Ramayana in Pahari Miniature Painting

Author(s): Jutta Jain
Publisher: L D Indology Ahmedabad

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The Rāmāyana In Pahari Miniature Painting
of the Kangra style are small wall-paintings in comparison to Moghul miniatures. 35 Also Archer considers this view and mentions that "murals in the Punjab Hills are in general, only slightly enlarged miniatures". But he also points out that there are no parallel examples for such a case 36. Within the lot of Pahari paintings there are quite a few examples of large size which are by no means connected with the idea of wall-painting. A statement which tries to refute J. C. French is that the leaves of the Siege of Lanka' series are very carefully drawn and finely executed. This would not have been the case, if they were mere models for wall-paintings.
The number of colours used in this series is limited; however, the painter did attain, with the use of only yellow, blue, green and a bit of red and white, a highly decorative effect in using shining and rather strong colours - and in their purest form and not in mixtures. In all earlier miniatures from the Pahari region this kind of colour-scheme is generally prevalent, especially in areas like Basohli, Kulu, Arki and early Guler. Another characteristic feature is the use of wide and extensive areas in one coiour only, which dominates the picture. In this series an obvious preference for the warm, satiated yellow (called peori) can be discerned. It can be marked especially in early Basohli and Kulu paintings, for example the Rāmāyana of ca. 1720 and the Shangri Rāmāyana. This bright yellow colour is made from cow-urine by feeding with mango-leaves.37 In the so-called Shangri Rāmāyana from Kulu which is about a quarter of a century older than the Rāmāyana dealt with here, this peculiar yellow is more profusely in use. This Rāmāyana series derived its name from the village of Shangri in the Kulu valley, the seat of the royal family of Kulu in the 19th century. 38 This series which contained about 270 illustrations is one of the earliest documents of Kulu paintings and therefore of great importance. The style of these miniatures is wild, the colours powerful and provoking, the shining yellow or deep-red dominates as the background in nearly each leaf. The audaciousness with which the birth of the monkey-heroes from the goddesses is depicted (ill. 47 ) is a sign of the strong perception and brazen sense of creativity with which the painter or painters were equipped with. Liveliness and natural activity continued to be depicted in the following century in Kulu paintings, as seen in illustration no. 49 "Hanumān in Asoka grove' of Lankä palace observing girls in a dance. In its soft atmosphere this picture comes
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