Krishna declaring the end of Mahabharata War by blowing the Conch Shell

Krishna declaring the end of Mahabharata War by blowing the Conch Shell

Folio from an illustrated manuscript of RazmNama, a Persian translation of Mahabharata

Mughal, Dated – 1598 AD, Period of Akbar

Painting Sise – 17 x 27 cm.



The selected painting is part of Razmnama which was commissioned in the court of Shen Shah Akbar by Badouni illustrating the great Indian Hindu epic Mahabharata. Mughal Emperor Akbar had keen interest in all religion, so the artist was once again asked to illustrate Ramayana, which is another great epic of Hindu religion. The emperor desired to minimize the hatred of Muslims for Hindus and believing it to arise from mutual ignorance, ordained that certain Hindu text should be translated into Persian.




The compilation of different episodes of Mahabharata is known as Razmnama, which was probably completed in 1588 but illustrated copies, including the great folios are now in the palace library at Jaipur, was not completed before 1595. The Razmanama is divided into four separate volumes and illustrated with 168 miniatures. Prepared between 1583/4 and 1588 AD these 344 illustrations definitely occupy a very important place in history and development of Mughal painting.



During this period local Hindu artists were working for the Mughal courts which had their own schools of paintings nourished over the years by Persian artists. It was a great dilemma for the local Hindu artist to work under such circumstances although they were well aware of these great epics. The Court paintings portrayed characters and nature in more heroic and royal style as against the traditional style which was more calm and softer in appearance.





In this scene Krishna is shown as the main character of the painting as he his blowing the conch shell to announce the end of the war between the Kaurava’s and Pandavas. While he blows the conch the five Pandavas are depicted more in supportive stature next to him and the kauravas are lying on ground as if highlighting the victory of good over the bad after a long episode of warfare. The painting also includes supportive intervention of the three main terrestrial gods/deities, i.e. Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva as per Hindu mythology. Moreover the scene reminds us of its importance along with the Krishna’s heroic and royal portraiture which was common in these illustrations. Here Krishna is no longer the romantic lover of Radha or a mischievous guy playing with cowherd females but a well groomed youth of Mughal tradition with vigor of Rajput noble. This picture has a lyrical splendor, a certain wild elation quite distinct from previous Indian paintings which did provide finer insights about facial features, clothes, beauty of the nature.



The scene is portrays Krishna’s life after he has left his cowherd. There is no attempt to stress his romantic qualities or to present him as a lover. He appears rather as the great fighter, the slayer of demons. Such a portrayal is what we might perhaps expect from a Mughal edition. The paintings are remarkable interpretations, investing Krishna with an air of effortless composure, and exalting his princely grace. The style is notable for its use of smoothly flowing outline and gentle shading. Light hues of blue are very mildly used to express the sky along with the three deities from heaven. Features like the tree, a hint of the mountain with 3 smooth strokes on the right corner along with the water body with swans in left corner explains the location of the scene. Although they are include as part of the painting as supportive elements they do not distract the viewer from noticing Krishna in the very first attempt.



As it was common to write about the painting in the Mughal court the bottom space does include few texts which is written in Urdu / Persian which simply asserts the origin of the folio.



Reference Reading

1. Mughal & Rajput Painting. Part 1. Volume 3. by Milo Cleveland Beach

2. Hindu Art by T Richard Blurton

3. Indian Miniature Paintings by Anjan Chakraverty

4. Cultural History of India by Om Prakash

Portrait of Radha

Portrait of Radha


Kishan Gargh Darbar, Rajasthan

Early Circa 1760 AD



Late 17th - 18th century has seen the rise of miniature paintings in India, wherein Rajasthan is one such location which produced variety of them. Under the Marwar School of paintings Kishangarh style evolved and flourished under the patronage of Raja Man Singh in late 17th Century. Kishangarh was founded by the 8th son of Raja Udai Singh of the Rathore dynasty of Jodhpur state in 1609 which was very close to Ajmer. The rulers were closely connected with the Mughal Court and adopted similar style of sophisticated living with rich taste in art, poetry and culture. While Mughal Courts were encouraging miniature paintings under the auspice of talented Persian artists, local rulers continued to practice in traditional style of miniature paintings which evolved from Rajput paintings.

Generations after generations the family adopted the cult of Krishna as a way of life which in the later years greatly impacted the life and mind of Raja Savant Singh. He was very much influenced by his father’s dedication towards art & eventually followed the path of cultivating a great taste for poetry early in his life. He contributed significantly in expanding the volume of poetry dedicated to Krishna bhakti.

Around 1750, new trends evolved for depicting the love and affection of Radha & Krishna in the new form and the credit for revolutionizing this traditional cult goes to royal coutier & artist Mordhavaj Nihal Chand. It is being commonly said that his paintings of Radha and Krishna were synonymous representation for the love life of Vanithani and Nagri Dass during 1735 to 1738. It is also said that she was a singer and poetess herself so maybe she influenced him by her impact.
These paintings definitely have a distinct style of their own because of which they can be categories under Kishangarh style. This portrait painting of Vanithani represents and defines clearly the unique style, pattern and order of these paintings. Similar to miniature paintings tradition, there is no lack of emphasis in portraying all the necessary details required to describe the beauty of gorgeous Vanithani. Features like sharp eyebrows, pointed eyes like a deer, transparent odhni or the veil behind which the black hair can be see properly, the kundan jewellary, the bangles, the heena in her palm and the tip of the fingers and finally the two flowers in her hand just provide enough evident signs to define the charm and elegance of a beautiful women. The painting is more of an idealized state of appearance of a woman, but we can be sure enough to associate these resemblances with poetess Vanithani.

This painting from Kishnagarh although distinctly differs in style from Mughal court paintings, but both of them share a common element of thought. The artist practically assembles all the idealistic entities from human life to nature to define ‘beauty’ or to define beautiful painting but lack in providing any depth to the scene. The overall composition and representation just limits itself within the set parametric guidelines which does not include and three dimensional depths to the composition. The viewer is not attracted towards the realism of the painting but towards the finesse in sharp features, like eyes, eyebrows, kajal, etc. The interest is generated purely for attention provide by the artist in delivering the factual information along with a brilliant choice of pastel colours.

Reference Reading
1. Splendour of Rajasthani Painting by Jai Singh Neeraj
2. A History of Indian Painting – The Modern Period by Krishna Chaitanya

Radha & Krishna in the Grove - Kangra Painting, Himachal

Radha & Krishna in the Grove

Time Frame: Circa 1780 AD
 
Pahari Kangra Painting
 
Victoria & Albert Museum, London

Pahari Paintings are one of the fascinating Schools of painting which evolved in the Northern or North Eastern zones of India whereas Pahari literally derives itself from the word Pahar(in Hindi), i.e. of the hill or from the hill. So paintings which were done during the late 18^th century in regions like Garhwal, Kullu, Basholi, Kangra, Jammu, even in Punjab are commonly assembled under this school, although it’s essential to notice that each zone had some or the other distinct feature of its own as per the artist choice of subject, keens towards overall details, as demanded by the local ruler, etc.

Pahari paintings flourished under the local rulers who served at the Mughal Court. While Mughal court practiced and promoted miniature paintings through the vision of Persian artist at that time, Pahari Paintings continued to holds its strength over the hills. The strategic location of the Kangra fort and the power of the local rulers of the hill were well known by the then Mughal emperor, who took no chances to disrupt the balance in their political relationship.

The majority of the local kings were Hindus with more or less homogeneous group as they were matrimonially related to each other. Among these Hill states Kangra was the oldest and biggest centre for the importance of the fort, political power and rich land with historical records. During the ruling period of Sansar Chand II in 1775 (when he was just 10 yrs old) onwards, the history of Kangra witnessed remarkable prosperity and growth. He was a great builder who laid gardens, fond of drawings and had employed many local artists. His keen interest in art  is clear enough in his large collection of paintings with themes mostly religious from Krishan’s life from Mahabharat or Ramayan. There were portraits of neighbouring rulers also. The most famous Gita-Govind series is painted in Guler-Kangra style, which was most probably presented as part of the dowry given to the Garhwal prince.

The selected painting belongs to the Gita-Govind series, which narrated themes or stories of love of Radha and Krishna along with backdrops of nature, animals, flowing water, etc. It’s quite amazing to observe this painting as it captures the essence of love in the very moment with its blissful depiction of Radha in the arms of Krishan. The scene expresses pure charm of love to the viewer through the flowers, branches of the tree, the swans, the tree itself and the lotuses in the flowing water. At first the calm and charming look at Krishna’s face attracts attention which then flows towards Radha who seems to have surrendered herself to her lover. The beauty of Radha has been embraced with flowing curves of her delicate body which synonymously affects the form of the tree along with its branches. The choice of colours and supporting elements of the painting adds pure delight to the common theme of the painting. The elegance of the paintings just doesn’t rely on the two main characters, but also on the effort that has been taken to depict the beauty in nature which is usually left unobserved. The idea of setting the theme amongst nature adds attention to the idea of love which is common around for all creatures. There couldn’t have been more similarities to express this pure magic called love………

Paintings with similar themes were becoming common and were also done in and around Pahari region, i.e in Kishnagrh, Basholi, etc. In these regions, the local artists were following techniques learnt over the years from Indian Miniature paintings done in Rajput courts, although Persian artists had arrived by now in the Mughal court. As compared to Mughal court paintings, Pahari Kangra paintings worked around religious themes, with love stories of Radha & Krishna set against the backdrop of natural beauty as it was common of these artists due to there stationed location in Pahar. The beauty of the hills, the freshness of air, the peace of chirping birds, the elegance of flowing water streams, etc did effect the taste of the artist to depict all the beauty around them in the valley. Although the paintings are beautiful with real and non realistic elements but still they succeed in fulfilling the desire of the viewer.