The present article is a comparative analysis and an elaborate study of eighteenth century Ragamala paintings from Kangra ( Pahari-Rajput) and Bundi (Rajasthan-Rajput) schools of Rajput art. The following inquiry is ensconce by considering painting of Raga Vasanta, that provides a consistent representation of the theme along with the contrary characteristic features and the definite style of the respective schools.
Rajput paintings are characteristic of the area under the rule of Rajput, the fighting and chivalric class, who kept Hindu civilization alive in the northern India during the centuries of Muhammadan rule.*1 Warrior lovers, the Rajput lived in their fortified abodes in peacetime dedicating themselves to amorous delights, poetry and art. The new Rajput school of illumination and paintings began to develop from the establishment of Sisodiya Hindu dynasty in Udaipur. The Rajput school dominated the whole of Rajputana (modern Rajasthan) and the Punjab hills.
The development of Rajput paintings appear more precisely from the seventeenth to nineteenth century.With the accession of religious fanatic Emperor Aurangzeb (1658-1707 CE) to the Mughal throne of India, the development of art seemed to reach a stage of stagnation.He declared that art and their patronage to be decadent, reduced the imperial ateliers and turned away the court artists. The artist with no other alternative fled to the courts of obscure Rajas in the Punjab hills and to the great Maharajas of Rajasthan for their subsistence. The Rajput kings who were great patrons of art did give them refuge and appreciation where as the migrated artist of the Mughal court harmoniously blended themselves with the Rajput style. They contributed an academic tradition and standard of technical skill. The Mughal examples were everywhere in the plain and constituted a role model for the newly developing Rajput schools of llumination.
The Rajput paintings of the period formed a definite as those of the sonnet or the novel. Their most striking characteristics were the symbolism and rhythm. The gestures were the means of expression and color combination an element of composition*2. The Rajput paintings paid more attention to the psychological illustrations of the subject than the meticulous reproduction of the actual form, with a penetration that, in some cases, verges on caricature. The Rajput paintings greatly concerned the techniques adopted and its symbolic and aesthetic consequences.
Technically, the surface of the paper or more rarely hemp or cotton canvas was primed by the application of a thin film of glue derived from the gum of the plants. The artist then traced the red in lines of the drawings from which he had prepared in numerous trails and sketches. Corrections were made in the oily black and the whole design was fixed with the same adhesive liquid. The paints were prepared by the artists in the workshop, sometimes using secret recipes by making use of the material like minerals, plant, or animal origin diluted in the fixative. The splendid blue of Rajput painting was made out of ground lapis-lazuli, while the crimson was produced from the dried bodies of woodworm. Gold and silver leaves were applied with an adhesive substance. When necessary, the drawing underneath was retraced to make it standout more strongly. Colors in the Rajput school including Kangra and Bundi constitute an important factor in conveying to the observer, the fleeting psychological mood of the subject, of a portrait or the atmosphere of the scene depicted. The colors conveyed an essential message Rasa or emotion which produces a psychological sensation Bhava or feelings in the observer. The outlines generally drawn in red showed no variations and was regarded an immutable characteristic of Rajput style.
The pattern and representation in the Ragamala paintings differed according to the region they came from. There were many schools of Rajput painting, all having their own particular distinctive style and features. It was however Kangra School in the Punjab hills which seemed to surmount the others by its excellence at par. The early Kangra painting started in the reign of Ghamand Chand and reached its zenith under Sansar Chand. Of all the Rajput schools, Kangra certainly is the best known and its paintings most sensuous and ecstatic representation of Pahari tradition. The Kangra school distinguished itself by vivid use of color and the insertion of slender human figures in a landscape made up of minute elements, tall and almost bare trees, small houses at the distance, robust lines and attenuated by a hint of shading, in which the gentle landscape is used to frame amorous moonlit scenes.
In the same period another school developed in contrarily to this style and became very popular was Bundi school of Rajput painting in Rajasthan. Bundi School more profoundly followed the style inaugurated over a half century before in Mewar. However, the first evidence of Bundi painting is found in the reign of the Rajput ruler Chattar Sal and reached its apex under the rule of the Hara family. Besides the iconography and composition Bundi paintings displayed a unique style of representation of nature in its real state. Natural forms such as tree, rocks, ponds, animals received more freehand treatment than earlier formulized architectural and figurative forms. The backgrounds in these paintings possessed a lush exuberance with a predominant use of orange and green color. The school did adopt some of the Mughal stylistic features like glossy pallor, dense herbage, and hair like grassy and shadowy outlines, making the Bundi style a genre of exotic excellence.
The paintings in the Kangara and Bundi school were based on diverse themes and subjects.Towards, the beginning of the seventeenth century there grew up in India, a type of paintings known as Ragamala or ‘Garland of Music’, for which no parallel exists in the world. These paintings served to illustrate a particular form of poetry - a form that aimed less at poetic description than at rendering the mood and sentiment behind the traditional forms of Indian music. Through the verbal imagery of a poem, the musical form was given a more precise expression and the pictures made were attempted to make these poetic interpretations clearer. They became most popular and favorite theme in Rajput paintings.
The Ragamala illustrations were an attempt to express the meaning of music through the medium of pictorial art. The sensation suggested by the colors, in combination with the subject of the painting, the season of the year and the time of the day at which the event took place, formed a whole known as ‘Raga’, which corresponded to a particular musical harmony or poetic strophe. Raga literally means ‘melody – mould’.The word is derived from the root ‘Ranj’ meaning ‘to color or tinge with emotion’. They are supported by the secondary mode Ragini. The word Ragini is said to be homologous with the word Grabhini, which means ‘a female carrying a child in her womb’. Ragini thus is understood as that thing which carries the embryo of the future Raga in her womb. Each Raga and Ragini are supposed to have its own Rupa or Psychic forms in two manifestation. The invisible called the sound form or the Nadamaya Rupa and the visible called the image form or Devatmaya Rupa *3. The paintings fall in the second category. They are thought to evoke in the mind of the observer those harmonies corresponding to what is seen. The communicative potential of Raga is viewed as the indispensable base for mystical experience, following the person to participate in divine realities. The painted Raga is said to be functioning as a yantra for realizing yogic spiritual states.However, the common aim of the poet and the painter was to provide pleasure to the viewer where poetry, music and painting moved hand in hand. The picture illustrated the verse and the verse described the picture both expressing the flavour of the moment chosen.
Thus, Ragamala paintings are a commentary on modes, a sort of musical analysis or criticism interpreting the modes to those whose language was more visual than musical. The Hindu philosophy of music was highly recognized and illustrated to great perfection in the Ragamala series. The paintings form an exquisite expression of the traditional association of Indian melody with particular season of the year or with particular hour of the day or night. According to Indian music theory, there is some inherent quality in some Ragas which allocates them to the particular season and attuned them to the peculiar atmosphere of nature prevailing during that time.*5 The Ragas and the Raginis express the spirit of the season and the seasonal atmosphere echoing sympathetically to the character and essence of the particular sur or melody. The Ragamala paintings display the melody, perspicaciously interpreting the spirit of the given season and the seasonal atmosphere of nature.
The painting of Raga Vasanta or melody of Spring provide an excellent example for analyzing and comprehending the eighteenth century Kangra and Bundi style of Ragamala painting thus initiating that stated above. It manifestly demonstrates the objective, and contrivance an insight in scrutinizing this luscious transcendental art. Raga Vasanta is the melody of spring and is the human reaction to the joy of life in spring. It is probably one of earliest seasonal melodies connected with the spring carnival an invariably celebrated with music and dance.
The intensive feeling of Raga Vasanta is expressed in the following poem where the rhetoric words articulately picturize the frivolous and zealous character of the mode. The Cock ( Kukkutaka) sings the musical mode Vasanta, the Spring.
Chupayi !! Saras basant sashi sushdayi riti vasnt pels aya ban aayi !! Purush besh dhari kaa miyii gaavahi Sashi sang sav saj banvahi !! Varsha anup fuli amrayi gunjahi Bhavar baas gahraayi!! Mand sugadh payi sushkaari Piya samip sush bilasahi naari !! Gaavahi sashi kokala baayi chatur Sabad sangeet bshayi !! Doha !! Gaavat naachat ras magna phirat saghan ban kunj !! Piya Deepak manbasikarau tehi basant sushapunj !!
In the garden , made to play, in swarm of bees which are keen on the scent of flower with fresh leaves, praised by ( the God) shakra being at their head, that is Vasanta who is wearing a wreath, a crown and a horn as a wind instrument, who is having a betel lump in his mouth, is resembling ratis spouse of Kama the God of love and has started great laughter in the turmoil of all musical instruments in the company of women. The spring putting the shape of Krishna that is the song she sings. Add with all her companions have made herself fair. Unparallel color, mangoes in flower sited upon them is the swarms of deep murmuring bees. Soft are the scented zephyrs and the water very pleasant. Woman disported in delight beside their lover lord Krishna. Her comrade sings with the Kokila voice. *6
Raga Vasanta is always represented in the paintings as Lord Krishna dancing joyfully on the enchanting music played by gopis, the milkmaids. The striking beautiful love-tender and sensuous God clad in yellow silk was popular subject of song, dance, drama and paintings. The Raga represented as Krishna is personified like Devata or God of a mantaram and is regarded as the Purusa, an eternal male. The gopis, the lovely milkmaids are seen as jeevatmas, the individual human souls, craving merger with the Paarmatma, the Supreme soul, lord Krishna. The painting also aims at corresponding with the poetry.
The Raga Vasanta is designated as a secondary mode or Ragini in some traditional and musical texts. However in the paintings it is always projected as a masculine character more prominently lord Krishna. The poems also conceptualized the iconography of the melody in a male form inspite of it being subsumed as a female mode or Ragini in the musical treatise.
Raga Vasanta painting: Kangara School
The painting depicts the joyful dance of Krishna with the gopis holding musical instrument, dholak (drum) and khartal (wooden cymbal with strings). In the foreground are plants of basant covered wit yellow blooms, which are common in the month of March in Kangra valley. Against the background of mangoes alternating with cypruses provide a solemn background to the silvery spray of plum and pink blossom of peaches, who are also said to be harbinger of spring in the Kangra valley and emblem of youth, life and joy. The white plum blossom is symbolic of spiritual strength and beauty while the pink peach blossom signifies bodily and sensuous beauty.
Krishna is dressed in yellow dhoti (lower garment) with a crown having peacock feather the symbol of love. The gopis are shown wearing the traditional dress ghagra – choli (long skirt and blouse) and odhni (long scarf). The water is seen flowing smoothly and the floating of flower indicates the gentle breeze blowing around. The paintings do not have vibrant colors but soft and gentle look. They are not loud and boisterous but soft and sober art of suggestion. The landscape of the hills with their plantains and rivulets lend a sylvan charm to the painting. There is delicacy in the portrayal of human figures. The spontaneous gesture and rhythm in the charming painting convey the ecstasy of the deep madness of spring. Here one can experience the wonderful combination of sound, form, color and rhythmic ecstasy.
Raga Vasanta Painting : Bundi paintings
The Bundi painting on the similar theme show blue color lord Krishna dressed in yellow clad, holding a spray of blossom in a flower pot and playing musical instrument veena, the ladies play drum, castanets or cymbal and ektara or instrument with one string. There is blossom and sense of new beginning in the atmosphere. New mango blossom, new banana blossom, greenery and flower can be seen everywhere along with the peacock, the ducks and hamsa or geese, an eternal symbol of love and passion flattering around. There is movement and rhythm in air and overflowing joy and happiness welcoming spring.
Krishna and gopis are dressed in the traditional Rajasthani style and wearing bright colors with gold embroideries. Krishna is sown in dark orange shirt *7, yellow clad with golden frills and wearing khadau ( slippers). The gopis are dressed in tight feeting choli and dhoti with fringes dropping down. There is lavish use of red, yellow, orange, blue and green color. Yellow and orange are said to be warm colors used by Rajasthani artists to portray the sunlight landscape of Rajasthan. Green is the color of vegetation and is used to show the greenery of filed and forest, while blue denoted the color of sky that is the infinity. There is an extensive use of primary colors for conveying the beauty of landscape in the spring and the lascivious feeling of men and women. It tries to convey the ‘Love in Union’ spirit of Raga Vasanta. The vibrant colors and treatment of the theme in an uninhibited manner give the Bundi Ragamala series a unique place in Rajput painting.
Critical Analysis : Similarities and Difference
The following observation can be made after analyzing both the paintings.
Differences
Conclusion
The Ragamala paintings are excellent representations of astounding Indian art. They provide an in depth insight in the study of Rajput paintings of the period. The paintings have many facets of Indian paintings all beautifully merged into one. It is a well defined portrayal and master pieces of a connoisseur. The nayaka and nayika generally based on the classification of the traditional text in antiquity. *8
The Ragamala paintings do color the mind with some definite feeling, a wave of passion and emotion. They are pictures of great aesthetic significance, without recourse to any subject, theme or anecdote. Their prime objective is the Rasa – the aesthetic emotion, the subject matter – the motif other melody. As the soul inhabits a body so does every Rasa incarnates the Rupa or form of particular Raga or Ragini. The Rasa in the presiding principle of a raga is rendered through action – rather than images through symbolic icons. Although both the schools have their own distinctive style they try to create the same Rasa and generate same Bhava or feelings. The manifestation of a mental state through the face, eyes and speech is said to be bhava. The bhava expressed in the painting under consideration is Vibhava or excitant, a stimulus which awakens the erotic flavour. The paintings show both kind of Vibhava, that is essential or alambana which sustain love and uddipama which cause excitement. The hero and heroine are essential or material ingredients while gopis, trees, birds, flowers, ornament , beautiful clothes, dance, music, swaying of the body, side glances are other excitant factors that generates the flavour of the season. The poem and the paintings try to impel the Sthayi bhava or underlying emotion. An underlying emotion or sentiment is the ultimate ground basis of a Ragamala poetic work or painting and is the permanent condition like the thread of a garland, not over powered by them but only reinforced.
The Ragamala paintings also have glimpses of another theme prevalent at the time, that is Baramasa paintings or the paintings of the twelve season. The atmosphere created and projected during the hindu calendar month Phalgun or western calendar March and April usually coincides with that of represented in Raga Vasanta paintings. The nature is shown quickened with a new birth and even an in animated things seems to feel the thrill.
Thus, using mostly the local material, the artist succeeded in creating images which are easily among the most beautiful artifact ever made. Both the schools successfully created beautiful illustration with an introduction of new styles and pattern, along with maintaining and keeping the earlier format as their base. Though rendered in obviously sensuous forms, the Kangra and Bundi school paintings transcend our sense- experience and transport us to a region of super – sensual ecstasy- an atmosphere of sublimate and spiritual emotion.
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