Art of Legend India: Art, Paintings, Handicrafts, Jewelry, Beads, Handmade Items

Handicrafts

Handicrafts are devices or works of art that are made completely by hand or by the use of relatively simple tools. Such goods are usually made in the traditional way of manufacturing goods. Therefore, the knowledge of the art of craft is usually passed down from one generation to another. The items made using these traditional methods of manufacturing are usually produced in smaller quantities and they often represent the culture or religious beliefs of the community that makes them. The goods are also handmade from natural materials that are found in the environment of the particular economy.

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Paintings

A painting is equal to thousand words, means a beautiful painting is equal to million of words. Paintings are one of the oldest art forms -- throughout history artists have played an important role in documenting social movements, spiritual beliefs and general life and culture.

History Of Paintings: The history of painting reaches back in time to artifacts from...

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Folio from a Manuscript of the Satsai of Bihari Lal: Krishna Talks to Radha's Maidservant

Posted by Art Of Legend India [dot] Com On 12:21 AM 0 comments

This painting depicts Krishna seated in a palace courtyard talking to a handmaid of Radha, who is shown beyond them in a bedchamber. Behind Krishna is a room with a large brass pot heating over a fire. A label in the upper border identifies the scene as "Upapati! Paramour! no. 194," and the text on the reverse of the painting (see Appendix) describes the demure eye contact of the divine lovers and mentions the fire in both the hearth and Krishna's heart.

The painting is thought to illustrate a passage from the Satsai (Seven hundred I verses!), one of the four great jewels of Hindi literature. Intriguingly, however, the inscribed verse does not correspond to the one given in the standard edition of the Satsai, which varies from other known versions of the text in the number and content of the verses (Holland, PP- 4-5).

The standard Salsa; consists 01 713 poetic verses, primarily in celebration of the romance of Radha and Krishna. The remaining verses describe nayakas and nayikas and the romantic sentiments associated with the six seasons of the Indian climate (sec no. 30). It was written by Bihari Lal Chaube (1595-1664), who was born in Govindpur, near Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh, into the mixed caste of Rays, which also produced several other well-known Hindi poets (Randhawa 1966, p. 15). As a child Bihari Lal moved with his family to Orchha and later to Mathura. It was in the latter city that Bihari Lal must have learnt "Braj-Bhasha," the dialect of Hindi in which the Satsai is written and which was current around Mathura, the homeland of Krishna, and was frequently used for the deity's devotional poetry and song lyrics. Bihari Lal enjoyed a profitable tenure at the court of Amber under jai Singh I (r. 1625-67), for whom the Satsai was reportedly composed in 1662 (Grierson, pp. 4-5; and Leach, p. 271). Illustrations of the Satsai were particularly popular in Pahari painting, especially in Kangra during the reign of Sansar Chand (r. 1775-1823), under whose lavish patronage this work was produced.

Stylistically, this painting is a good example of the refined almost overly so expression found in Kangra painting. The soft palette and delicate ambience are the hallmark of the realm's workshops and are particularly adept at conveying the romantic connotations of the popular theme of love.

Writer Name: - Pratapaditya Pal

Heroine Braving a Stormy Night to Meet Her Lover

Posted by Art Of Legend India [dot] Com On 12:06 AM 0 comments

The heroine of this painting represents the type who braves a fierce night storm in order to keep her rendezvous with her lover (abhisarika). Steadfast in her determination and quest, the heroine is heedless of the danger of the raging storm's lightning and blinding rain. She ignores the cobras slithering by her feet as well as the loss of gold ornaments in her haste. Indeed, her ardor burns like an ascetic's penanc9 In the Rasikapriya, Kesavadas tells of the wives of the goblins of the forest commonly represented in paintings of this type but oddly absent here who ask the heroine, "Whence have you learnt this yoga? Oh Abhisarika, how marvellous this trysting!". The imagery of the impetuous heroine in theft storm was the most popular of all the nayikas to be portrayed in the painting of the Panjab Hills. It is conceptually related to the theme of Sohni braving the river's raging currents to meet her lover Mahinwal.

A mixture of styles is present in this painting. The figure follows Garhwal conventions and, in fact, is based on earlier Garhwal nayikas from about 1770-8o. In contrast, the landscape and sky are more akin to Kulu pictorial traditions in their treatment and palette. This stylistic plurality apparently caused even a leading scholar of Pahari painting, Karl Khandalavala, to attribute it to an "unidentified" workshop. Pigment analysis and a technical examination support a date in the early nineteenth century for the painting, so the possibility of a modern stylistic pastiche can be ruled out.

The most likely solution to the question of the painting's origin, suggested by Roy Craven (personal communication) and followed here, is that it was executed by the well-known poet and painter of Garhwal, Mola Ram, whose literary skills are generally considered to have exceeded his pictorial ones. Indeed, certain details, such as the distinctive earring, exaggerated curve of the bangles, treatment of the storm clouds, and the lackluster draftsmanship of the figure, all accord with Mola Ram's known works.

Writer Name:- Pratapaditya Pal