Ramayana in Pahari Miniature Painting

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

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The Rāmāyaṇa In Pahari Miniature Painting
Another characteristic feature in this series is the ocean in front of the walls of Lankā. The lower rim of the picture is filled with the waves of the sea in which fish and other (in some cases rather monstrous and peculiar ) water-animals are swimming.
In this paragraph some details of the 17 drawings of this series in the Prince of Wales Museum (Bombay) will be described. These drawings were acquired for the Museum in the year 1934 by the then director, late Dr. Motichandra, who also wrote the brief entries for the internal museum catalogue. The drawings are done in black ink with a fine brush. Some lines have been drawn a second time with a more dry brush and more ink to stress some specific parts or to loosen up the amount of similar objects, as the hoard of monkeys or warriors in the battle would be. These drawings represent the first sketches for the miniatures which were to be coloured later. The straightforward, but still swinging and powerful delineation, the firm sketching of the architectural buildings, the thoughtful traits and expressions in the faces which are already remarkable in these sketches, even more so in the finished miniatures, seem to be creations of a master-hand. Since early times it has been the task of the master-painter to sketch the first outline. His ideas created the draft, for on this the outcome of a miniature depended. The disciples and assistants got the opportunity to fill in the ground-areas with colour, to draw the landscape, the background and minor details.
K. Khandalawala too, mentions that these drawings in the Prince of Wales Museum resemble the 'Siege of Lankā' series in style and that the numerous leaves of this whole series are distributed all over various museums. He is rather uncompromising in appointing the date and evaluating the artistic merits of this series. He writes : "I cannot conceive of this series being painted before 1750 A.D. and in fact it may belong to even the last quarter of 18th century. ... Their bodies are wooden and their faces are heavy and lacking expression." 43
In many leaves of this series the figures seem to be breathing liveliness and energy, which is as much felt in the earlier series of the 'Shangri Rāmāyaṇa', the Gita Govinda and the Rāmāyana of ca. 1720 series. In the later centuries the natural appearances of the figures in their settings has been partly lost. Some fourteen
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