savants whose
Marathawada on the Godavarı plateau opinion the Maratha Peshuvas of the
was once "Pratisthana — the imperial capı 18th century sought and valued on intri
tal of the Satavahanas who ruled in the
cate social questions
post Mauryan period until the end of the
2nd century AD We never hear of Pratis Paithan in the 17th century was also the
thana as a great capital afterwards It home of a peculiar folk style of painting
was however a pilgrim centre of some with remarkable originality and boldness
importance and centuries later Parthan of brush work It is difficult to speak with
45

·ܓ ܝܝܚܢܫܝ ܝܢܣܝܚܚܚܗܢܐ
An Episode from the Mahabharata
Pratisthana Painting Godavari
Plateau Deccan
Courtesy Sri D G Kelkar Poona
any degree of accuracy on the point but ing indicate a kinship with not too distant
the paintngs very likely originated as Ellora
mementos for pilgrims returning home
from Paithan
The subjects treated were from Hindu reli
grous legends and the epics though once
The style in any case is a fusion of the art in a while the Paithan artist would depict
of the miniaturist with that of the temple village belles attending to their daily
muralist and the angularities of the draw chores and other scenes from village life
46

·Episodes from Anusinas Life
Fro 1 a So 11 ct 1 scroll
Courtesy Nal onal Muset me
of India Netr Dell :
A Southern Synthesis
At the zenith of their power the Marathas Poona They produced many paintings -
marched into Delhi in the middle of the Maratha in costume and to some extent
18th century Nearly the whole of North
in iconography but Rajasthani in overall
Western India and the entire Deccan to character
its southernmost point came under their
domination
The state of affairs however was different
south of the Vindhyas There was a dis
The warriors had little artistic tradition tinct tradition of Islamic painting in the
of their own Their requirements were Deccan ---a product of luxury and ease
met by paintings produced in Rajasthan developed under the Deccan Sultanates
for export to the Maratha states later Mughal painting influenced Deccanı paint
there was even a migration of Rajasthani ing in its later phases By the end of
artists to Gwalior Indore Baroda and
the 17th century when the Rajput forces
47

·Lodes testh p tchers al « lotus pool
From a Sor thern scroll
Courlesy National Mi set n of I da
Vew Delh
sojourned in the Deccan with the army geneous features and it was not surprising
of Aurangzeb there was a further fusion that even in folk paintings of the period
-of Rajasthani Vlughal and Deccanı done at points as far apart as Tanjore and
traditions
Kurnool some of these features should be
noticeable What the folk painter did
Something like a Maratha school develop retain were the simplicity of idiom and
ed below the Vindhyas with very hetero narrative skill
48

·'Indrajır' Parting on leather, Andhra From Ramamourtly's Art School Collcchion From the Far South ed powders, have some of the vitality of folk paintings The South had a tradition of temple murals executed by great rulers, of paintings in 'Bhajanalayas' meticulously finished and embellished with precious stones — but lery little folk painting to call its own Paintings of gods and goddesses on the small shrines of Tamilnad and on temple floors in Kerala, done actually with colour- Bur the fac leather cut-outs used for shadow.plays in Andhra and Mysore arc gorgeously painted affairs of exquisite craftsmanship Thc simple themes of the shadow-play, from the cpics, have delighted the masses for centuries.

·Furst Printed 1962 from the collection of
colour transparencles made by The Tropensat
Tobacco Company of India Limited
for their desk calendar tor 1959
INTER-NATIONAL CULTURAL CENTRE
16 Harley Road New Delhi
Printed by The Eagle Lithographing
Catapang Private Limited 26B Christopher
Road Calcutta 46