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Culture - Kashmiris Originated the Pahari Kalam |
It is not so widely known that all the schools of Pahari Kalam, which flourished at the different centers in J&K, Himachal and Uttaranchal, namely, Jasrota, Basohli, Guler, Jammu, Chamba, Nurpur, Kangra, Kulu, Mandi, Sujanpur Tihra and Tehri Garhwal were the creation of Kashmiri artists who had migrated to these places. In fact, a single family of Pandit Seu Raina produced as many as 46 artists who fertilized this entire region of the Outer Himalayas with their genius. This family led the movement from 1658 to the end of the 19th century in almost all the centers of art activity.
Pandit Seu Raina
The grand old man of this family was Pandit Seu (Shiv) Raina, who left Kashmir around the year 1660. He settled in Guler during the reign of Raja Dalip Singh and Raja Bikram Singh. Pandit Seu founded the pre-Kangra style of painting in Guler. The style richly vibrated with an amalgam of Pahari folk and Kashmiri Pala styles.
Pandit Seu invested his genius in portraitures. Notable among these are the sketches of his sons Manak and Nainsukh, Mian Gopal Singh of Guler Playing Chess, A Seated Courtier, Raja Bishan Singh of Guler, Raja Bikram Singh of Guler, A Battle Scene, Dancing Derveshes and so on. The frozen attitudes of the hands, the solidity and formality of the figures and the division of the picture spaces - all these are basic features drawn from the Kashmiri style.
Manaku
Manaku was the eldest son of Pandit Seu. He and his brother Nainsukh were the apostles of the new style propagated by their father. Manaku was poetic and romantic, while Nainsukh was an aesthete and fundamental.
Manaku's greatest achievement was the Geet Govinda series. Geet Govinda is the classic poetic work written by the Vaishnavite Jaideva, who was the court poet of King Lakshmana Sena of Bengal.Geet Govinda is celebrated for its eroticism and sensuous imagery, which make the poems throb with passion. Manaku created masterpieces of technical excellence and aesthetic sensitivity through his lyrical drawings, throbbing colours and quiet landscape locales.}
Manaku's two sets of Geet Govinda series have created a raging controversy in art circles, one being in Basohli style and the other in Kangra style. It only exemplifies the genius of Manaku who established the Basohli Kalam and then evolved through it to the exalted sophistication of the Kangra Kalam.
Nainsukh
Nainsukh entered service with Raja Balwant Singh of Jammu. He could be aptly called the Picasso and Mondrian of the Pahari art movement. He had a marked feeling for geometric structure, strong colour and vitalistic line. His whole approach was architectural.
A typical example of his planned picturisation is his well known painting of Raja Balwant Singh Listening to Music. Another similar masterpiece Is Raja Balwant Singh of Jammu Inspecting a Horse.
Nainsukh moved from Guler to Jammu and from Jammu to the court of Raja Amrit Pal of Basohli where he exerted a deep influence. He would visit Chamba occasionally and later on his sons Ranjha and Nikka were responsible for the establishment of the Chamba Kalam. Thus Nainsukh was a dominant influence on Jasrota, Basohli, Guler, Jammu and Chamba styles of Pahari painting.
Ranjha
Ranjha was the most talented among the sons of Nainsukh. In the later part of the eighteenth century, Basohli became subservient to Chamba, both politically and economically. Raja Raj Singh brought the door wings made in Kangra style to Chamba when he sacked the Basohli palace in 1782.
Ranjha remained in the court of Raj Singh from 1772 to 1794.During these years, he painted the famous Aniruddha-Usha series. In between he visited Basohli, where he painted the Nala Damayanti series for Raja Amrit Pal. He painted a significant collection of Ramayana series during the reign of Raja Ghupendra Pal of Basohli.
Gursahai
Ranjha's son Gursahai proved to be a greater genius in drawing and draughtsmanship. Super-sensitive, erotic and highly passionate themes were the main subjects of his paintings. He painted highly sensitive compositions of nudes. One of his chief productions was the Koka Shastra sries.
Others
Atra, the son of Nikka, worked in the court of Raja Raj Singh of Chamba. Ram Dayal, the grandson of Nainsukh, worked in the court of Bijai Sen of Mandi.Kiru, five generations away, remained in the Patiala court.
Manaku had two sons, Khushala and Fattu. The whole family worked in the court of Raja Goverdhan Chand of Guler till his death in 1773. Khushala became the chief painter in the Kangra court and painted a Geet Govinda series for Maharaja Sansar Chand.
Chetu, the great grandson of Khushala, and Sultana, the grandson of Nainsukh, were the court artists of Raja Shamsher Singh. Chetu's paintings reached the court of Garhwal. There are indications of his physical presence in the court of Sudershan Shah of Tehri Garhwal, where he established the Garhwal school of the Pahari movement.
Other Centres
The other important centers of Pahari art were Sujanpur Tihra, Patiala and Kulu.
Some of the fourth generation Rainas migrated to Kulu in the second decade of the 18th century. The Kulu style is considered the ideal amalgam of the folk and Kashmir styles.
Conclusion
Time and again, Kashmiris have shown their genius. The Pahari Kalam, with all its variants, is a standing monument to their artistic accomplishments.}
( courtesy: P.N. Kachru, Naad, October 1999 ) |
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