1
CHAPTE!! SIX •• '
~anuscript Painting
In the Punjab ?-fills
~E
BRITISH COI NED THE TERM
" Punjab Hills" to describe Ihe bro ad swath of hilly
land that rllns diagonally along the border of Nepal
from India's far north to just above the Gangetic
plane, The area is united by certain cu ltural traits
as well as terrain, but is today divided into several
modern states, whic h include Jammu and Kashmir,
Himachal prades h, and Uttaranchal. ' Long before th e
British na m ed the punjab Hills, South Asians used
the term Pahari, "o f th e hi lls," to desc ribe th e region's
distinctive culture, NoW, the tWO terms are used interchan geably to label th e paintings made in the area,
The hi ll y terrain of th e region has long dictated
its ways o f doin g business, both with neighbors and
w ith outside forces, The hills served to isolate th e
Pahari populace from the res t of th e subcon tin ent.
Th e formS of traditional Hindu temples in th e
punjab Hills differ fro m th ei r counterparts to the
so uth and west, and tend to share feat ures, suc h as
the use of timber framin g, with Himala yan traditions, And, whereas most Rajasthani di alec ts we re
w ritten in th e script of Sa nsk rit and Hindi (called
Devanag ), th e dialects of th e punja b Hi lls we re
ar i
usuall)' w ritten in a separate, noW mostl y defunct
script kn own as Takri.
.
Alt ho ugh th e rul ers of principalities In the
punjab H ills were Rajputs, an d although they lived
und er t he reig n of th e i\IIugha l Empire th rough the
seventeenth cen tuf)', th elf
. h'IStar), h .
culture
were distinct from t IlOse of
,enrage,
.
th R . and
Ra)puts,
Because of the IQcatlOn
' and te apsthani
.
'
' mgdoms, the Ra)'puts of tl P <,
erram of their
.
1e un)ab H 'II
k
to eXist outside the eifel
f
<
1 S managed
many of the primary cae ~dMughal influence, While
.
rn ors that
Muslim regions of th
h
ran between the
e nOft west a dD
travelers through Ra)'as th an, most <ofth
n
elhi
P .took
states lay beyond the Mug I1<1 Is' usual t e d un)ab Hills
tary routes, The Mughal 5 ad
'
mired
th ra e and miliscapes and tranquil lakes 0 f Kash mtr
' eand
greend 'landareas,
' tl< d'ffi
a Jacent
,
but travel there was su ffiIClen
disco urage frequent vist
,
y
I
I s, espeCially I IClI It to
of the emperors' <'Ittent"lOll S were fa
Wd1en most
the south.
cuse o n foes to
<
<
We have al ready seen th at th e
other Muslim ru lers were C ,
Mughals and
.al mo rc IIkel
1J1formatIOIl about reee nt IlIsta
. ry and tl y to
. record
cou rtly li fe than their Hi n d 1I contemp
<
leJl', own
and that,
as
a
result
mud
f
I
ora
,
,
l OW lat we k nes were,
the RaJPuts comes from Iv! ug Ilal source now
B abo ut
the Pahari R<1jpllts did no t 1I1teract
'
as d s, ecause
I '
th e Mughals as th eir R'l)'astl
'
ose
«(
lal1 l counte' . ' y With
d'
vve know even less abou t til ell
' . , IlIstory
.
I p<lIIts b'Id,
"lld
Acco rd ing to Mughal doc u ments most' I f 1<1
I ItS,
of th e Punjab Hills swore tllelf
' a'I leglance
, 0 t t1< rul
I ers
.'
emperor in th e lat e sixtee ntl1 0 1. earl y seve 0 t 1e
century. Un like the Mew'lr
1'1 PI
' . Rajp
nteenth
< is ,11."
a l(ln
lIts do
not seem to have resisted the Mughals to any great
extent, but neither do they seem to have forged the
strong ties that some Rajasthanis did. The Pahari
rulers were required to send armies in support of
Mughal campaigns, and sons as heir-envoys to the
imperial court, but there are no records of Pahari
princesses marrying the emperors, and few of the
Pahari princes are listed among the emperors'
favorite companions or most trusted generals.
Perhaps because Pahari courts lay at a considerable geographic distance from the early manuscript-making centers of eastern and western India,
or perhaps because they maintained a political distance from the imperial court, the practice of making illustrated manuscripts developed relatively late
in the Punjab Hills. Only one early manuscript,
famous but enigmatic, with pages in the horizontal
format of Jain volumes and illustrations in the style
of pre-Mughal Hindu examples, can be firmly
attributed to the area. 2 We do not know of any other
miniatures from the sixteenth-century Punjab Hills;
this manuscript may have been unique or unusual
in its own time. Although miniature painting may
have emerged as a new art form in the seventeenth
century, the region appears to have been home to
painters long before that period. Wall paintings
cover many Pahari palaces and temples that were
built earlier. Once a firm chronology has been
established for these murals (many of which were
repainted at later dates), they might offer interesting
glimpses into the origins of regional idioms.
Some early Punjab Hills rulers appear to have
commissioned portraits and narrative imagery in a
Mughal-inspired style in the first half of the seventeenth century/ although they do not seem to have
done so as often as the Rajasthani maharajas. It is
likely that some Mughal artists traveled into the hills
to find work in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, just as others went to Rajasthan
and the provincial Mughal courts of eastern India,
but we do not have documentation of those artists,
as we do elsewhere. After this brief, initial period of
Mughal emulation, artists and patrons in the Punjab
Hills do not seem to have received abundant stylistic
influence from the imperial court until the mideighteenth century, and even then, it is difficult to
"
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account for. As in other matters, the people of the
hills appear to have remained largely independent
when developing their many painting styles.
Pahari paintings can be categorized into tight
style groups, many of which are so uniform that
they must be the work of a single master's workshop. Sometimes, we can identify related paintings
that appear to have been produced by that master's
apprentices, but rarely can we trace the evolution
of a particular style beyond that second generation.
As a result, we have no two-hundred-year-old
Pahari traditions comparable to those of Mewar.
Some Pahari Courts saw more than one period of
painting production and as a result produced
diverse bodies of work, but between these periods
of activity we can usually point to a lull of a generation or more when little or nothing was produced.
Such lulls suggest that these courts did not maintain
permanent painting workshops but, rather, that
they hired painters as needed. Inscriptional evidence supports Our suspicions that, compared to
the Rajasthani and Central Indian traditions,
patronage in the Punjab Hills was sporadic and
often short-lived.
In recognition of this fitful patronage, most
sch.ol ars now admit that a region-based categorizatIOn of styles, which worked relatively well for
Rajasthani painting, can be misleading when disCUssing paintings from the Punjab Hills. Pahari
patrons do not seem to have inherited stylistic preferences from their ancestors, and artists do not seem
~o have responded to regional traditions when creat1l1g new . .
.
pa1l1t1l1gs. Instead, it appears that artIsts
learned a particular manner of painting from their
fathers and uncles, and then moved from place to
place pr f '
h
.
.
ac lClllg t e family style wherever com mlS~Ions were forthcoming. There is therefore a grow1l1g trend among art historians toward identifying
Pah~ri paintings by the artist families that practiced
SpeCIfic styles rather than by the courts in which the
manUscripts were collected.' However, information
about artist [; '1' .
. . gs
.
amI les IS scant and very few pa1l1ttn '
are SIgned R'
f"
I . t")r.
. eglon 0 onglI1 is often the on y 111 (
mahon We ha
b·
. t SO
.
ve a out a palI1ting or manllscnp ,
until more infl
.
Sf
ormatIon is uncovered, we must u,
the old regi
I
ona categorizations.
\If
'Basohli, 'NlIrpllr, and Challlba
"
"" ript d[usTIl e earli est large bod y of ex tant J11<lllllSr.. .
" from the PUIlJab
" "II
tratlon
HI 5 app e.l" rS" to had from
.
"" I lOrth ern pal t
t I1e prin cely stat e of B,lso h I1, 111 t H:' I
"
L"k'"
' seve ral o f .th e I '
I . :. " t II",g , Il-Iso
'1a 1la n" stal es that produce d pi.lli1
,. hlr rare)
I·
Ie
seventeen
lh
appears o n mod e rn m a ps. In t I1(' ,I
"
I
'ev"r
it
was
il
an d earl y eighteenth centun t:'s, 10 \\ ,t:.
. .
() ( t I1(' reg IOn , Il car ' .llllJ1lU .
I '
"'I""
I e.: <HI vely I 111 po rt ;:111 I
I' . '. I ' tOt)' \v lth an .ld lU
po IlIl..1 t il I
cultufallife.
.
. .
. -ri ll l 'I II nhu tcd to
The C:'.lfl iesl Slir vivlIl g l11 illlll :-.r..
<
' .
. r 1 ldd ess
images d 15Baso hli is Ih e U l1l1 SlI i.ll se ri es {) ~(
.'
)
.
. ~
" 1:::
' (see np. 11 7 - 19.
l li ssed at th t' e nd 01 Lhapt t I (l UI .
t
"
" 110u t J6(10-70. I he
I\ ll nSI sc hol a rs dat e th e se t to ,I
MFA's image of Bhairava (plate 64, p" lI B) is probabl y <1 later additi o n fro m aro und 1690. As previously
mentioned, th e mnnll sc ript is unusual fo r its presentation of indi vidunl ico ni c images, e<lch of
whi ch is des ig ned to be an o bjec t of worship or
medit <l ti o n, with praye rs insc rib ed o n th e reverse.
The p<l intings in th is seri es are pri zed fo r their
vib rant colo r juxt apositio ns. intensely ex pressive
fi gures, and elabo rale sur face treat me nts, qual ities
II;at featu red pro minentl y in Basohli p<lintings.
In th e last decades of Ihe seventeenth cent ury
and int o rh e eighteenth centu ry, artists in B..lsohli
and sur rou nd ing states ( re,lIed several illust rated
m<l lllls( ripIS of th e UO:il lllullljari by Bhanud;:l tt a, one
PL ATE 9 1
Up"p'lli NrI),'I/.:,1 (Thl' !-kw \\'11\1
1.0 \·c~ Ano ther ,\ Ian's \Vifd
fr'lll1 ,Ill illu.';(r,l1l'd IIl ~I mls(ril't
of thl' U,r;'lIlhlllj,1r/ Ill' I lhanu d ,Ht ~I
Nllrthnll lud ia ( Pu n i,Ih
Ilills.
B,Is,>hli ). ,Ih,>Ul 16(i(>- i O
O I',Hllll' w,l1n."I,'r, ):nld, sill'l'f,
,111(1 I"'t'll.' will~s '>11 I',II'"'r
l,l.'i
x ,11.:I'rn
( 9'~ x 11''', in,)
1~'>SS · L.,.'nl.1r,I~"'.IIll\· ( ' ,>II",l i"11
1;-.1;11/
1'lIIljlll'
llill ..; glll/IIII,"':
I,
t{, -
T hat effec t is achieved first and foremost th ro u gh
coloration. The unnam ed art ist prese nts un expec ted
juxtapositions of saturated prima ry colo rs w ith
\I
muted hues. such as o live gree n , slate blue, and
m aroon. The colo rs play aga inst one another, crea ting a n illusion of vibrati o n that is furthe r inte nsified
by th e multiple dyn a mi c patterns th at cover alrnost
eve r), surface. Alth ou gh th e postures of m os t figures
are not particularl y ex pressive, their en ormOllS eyes,
I
pupils fixed in a fo rward glare. indicate that th ey
are abso lutely ale rt to. an d stimulated b y, their
situatio n.
These im ages wo ul d ca pture our atte n tion
eve n if th ey were m e re color on paper, bu t th e artist
o rnam en ted th e pages still further b y addi ng texture
and lu xu rious materi als to their su rfaces. Eac h pea rl
bead. for example. was built up into a bump of thi ck
whi te paint. Go ld and si lve r p a ints were used in
abun d an ce and en ha nced in m a ny areas by minu te
incisi ng and p un chin g; th ese techni q u es result ed in
a textured . patterned surface that glitters when hit
PL ATE 91 ( detail )
of the rornan tic works th at a nalyzes the behavio r
of numerous types of lovers, known as Ilnynkns
and Ilnyikas. It was sometim es adapted by Krishna
worsh ipers. who imagined their beloved god in the
role of the ma le p rotago nist. We have already see n a
Rasa l1l(llljari illustration m ade in Mewa r in the first
decades o f the seve ntee nth ce ntury (plate 68. p. 128).
The ea rli est of the Basohli Rnsnlll(llljn ri ma nusc ripts
probably dates to the 1660s. The M FA ho uses several
pages fro m this "fi rst" se ri es. including those illust rated in plates 58 ( p. 109 ) and 9 1. '
Eac h of th ese and o th er Pa har i l~nsnll/(l/Ij{/ri
pages is h o ri zonta l in format, with
11105t
co m pos i-
tions occu pied primarily by archi tec tu ra l se ttin gs
that usua ll y co nsist o f a si ngle bedroom and a doo rway. with a low roof an d cupo las above. The o u tside
wo rl d is ra rel y depicted as an)' thin g more tha n <l
field of color w ith a st rip o f cloud y sky above, so
o ur att ention s are fo cused on the hea d y (' m otions
tha t a re co ntain ed in co nce ntrat ed form in th e
sma ll rool11 s.
Even in th ose images tha t de pict i.l single fi gurt.
sitt ing alo ne, there is not h ing q ui et abo ut th ese
sce nes- pe:lssions run ho t a nd hi gh on ever y page.
I bM:,
by raking light. The m ost dist inctive emb ellishm ents
in Basohli painting are the small pi eces of iridesce nt
green beetle wing cas ings that were adhered in select
a reas to represent e m eralds. These beetl e w ing fragments see m to pop o ut from th e page, a nd with the
p rotr udin g p ea rl s and sparkling go ld. the y turn the
paintings into preciolls objects. Beetle wings are
found on m a ny early Basohli paintin gs, in cluding
m os t of th e pages fro m the early goddess se ri es, and
a re a tradema rk of th e Basohli style, altho ugh no t a ll
Basohli paintings include this fea ture.'
The page reproduced in plate 9 1 dep ic ts a
m o m ent o f inten se passion that is simu lt aneo uslv
e n fl amed and q llell ed
. ati,o n. 1-11C
'
. b y t I1C Iove rs,Situ
sce n ari o is. o ne of ~0 1'b'I dd e n love, Upapa(J" NCI),(/I\(/,
th~ Hero \IVho Loves An ot h er Man's \rVife. The verse
Written On the reverse reads,
Fearo(dcl " I'
J
f
.
{( /Oil t 0('5 11 0 1 permit 1/'1.' ('/l~cr
/ol '('r:; ' Rll ze I
J
,..
. .. . '
•
I. 'lilt I. Swrcd of Ihe 1111~/1I/~ 501llld
of flheir/ arllJlel ' If
f"
.•
• .
.
S, /1' )' { ('51St frolll ell/llmc/Ilg.
Tlu')" kJs~ ('Ot'l , OIl •. '. / ,
,
,
.
Ii I ~ '1' 5 IVllholl1 lIlt' (0111110 (If
thell" teeth n .'. . .
.
.
It /I 111110/1 15 hI/shed. 1(10. Slit'l, II
lov(' 15 illdecd I'(l id
i(lr
or
Init ia li )' , one .s"t'es I'Itt Ie 'III th e Illl
. agt' to sug.g.est
tha t th e lovers a re
'.
. .
, .
not e nJoYlIl g th e m sd vcs. 1 h ell'
P<1SS10 11 appears 1 ) r ,1
.
• I.
Ig 1t up th e surroundings nil .1
1' 1'1 ,\ ' !' ·\I ' I I ' i ,
d
III
I
dark night. However, the artist has used an icy blue
for the interior, so when one compares the page to
others in the series (such as plate 58, p. 109), we can
see that this one is more restrained.
In these early paintings from Basohli, we find
almost no evidence of influence from the Mughal
atelier, even at second or third hand. The trademark
Basohli tendency to treat the painting as a precious
object overrode any urge to reproduce nature in an
illusionistic manner. Brushwork is clean and precise,
but it never approaches the light touch used in
Mughal paintings to keep details from overwhelming the composition. Settings are shallow, and
although grounds are sometimes tipped up, it is not
~or the purpose of showing a progression of figures
1I1to space, but to display flat planes of color and
pattern.
The one passage in plate 91 that might betray
some Mughal influence is the curtain that frames
the shadowbox of the lovers' bedroom. It reveals an
attempt at capturing draped fabric in a convincing
manner. As the curtain stands out from the rest of
the painting, which is resolutely flat, it appears to be
a borrowed element, not native to the artist's traditional style.
Another painting of this same period, probably by the same artist and possibly from the same
.
. ht
senes, depicts two women outside on a stormy mg
(plate 92).K Again, we see the slim Baso hli female
types, with their oversized, intense eyes and long,
~traight noses on relatively small heads. The figure
111 gold is clearly the heroine, slightly larger and
1110re centrally situated than the attendant, who
carries a stringed instrument. The heroine stands
ra
posture
g spmg the branch of a flowering tree 111 a
that mimics images of ancient Indian fertility goddesses, who had the power to transfer their own
frUitfulness to anything they touched. Like the
Rasa
Iy elements
mallJan pages exammed prevIOUS ,
of the setting heighten the emotional impact of
the
I
teold of
Image, but here they are natura 1I1S '
arch'
°b 'ns through
Itectural. Unable to create VI ratiO
intellse I
'th's nl'ght scene, the
co or JuxtapositIOnS Jl1 I
artist
the atmosphere with energy by
add I' n
'
. ':I
t 'I()uds The
I
g WISpy strands ot wm( swep L , ~. I'
oose, painterly quality of these clouds IS high)
0
•
0
0
0
0
•
0
0
'
,
permea~ed
In subsequent decades, the rulers of Basohli
commissioned at least two more Rasamalljari manuscripts in a similar format and style, but possibly
not by the same artists. The "third" Rasamanjari
has an inscription dated to 1694· A page from that
series is illustrated in plate 93. Like the earlier
Rasamalljari, most of its pages feature figures in a
shallow, stagelike room. However, the figures have
generally larger heads and slightly thicker bodies
than their predecessors, so their eyes do not seem
as large. Patterns are neither as numerous nor as
intricate, and there are fewer bright colors. There is
considerably less surface elaboration, and no beetle
wings at all.
The MFA page makes an unusual comparison
between the romantic hero and the god Shiva.
Bhakti-type devotional practice was usually dedicated to the worship of Krishna, but sometimes the
motifs and language of bltakti were used for other
Hindu deities. In the paintings of the Punjab Hills,
artists often depicted Shiva, who was typically a
more extreme and forbidding deity, as a sweet,
placid husband and father. This early painting does
not present the god in quite as affectionate a light
as does later imagery (see plate 108, p. 19 6 ), but his
presence in a romanti~ context is not~ble. ,
Here the subject IS Praudha Adhlra NaYlka, or
the Mature Heroine without Self Control. The artist
pictured the heroine as Shiva's wife, Parvati, who
looks like any other llayika, Shiva, however, has a
distinctive appearance: his skin whitened by ashes,
his hair bundled into a knot, he wea~s a snake necklace and sectarian tilak marks on hiS head and
limbs. On the god's forehead is a crescent, which
, d' t hi's affiliation with the moon and plays an
In Ica es
,
t role in the scenario illustrated. The lines
Importan
on the reverse read:
(,hter or tIre King of MOlllltaim
,Vllen t Ire Dall
~.:o
'J
')
ireI' reflectiotl in the moon on Lord
(Pan'cltl saw
J'
, . fi ~ I ead she mIstook It for allother
5111wlS ore I •
er
Ok P ftiug with tlte Lord, So III allg she
Nayl -a s 0
I'
flo t elll/J/iug hand. adomed wltll g ttterra/sec leI r
•
1 • let· to reproaclr her Lord,
mg mrte !i.
0
0
0
0
o
o
, .. h' d" RtlStlmalljari contains a colophon
ThIS t Ir
'st Devidasa, and h'IS patron, RaJa
t
I , (reigned about 1678-93). It also
t h at n ames tear
fhB hli
Kripal Palo asO
0
Unusual in Basohli painting,
PIII/Ja/! Hills Pail/til/g I. H\C.)
P I. ATE 92
'/i,'" \\ '(11'''''' ;/111,,' \\I" "d• •IINiglrl
N"rth~'rn Indi.1 ( ['un;ah Hilb.
[I.I~ohli I • •Ihou\ IM''''-;o
Op.111Lll' \\';Hl.'rculor. gold. sil\'l.'T.
.llIlt hn·t\\.' win~~ on p,l l'l'r
! i .~ L 7. ~ l' l1l ( ]() . ~
xi
ill. )
.
I{, I\," { :lIolll.tra~\'·,lIn r ( :, ,11 ~'(l lun
Li. \!O.l
m en t-Io n s that
<
Basohli
< .
is th e manusc ri pt's place
oman
f
llf-Ictllre
<
• Recent sc holarship indicates thi.H
Devida sa was from ano th e r state, Nu rpur, which is
across the Ravi River fr0111 Basoh li_ '" Apparen tl y the
artist traveled from his ho me strit e in o rd e r to co m plete this co mmi ss io n. Kripa l Pal's patronage of an
arti st who li ved elsewhe re suggests that there was
Devidasa was in fac t from Nur pur co mpli cates the
attr ibuti on: his fam iliarit y w ith the ea rli er se ries
m(1)' indicate th a t those paintings were mad e in
Nurpul'. Dev id asa may have known th e ima ges
beca use he \·vorked on th e m in his youth. Hindu
painte rs Were often membe rs of arti sa n castcs, and
not a cour t-based painting workshop in Basoh li, at
least whe n this manuscript was made.
the majo rit y of Indian arti sts were trained by their
fa th ers, leadi ng one scholar to sugges t th at th e
Many of Devidasa's Rns(JIllt1lljari pai ntin gs are
similar in co m posi ti on to thei r cou nt e rpa rt s from
the ea rli er se ries, whic h suggests that he had <.1Ccess
e it her to those pa intings or to th e artist(s) wh o
m 'lde them. T he simi lar it y between the three early
Rasalllrlllj/lris has led sc ho lars to associate all of
them with the slate of Basoh li , \-vhe re we know th e
m ajo ri ty of ea rl )' Basohli manusc ript s, inc luding
third version was mad e. However, th e revelation that
th e goddess se ri es and the "first" UnStl/ lItllljllri, was
m ade by Devidasa's fatheL "
Id e ntifying th e ea rlie r artist as "Devid asa's
father" adds little to OUr appreciation of thL' paint ings th emselves, hut it does « 111 into qu es t ion thl'
lo ng-es tablished p ractice of identifying thdr styk
as that of Basnhli. Devidasa's fat he r was li kel y tll
be from N Urpur as \\'t'l l. \'Ve ha ve good reason to
,
•
of subseq uent ge ne rati ons o f Basohli patronage.
tl1.1, t t I1 l'- ea rli' er m an usc ript
. s \,\Icre C0 I11i111S~
.
nod by Kr ipa l I'al of Basohli o r h is p redecessor
S IO
Ithe ir OWll ers Ilip
' Ilas been traced to t I1C BaSO I1 I'I
.
ed
lo
n
),", but "II we wa nt to assO C!<lte
t I1('
rova l co il "
'
st),, le of tl10se manu sc ript s w ith a speci tIC
- stat e, 'It
, as approp rIat
' e to do so w llh
' t,I e stot
' e'
,Il1I "
0 ht b.'
C Just
a .SS UIl1 C
In whicl1 Il
I l' artis
. ts tr'.lln
. ed, as ",,11th
. th e s tal e .111
wh ich the patron ruled , We begin to sec ",h)' sc hol. tlll
. g
)' from the pract ice o f as.sOCla
Wil
Pahari s,tyll:S
' Wi' t I, st~ltt'S: li
' ' st )' Ies t !";:we Ie d Will
' I ar t 15,'"
' t'
ars ,"U e m ov .in g a
th en"(I IS
' . POll1tlt'ss
.
to name th e m after I1- Xl'd pO 'in tso n the m ap.
,
We do not h ave pa rti cu larl y go od do( U1n enta lio n for sO-Gllkd Hasohli painting itfler Jlev idas<l'S
s
H"~",,
' , o j' 161) .... . N umeroU S pi.IIIlU
,n ,
g sur'
.
/Il1lt''''
vIV!::,
(
t 11'It
Ioose
, Iy rese mble th e styit' 01" the
Url~tI/lHlH,//lISl
"
an d it ha s hee n temp ting to st.'t' th e m n5 the prodw.J
Howeve r, as o ur unde rstanding of Punj ab Hills
pa int ing and patronage develops, the nu mber o f
wo rks att ribu ted to Basohli has dw in dled , Whil e
R.1so hl i pa tronage d id not end with Krip'~, II' a I," \ve
know that in the yea rs aft er 1700, the rnjns of othe r
stal es matched o r surpi.lsscd Kr ipa! Pal's desce ndant s
in th eir su pport for ma nu sc ript painters. Paintings
PI.ATE
~1.lIur<' I-kruirl<' \\' ilhil\ll Sdfl.tullr"l )
rn:m" .n il1\1 s~ ml<'J manusai l'l of
tl:~ R'''<II,wIIJ' ,ri ttl' IIh.ll1ml;lll,'
Nu nh <'rl1 India (punjah Hills
Ilastlhli. or N urpur ), 1t><J4
'
l )1',1,1"" w,1t<'r<'" lor ,lIlll t:n1d "Il
1'.ll'l' r
x 2<) <' 11\ 17' I x 11 •• in. )
nllss-( :tlumar;IS\\·"II1Y ( tllk.:1inll
1<)
th a I were prev iOUsly attr ibuted to Baso hli beca use
th ey ha ve figures \\Iith large. slopi ng eyes. sa tu ra ted
.lSS0(olo rs, or beetl e wings can now be 1110re fin"l)' .
(iated w ith artists working in neighbo ri ng sta tes.
O ne such painting is a portrait of a n un iden li ti ed kin g Iplate 94), Lo ng attributed to Basohli
beca use o f it s subj ec t mi.1tter, th e po rtra it ca n now
he re<l ttributed to th e sta te of C ha m ba based on its
styk. The p<, int ing is typica l o f ea rl y Paha ri port ri.1 i-
93
D<.'\'
idas.\ (.Klin- hi
/'
' <,,-,I
I 1 (' cnlurv )
r, wd/r,r A,/him M/)'ikir (Tht,
.
1;'. 2;7'1
P L ,\TE 94
Port r:l it of:l lJasohli rull'r
Nonnern India ( Pun;:lh Hills,
probahly Cham!>;l ), abo ut 1700
Opaque \\'att'rco)ur on paper
Ill.i x 11.8 em l i ~. x 'J in. )
Ross-Coomaraswamr Colketioll
li·1701
tu re produ ced throughou t the no rth ern .regio ns: a
ru ler sits in p ro fil e on a small ru g. smoklll g a h ll qqa ,
and at tended by a d im inu ti ve se rva nt. These po rtra its are a lmos t a lways in ho ri zon ta l fo rm at , a nd
as such d iffe r dra m ati ca ll y fro m a ny so rt o f Mugha l
pro to type. \rVhil e minimalist in their ~o mp~s iti o n s,
with smalll1L1mbe rs of fi gures set agi.lln st slIlglecolo r backg ro un ds, th ey a re elabo rat e in th e ir dep icti o n of th e deco rative acco ut re m ent s o f royalty. In
th is case, th e a rti st has tnken grea t care to ind icate
that the hllqqa is a blue and whi te ceram ic, probably
a valuable import from China or the Middle East.
T he ru ler sits on . 1 nowered m at, proba bly a p rin ted
cotto n summer ca rpet, a nd it lies on a la rger, st ri ped
sur face tha t m ay be a wove n rllll/rri rug. He wea rs
'. I Mllgl"II
i.1 typll<l
" -sl),\e palka sash and ties .his coat
.
un de r his rig ht a rm in the m a nn e r o f th e IIn pe fia l
COurt (Rajputs more typ ically tied th eir coats under
the left ar m ).
COs t um e was im po rta nt to th e Raj puts, as it
offered marks of dy nas ti c o r cla n affili atio n. The
de tail of the COat helps us to id enti fy th e subject of
the unin sc ri bed pa inting, fo r amo ng Punjab Hills .
Rajp ut s, o nl y th e la te seve nt ee nth -ce ntur y rule rs 01
Ilaso hli tied their coats in the Mughalm ann er. If we
compare the po rtrait to o thers of the sa me period,
we find th at the sm a ll , sm oo th kn ot int o wh k h both
o f th ese fi gures have tied th e ir patkas ap pears o nl }1 in
im ages of Baso hli royalty. Ot he r Pa h<1 ri (" u le rs t ied
th eir pa tkns in to differe nt typ es of knots. Bot h (OS t ll me feat ures ap pea r in po rtr ai ts o f Raj i.\ Kr ipa l Pi.ll.
th e pat ro n of at least o ne o f th e Baso h li /?n:'llIlUllljtlris,
a nd indeed , t his im age loo ks ra th er li ke Krip a l Pili
hi mself.
Royal portraits offer important information
about regional styles in the Punjab Hills, where so
few paintings were inscribed with dates or artist
names. Often, we can assume that portraits were
made locally and during the lifetime of the sitter.
Where this is true, portraits can serve as stylistic
landmarks, which we can then compare with other
paintings to develop a sense of a region's artistic
evolution. We will apply this line of reasoning to
our discussion of paintings from Bahu, as a large
group of narrative paintings were reattributed to
that region on the basis of comparison to portraits.
As we have already seen in our discussions of
Mughal and Rajasthani painting, however, artists
were often asked to make likenesses of rulers from
neighboring courts, and some portraits were made
posthumously, possibly based on likenesses made a
generation earlier. Therefore, not all portrait subjects provide reliable information about the styles
of specific periods and regions.
Although this portrait illustrates the Basohli
mode of dress, comparison to other portraits indicates that it was not painted in Basohli but rather
in Chamba. Like Basohli, Chamba appears to have
been the site of considerable painting activity, albeit
beginning a generation or so later. Chamba state,
occupies some of the roughest terrain in the Punjab
Hills, and Chamba town, long the political center of
the state, lies in a remote location. Despite its geographic seclusion, Chamba was home to vibrant and
distinctive sculptural and architectural traditions
since the tirst millennium C.E. In the eighteenth
. d f nflict with
.
century, Chamba entered a peno 0 co
I' f' ndher
,
.
Its neighbor Basohli. Evidence for ear ler, ne
relations between the two states might be offered by
this portrait.
' '
. . ' d' . tllat this pa1l1 t1l1 g
e
most
stnkmg
m
lCation
Th
,
.
I ' h the faces are
IS not from Basohli is the way 111 w llC
rendered, particularly that of the servant. In por'
' .
nd attendants
t ralts made in Basohli, both sitters a
. h larger more
'
h ave more exaggerated features, Wit
sloping eyes and brows, and more
, :I
d h' that give the
11l( entations above the nose an c 111
ne of those
.
,
taces an almost angry mien. We see SOl
c.
•.
l I t the servant S
leatures 1\1 the face of the ru er, )U
'
h ' found more
tace has a pleasant blandness t at IS
' .
"
TI servant's curl
() tten 1Il early Chamba pa1l1t1l1g. le.
pronoun~ed
of dark hair is also more typical of Chamba, as is
the subtle bunching of his pant legs.
A broader stylistic trait that indicates Chamba
manufacture is the dry delicacy of the lines used
throughout the composition. Many Chamba paintings contain thin outlines that tend to diminish the
graphic impact of their compositions, even where
14
they feature strong colors and dramatic subjects.
These Chamba-style characteristics, combined with
the faithful reproduction of Basohli-style fashion
elements, suggest that this is a copy of a late seventeenth-century Basohli painting, made by a Chamba
artist, probably only shortly thereafter. The artist
was more careful to reproduce the face of the ruler,
but took liberties with the less important servant
figure.
Given what we already suspect about artists
traveling from state to state, it could be that this
painting was made for a Basohli patron by someone
who usually worked at Chamba. But it is just as
likely that the original Basohli portrait traveled,
and that it was copied in Chamba, probably at the
request of a Chamba ruler. In either case, the style
of the painting indicates that the artist had trained
with others who worked primarily in Chamba.
Scholars have traditionally treated Chamba painting
as a completely separate tradition from its neighbors. This portrait suggests that Chamba artists had
access to Basohli portraits, so there may have been
more artistic interaction with Basohli andlor Nurpur
than we previously knew. Again, the once tidy distinctions between Pahari regional styles have been
blurred.
!lVfonkot
The state of Mankot, which lies just to the west
of Basohli, appears to be the source for a group of
sophisticated paintings that date to the early decades
of the eighteenth century. In style, these paintings
are clearly the inheritors or cousins of those made
for Baso hli rulers in previous years; While we have
few details of the reigns of Mankot s rulers, we do
knoW that a Mankot princess was the favorite wife
of the late seventeenth-century B~so~1i ~uler and
ainting patron, Kripal Pal. The slmtlanty between
~asohli and Mankot paintings might be traced to
'
'Oil' naintings may have been exchanged as
t h IS unt , t
i,
PIII/jll/l Hills Pai/lti/ls.
b
i•. 17.\
)\
:i
part of wedding fest ivities or later familial-political
interaction, and lVlankot rulers may h. 1\'(' asked thei r
artists to em ulat e w hat the y <.ld mired ill th e l3asohli
imagery. Or, perhaps ivlankot rulers simply hired
members of the sa me ,lrti st famili es .IS their Basohli
pred ecessors d id. In eit h e r case, th e idiom thai
developed in Mankot around
1700
seems to
some initial debt to Baso hli , but soon
OWl'
b CC<l I11t'
a SI..'p -
arate tr'Jdition.
The MFA's earliest Man kot painting is olle of
the most visuall y powerful ima ges ill th e collection.
A dCl1ictioll
o f a woman wrinnI:! in o
t
c- out her hai r after
Ol bath, it is deccpti vel~1 simple, cons ist ing of littk
1110re than.\ sin g le figure and ,1 tret' (p lat e 95). The
wo man looks up, apparc ntl y s ta rtled by a liny bird
at the tree top, but th e saturat ed , cora l-pink b~1(k ­
i
i~
gro und su ggests ;J leve l of c m o ti on th~lt surp asses a
brief moment of s urp r ise. Th e p icture is co ns tru ct-
I.
ed from curv in g lin es t hat create a bstra cted taper in g, swe lling, and flaring forms. Alth ough the painting's qualit y of pass io n a te int e ns itv rese mbles tha t
achieved in th e ea rl y 13asohli /?(l S(l//ulIljari p'lintings,
it is a far m o re minimalis t image. It arri ves at that
intens ity through th e lise of a s in g le, unin te rrupt ed
gro un d plan e of bo ld co lor and the careful n.lhing
of a few flat form s, rath e r than throu g h t he juxt;.lpos iti on of multipl e co lors and patterns.
Becau se of th e lise of si lve r paint and beetle
wings On th e c//(llfk i (s tool ), this painting ha s often
bee n attributed to Basohli. Howcver, the woman's
h ea d is large r and sq u a rer than h ea ds in the
/?(/S(1I1/(/l/jafis. Her eye is large, bu t it do es not s lop e
downward li ke th ose of Basohli, a nd it is less
cn~s­
ce nt -s haped. \fIle w ill see that thi s figure style is typica l of Ma nko t, as is its p la ce m e nt b efo re a strong ,
!lat , p lain b,lCkground in an econo mi ca ll y composL'd
irn Clge. Because o f its li se of s il ve r a nd beet le w in gs,
th e pai ntin g ha s b ee n te ntat ively dated to th e ea rli -
,.
es t perio d o f Ma nkot painting production in tht'
!
.
1(1)0s, w hen the nrna ill t' ntal s tyle of th e first Basohll
Ii USlIl/lUIIJlIn
· ·
1.
illi g ht h ave reson,Hed illost strong )' 1n
ne ighbor in g COUrts.
Th e pa ge frolll a U//$(/l1llllljllri discu ssed in
Four ( plat e 52, p. i() 1)
revl'ill s Basohl i
l~ln lll'n (e on pa int ings fro111 M.l llko t. Th e klllil le
~:hapter
i~lso
hg~1re.
s in thi s im age are ty pical of wL.l11kot , hut tht'
ntl
Pill
I i·'"
1' 11 1 \ '
1' ·\ 1,\ 11 " -
ll g's form a t and th e C()llfi g l1rilliOIl of tht'
I
a rch itect ure-eve n the dccor;:lt ive br;:lckets <'l n d
an imal-head p rotrus io n a t th e end of th e pav il ion's
plin t h- ind icate t hai t he ar tist was inti m atel)'
acquainted with the Baso hl i RnstllJulIljnri tradi tion.
Already, however, we can see that the Mn nko t artis t
is moving i.l\vay from th e orn ame ntal as pects of
early Basohli pa inti ng, in viting the viewer to concentrate 111 0 re full y n n th e bodies of the fi g ures.
In the ca rl )! d ecad es o f th e eightee nth centuq',
the J'v!allkot style moved sti ll further away fro m that
of Baso hli . The nu m ber of pain tings attri buted to
J\llankot from this per iod suggests th at there was
mo rc tha n one pa inte r wo rkin g for the Ma nkot
pa trons. Alth ough no l all Ma nkot pa intings appca r
to be by the same ha nd, they a rc sufficie ntl y si milar
to one anot her to suggest tha t the arti sts were
me mbers of the same fa mily or that they had becn
trained by the same mas ter. I " The pages sha re ce r ~
tain stylist ic trai ts, includi ng sparse settings th"1t
sometimes cons ist of nothi ng mo re th an a single
plane of color. ' [\vo sim pl }' com posed but sophisti cated pa intings tha t we ha ve alread y seen, plates 47
and;1 (pp, 94 and 100), are li kely to be frol11 Ma nkot,
The U(/glll1/(//a page, pl ate 47, is a pa rticularl y fin~
exa mple o f Manko t pa int ing at its mini m,l list best.
' I ' ,bJ' ·,,'1 II,."
dale<
'
I'
,
Anot IH.' r Image 0 a mUSIC,1 Sl e;:
fn un thl' fi rst qua rt er of the t' ightec nth centur y has
II1(' square fo rma t typical 0 f P. 11i.1r1
I ' mgtll /U"lI lln
, " nu ~
scripts (plate 90). It d('picts a little-known mg ll/l
'',II
' , PUIl}<1
' b HI' IIs mu sIC
' t Ileo ",'<IS
podS, and
<
t.::'d AJlIn.
,> , '
'
art ists fo ll owed a diffl' rcnt system of raga categ(~~
r,'z,i11'Io n. all cI lI Sel I l I'"
life rent 'Ilon o gr",lphy tn de pIC t
, " I
' I '., ltel1l po raries
ll USIGl th ellles than th ose 0 1 tle l! cOl
.
in I",<1J<1slhan ,I nc! th e Decca n, As ,1 I'esult
, , Pa han
,.rlg( /I I/{/ IrlS oft' l' ll inc lull"e lit Il'S . In lj ,' "rl,'e
r)' no t.
't>
(ILPl
, ' ctl'(I 111
' p ,llntll1
"
j
II ' '(Hllh . Allin
~S mal L' to lL!'>
I) '"
~. ' ' .
1·' n il'IS .1 \Vo l11 · lll
\(/,,\1111 IS onl' such lltk. 1hl' 1]11 ,lge (. t ~
·
,
' '
'1' .
U 11 of cobras lI v~
\I 1 l'nng. a s ma ll cup 01 md k to it gfO
an
,
,
j I ' lthl'r \\1o l11
Illg I n it clav I)o t. Shl' is iltten dt'l )y.lIl<
,
' S . kcs ',rL'
\v ho hold!'> a vak ~ t ;Ii lll \' whisk (t"i /(/IIrl)" n,1 "
,
.
"
I 'l k i .. freq uently
"
\l'lllTall.'d Ihroll!!,ho ul Illdw , alll]11 I '
'r
~
ri b ·in gs III n t ~
Ohl'rl'd to thl' gUll:-. <l lld o th er power u L L·."
(
,I "
.' I t the SUb)LtI 0
lI.l:. 01 \\'o r:-.hlp .Ind 'IPPL" lselllll1l. HI
"
hich 'I \\'ot1l·ln
t Ill' rrl,,\;lIi 11lol " rek r to ,\ lolk 1.l k 111 \\'
.'
', '
"
.'
. '. " thelll In il "lI .
gIVl" hlrth It I !'> Ilakl'!'> ,lIld Ihl'1l li\l !'>O
,
'1'1
'
. .'
, ',I to Ih;l t of it
ll' 'tJUlld 0 1 Allir; f{.rl~/I/II S ll Hn p.II Ll
I"
' 1l,lkl' ill SO1\1 l'
nl,\.!.I/II/('/(1
poet!")'.
Although this page probably comes fro m Ihe
sa me series as plate 47. it docs not share that pai n t~
, I'" slriking minimai is111. Instead. it situates the
I ll o ~ ,
wo mcn befo re a relat ively elaborate pavilio n, The embellish men t of the slop ing eaves and the shape of the
bracket i1 re remin iscent of the first Basohli Uasam(lIljar;.
Hnweve r, the female figures are not as exaggerated in
th eir physiognomy as those of Basohli . Th e Ma nko t
'I' 'I 'S'S '1 slightl)l ma rc limit ed pa lett e than his
,I I IS t , t . • '
Bas ohli predecessor, an d he does n ~ t ad~l beetle
, . " ~ 'l l' l s" or scriltched metall IC pa lllt to o rn a ~
wlIlgs, Pl'· ,
. .
."
' " ,,'t'·tee Hi s p;:l1 ntlllg techlllq ue IS qlll te
lll L'n l Ill e;: ,
'
•
•
_ d "'111 '1 del icate touch and sub tle shading
rt;' 1InC • \\
'
e)'es of the fig ures 10 keep their (<Ices
aroun(I Ill e
,
I k" 'l fl 100 fl at. The sop histica tion of this
Iro l11 on
t"
.
'
""'1/1111/(1 series IS tu rther un de rscored whe n
tvIan k'() I I/ .'c.
'
,
'1"'" it to a pi.I"t' tro m a ra~(fII1(/ /(/ made 111 a
we U) 1l1 P, ...
0
'
, II 11""' " 5t 'ltt' illustr.lted in plait' \)\) (p. 17H).
Il l 'lg 1 )1
t" ' "
1'1.,\ 1'£
95 (ul'l'usit<,)
"[(.., (/,,'11Iull
Norlh<'rn 1n,li" U'unj"h Hills,
,\ lank"t ), ;ll~ llIt 1(-.'./0
OI',lqu<' \\',lk n:"lur, guld. ~ilwr,
,111,1 "<Tlk will~s UII p;II'<'r
11 ..\
x 11,1)':111
( t" ,1 X .I" ~ . ill. )
n, •.-; )· C""111;l ras"',IIII Y Llllk<'li,)1I
1; .1;I)S
P LATE 9 6 ( 'lhIIW )
Alli,'i N,I.'.:illi
I' rolll ;111 iHustr,I1<'" ('/,1;1111111/" sl'ric~
Nort hern Indi,1 (1'IIIIi;,1I l lil b,
t'lianktli l. "h'1I11 li'U'
~ I .l:\ 11 , ; ': 111 HI '~ ~
S', ill . )
1{,,,.~ · ( :t)l>lll,U,I~\\',llII r
\; ,,111"
l ',)lk... li"11
the heroin e's skirt and of the towel at her feet. \'Ve
might rea d the towel as havi ng just fa llen to revea l
her lovely form.
.
Probably dating to the second half of the eIghteent h centur)'. this painting illustrates a late r stage
in the evolution of the i'vlankot style. On the one
hand, it is typical of Ma nkot painting because it
places figures against a plain background. Also, the
square heads a nd large, heav il y lined eyes are c h a ,~~
ac teristic of Ma nkot femal e figures. However, it dIffers fro m ea rlier [vlankot painting in its drie r. stiffer
lines and figurat io n, and in a lesser degree of o rn amentation. It seems li kel )' that the artist belonged to
a later ge nera tio n, and was a less confident student
of the maste r who pa inted the rng(lI1l(l /(I pages,
Despite th e slight awkwardness of the fig ures, the
paint ing stand s out for its unu sual co lori ng: the
wash of thin, lig ht green paint over beige paper contrasts wi th the flat , clean, thickly painted surfaces
of the figures and keeps th e co m pos itio n from
being static.
r
'BaTHI
I'I.A1' .,
97
\\\1/11/111 ,1/
Her JiJ;ll'trt' 11';111
.'\11t' I/,/<l III .<
N ,)rlhan [m i i" ( l'ul1j,,11 I-/ilk
" 1.lIlk"l l. ,il101I 1 l i (lO
{)I'.lqU ~· \\', Ik'f', ")!l r ;Hld
t:,,1d
"11
P·ll'l'f
.!u . l\ 17 'ru ( ,~~f,
. ill . 1
j{'1~~'( :,,,'Il1.,r,,,W,l, 1l\' ( :" lk .:ti,)11
The Mankot style endured through most of
the eighteenth ce ntur y, and can be found in several
large manuscripts as well as in stand-a lone paint-
ings such as plate 97. This image of a WOlllan
primping with the help of servants belongs to the
sa me ge nre as plate ; 1 (p. 100) and plate 9;, which
depict bathing wome n in various states of undress.
The viewe r is invited to read these pi ctures as
depict ions of Ibdha prepa rin g herself for Kri shna
(and hell(c as devo tiona l im agery), or to enjo)'
them simply as displays o f feminine beauty. Unl ike
th e o th e r ba thin g sce nes, thi s pa intin g does no t
have ove rtones of longing o r loneliness. Inste':1d ,
the group's frenetic, and presulll <l hl )' optilll isti c,
acti vit)' is underscored by the billowing form s of
1- (' ,.
1'1,1\' 1'\1'11'1,
The principality of Jammu stood at the no rthwes tern end o f the Punjab Hill s, and in modern tim es,
gave its name to the larger reg ion in wh ich Basohli
and Mankot are located. Although it was lo ng
know n to have been a source of painting patronage.
the ex tent of that patronage on ly rece ntl y came to
light when a large gro up of manuscript pages was
reatt ributed to a small tow n in the Jammu a rea,
call ed Bahu . Ba hu IVas the capital of a b reak-away
state loca ted across the Tavi River from the original
Jammu ca p ita l, and it was rul ed in th e sevent een th
and eighteenth centuries by a branch of the Jaml1l u
l"O)'a l fam il y.
Th e most ex tensive manuscript in the newly
attributed Ba hu oeuvre, a lengthy RnnUlYnlltI series,
is co mm onl y known as the "Shangri " 1<(/111(1),0//(/
beca use it was fo und in the collect ion of the rulers
of Shangr i, a CO U rt located in th e sta te of Ku lu ,
whic h lies at the So utheastern ext reme of the Punja h
Hills regio n, approx im ately one hundred and fi ft y
mil es fro m Jammu. Fo r lack o f i.\ he tter th eory,
sc hol a rs aSSLIm ed that th e RClIlIlI),(l/I(lI11 i.lnll sLTipt
(and rnan )' pain tin gs in <l similar style) had been
made in th e stat e wh ere it Was fou nd . Hn wl'vl'1". this
l
to KII Iu posed more questi' o ns t I1a n It'
allri bUl Ion
'
an swered .
For d CC<ld es, a rt histo rian s atte mpted to explain
by whiCh
, eir eUl11slances
Ihe
'
' a la rge body 0 f paln
" tJl1g
111 a slyle clearly relaled 10 that of such norther n
states as Basohli and Mankot would ha ve been
made i 11 an area seve ra I d <.lys' Journey
,
;]'''01y. 'rl1C
most preva le nt theon' had artists from th e north
travelin g so ulh and t,;king up tempora l')' res id ence
I 1I. '1'1"
li S sce n tl no v'>'auld not hi.we been
IJ1 KLI
, pro·
b
lo ne
!em',,'
"
d no
< Ie exce pt th at Kulu rulers comJ111SS
po rt rai ts from th ese ar ti sts. portr<lit s of th e Bi.l hl1
hranc'I1 o ,' Ial11T11 l1 rul ers, ho,vever, wefe III
' t I1C ~,lme
..
51)'le <'\5. II)t'. "SI
.
" ll1gs. and I't 'IS
. l<.lI1g.n", Utl/llllYill/a
palnt
;:I t i
t , c panl
' I'Iant)'
' th
' t'\Il gS
on the I, a:'l' ~ t) ,' t Ili' S SII11
1IiI_
\vcre reassig ned to Bahll . ; Accord in g to th is new
th eo ry. th e Rn11lnY(lIl(l m a nuscript changed hands
later, leav in g its place of man ufac ture a nd end ing
li p in the collectio n of the Sha ngri royal fam ily.
The M FA does not have a page from the
Sha ng ri /Bahu l?aJII(lYflIlfl, but it does ho use seve ral
pages th at appea r to be by th c sa mc arti st o r arti sts
''I. ATE 98
/(r ;"/1II0 Hllli "$ji" Iii.' GI'f hl$ rl/l,/
G.l!'S
Nllnhern India ( Punjah I·\ills,
Balm ), aooull j oO
Opa'lue \\'JI<' r.:olur a nd sih'er tin
paper
1(". x 1+ 1 ( 111 \(>',. x <)~ 8 in. )
Ross.C.... nl.lr,ls l'·'I111r C.,lk;:t ioll
I j. ll\{14
as th e ea rli est pages of that manu sc ript. A painting
of Kri shna, pla yin g his flut e a nd s urro und ed b y
ad o ring Co \·... s and gopas, ex hibit s milny of the di stin cti ve traits found in th e ea rl y Bnhu styl e (p late
9 ). FigureS ha ve he;wy. curved lo \ver jaws and noses
8
that point sli gh tl y d ownwa rd . So m e have locks of
\\".wy hair falli ng fro l11 th ei r te mpl es. Plants, 1110st of
\v hi ch arC ex trem ely abstract , esta blish the setti ng.
Plm it//! Hills PCl i lll i ll~:e 1; -
A lotus pond in the foreground, for example, is a
simplified decorative band of repeated motifs. The
feathery, weeping branches at the top of the painting appear in many images in this style and serve to
lighten and enliven the composition, which is otherwise static and iconic. As in imagery from Basohli
and Mankot, everything is set against a single-color
plane, but Bahu paintings such as this one tend to
be more crowded, with a larger number of figures
and setting elements that occupy a greater percentage of the page.
Artists working in this style created several
ragamala sets in the square format that we saw in
Mankot raga paintings. An illustration of Devagiri
Ragini (plate 99) depicts two women worshiping at
a Shiva temple. The temple is small, but its tower is
in the typical parabolic shape found throughout
northern India, with an enormous, pearl-fringed
parasol (an emblem of eminence) shading the entire
structure. Enshrined within the temple is a small
[inga-yoni, the phallic emblem (/illgam) of Shiva
standing in a base shaped like female genitalia (yoni).
The lingam is decorated with flowers; ornamentation and anointment of a shrine object are common
forms of pllja (temple worship) in Hinduism. ~he
women bring a garland and additional flowers 10
a basket to offer to the god. Behind them stands a
lively, feathery tree much like those found in the
previous painting. The women of the Bahu style,
with red lips and prominent eyelashes, tend to look
like they are wearing heavy cosmetics.
I
with those
.
I f we compare this ragarml a page
from Mankot (plates 47 and 96, pp. 94 and 175) we
can see how the two regional styles differ. The. Bahu
page is painted in broader, rougher strokes, ~Ith.
c
"
.
I
d I' ate quality IS
lewer mtrlcate detaIls. The ess e IC
certainly visible in the faces of the women. The
.'
erall impact,
Ba h u page is, however, bolder Ul Its ov
.
.
I er and more
pnmanly because the figures are arg
.
. . . h
I
also contrast
.
simply composed. 1 heir Itg t co ors
d The artIst
more strongly with the dark backgroun .
. I
hues especIal y
. not
employed a number of unexpecte d
d ' but did
the chocolate brown of the backgro un ,
.
. 'h'
.'
-,
ful color Juxta<ll leve the vlbratJl1g effect of master
.
" ,
_,
. .' . s. There IS
POSItIons tound JI1 early Basohh pamtUlg
.
. I.
d (
-t early pahan
a so an unusual yellow bor er 11105
. ,
h B' hu ragal1laJas
Pcllntll1gs have red borders); t e a
seem to have differentiated the four major raga families by border color.18 However, the square format
of pages in the ragamalas of both styles suggests
that Bahu shared a tradition with Mankot. This page
shape is not found in musical imagery made in
Pahari states to the south and east, a fact that further supports the argument for attributing the Bahu
group to the northern area of the Punjab Hills.
The debate over the reattribution of a painting
style might seem arcane, but relocating a major
group of artists alters our understanding of the
broader cultural history of the Rajputs of the Punjab
Hills. With the new theory, the Kulu court of the
late seventeenth and early eighteenth century loses
some of its status as an intellectual center, and the
court at the tiny principality of Bahu, formerly
unknown to most historians, suddenly gains interest
as the site of considerable artistic activity. Perhaps
more importantly, the new theory situates the vast
majority of early Pahari painting activity in the
northern parts of the region, in a cluster of neighboring states that appear to have shared aesthetic
preferences and stylistic conventions.
99
Dcmg;r; Rag;";
PLATE
From an illustrated ragamala
series
Northern India (Punjab Hills.
Bahu). about 1710
Opaque watercolor. gold. and
silver on paper
21 x 20.S cm (SI.4 x S}{. in.)
Ross-Coomaraswamy Collection
17·)1l6
!/Vfandi and tBilaspur
Moving southward to the central area of the Punjab
Hills, we encounter the states of Mandi and Kahlur.
The latter is more commonly known to art historians by the name of its capital, Bilaspur. The two
states were joined by marriage in the second half
of the seventeenth century, so subsequent generations of rulers were cousins. Both states produced
Mughal-inspired paintings in the seventeenth century and then developed more distinct styles in the
eighteenth century that evolved further and further
from a Mughal source. Today, early eighteenth-century Mandi paintings are prized primarily for their
unique and even bizarre qualities of rough directness and exaggerated expressionism.I'I Bilaspur, by
contrast, created relatively traditional paintings,
some of which reflect the folksy roughness of
Mandi, but most of which are quite refined. Unlike
the northern states we just discussed, Mandi and
Bilaspur appear to have received little or no influence from the early painting style practiced at or for
Basoh1i. Instead, their paintings bear faint traces of
Mughal inspiration.
Prm,iab Hills P(/j"'it/,~ to· 179
to be a great m<\ gician o r eve n an incar nation of
Shi v,\. He is sa id to have bee n capi.\ble of e rasing th e
faces from a co in by si mpl y squ eez ing it b etween his
fin oe rs, and with th e ass ista nce of a potent amulet
"
that he wore a round his neck at all tim es, he was
<\ble to fl y to th e so urce of th e sac red ri ve r Ganges
fo r a ritual bath eac h morning at sunrise.:"
A portrait of Sidh Sen in the M FA coll ec ti on
cap tures seve ral of the ruler's unu su . tl physical
qualities while challe ng ing o ur not io ns o f portraiture. The painting sh ows Sidh Sen standin g in pa rtial profile in the traditi ona l M ughalmanne r i.\gainsl
a blue backdrop (plate 100) ." He is depicted with
the bare chest and sho rt, wrapped dhot i of a Hindu
worshiper, and with a fin e covering of body hair
ca refully added to his bared arm s, legs, and stomach. T h at this port rait differs fro m it s J'vtu gh . d
ancestors is immedia tel y a ppare nt because Sidh Sen
is d epicted with four arms, which serve to co mpare
him to Shiva, the powe rful Hindu god of dest ruction." Sidh Se n also has a third eye painted on his
forehead, oriented vertica ll y like the third eye of
Shi va. He wears a leopard skin like the god, and he
PLATE 100
,\Ialr,lr",,, Sdlr .'i,'" ",. '\/,lIIdi ".;
" .\/"m/t"';llIlim,
"IShii'"
.\',)r1hern Irul i,1 1I'IIIliah Hill ~,
[I
II,
I,
.\ I,HHi i l, .Ibout 1 7 ~'i
()I'aqul' w,ltL'rclllllr .111.1 glll{i "n
pal"']"
l 7 _lxlx.~un l lo
. .
. .\ 7 . 111. 1
",'i,h .\h.:l""d h md
2'''11.1_\7
So me of th e most di stin cti ve Mandi paintings
were made for Raj a Sidh Sen, <1 remarkabl e fi gure
who rul ed from 1684 to 1727. Unlike so man y Pa hari
rulers, whose biographies are skelet al at best, Sidh
Se n enj oyed
i:1
colo rful reputation th ,H su rvives in
local legend. Appa rentl y tall and substantial in
frame and covered in thick body hair, this kin g li ved
to approx im ately one hundred ye ars of age, His
ph ys ical vigo r, co mbined with his pmve.r ful ~o m.mit ­
ment to wors hip or Shi va, inspired th e Imaginations
of his subjects, a nd in his own d<.\)' he was th o ught
ca rri es i.l sm all , hourg lass-sha ped drum and a tri dent, bo th e mble ms of Shi va:" The triple sectari . l11
ma rks (ti/nks) o n his arms, legs, and chest indiGlk'
his dedication to Shi va, whil e m ost of hi s relati vel y
simple jewelry, cons istin g of strung seed s i.l nd
a mul ets, is appropriate to a Shi va-wors hipin g
(Shnivn) ascetic. His turban, ea rrin g, and turban
ornaments, however, indicate that h e is also a king.
In the esoteric fo rm s of Hindu wo rship known
collec tively as Tantra, d evo tees often seek e nli gh ten ment throu gh self- ide ntifica tion w ith th e di vine.
Th e final goal of tantri c worship is n o t simpl y to
revere God, but to become God. This painting ma y
suggest that Sidh Sen reached that goa l, o r thai he is
an incarnation of Shi viJ, takin g te mpo rar y resid encc
o n ea rth in th e form of a mi gh ty king. In eith er
case, the portrait shows Sidh Sen as he Wi.\S und erstood to b e, rath er than as he actually lo u ked .
The king's large facial features and the blunt
flatness of his silho ue tt e, co mbined w ith a rou gh ness of surt~\Ce crea ted by stippl ed hod y hai r a nd
modeled leo pard sk in , a re typ ic . \1of th e rv1<lndi style
of th e earl y eightee nth (~.' ntury. The hhtt . lnt s)'11l hll liSIll and relati ve ugliness of th e king's p ro fil e arc ntl-
set by the delicacy of the painting's lines; th e depic~ion of the tigurc co n tains small passages of beauty.
II1c1 uding the d ynam ic styli za tio n of the tur ba n
forl11. Ma ndi paintings often lie so m ewhere between
powerfu l primiti vism and oafish fo lksiness. between
expressive abstract io n and inept draftsmanship. At
the ir best, however. Ivlandi pa in tings appea l st ro ngly
to a modernist sensibility.
O ne o f th e m os t strikin g chara cteri sti cs o f
jvlandi painting in th is per iod is its choice of subj ect
matter: epic a nd other narra tive subj ec ts arc rare,
roman tic subjects a nd rngllll1o /as a rc un known.
lvlost of the paintin gs mad e in early eighteent h-ce ntur y /Vlandi are portraits o r ico nic im ages of deities.
Sidh Sen's ded ica tion to Shi va can ex plain some
of the tendenc ), awa)' fro m bltnkli-tinged subjects.
although a few Ma ndi ico ni c images depict Vishn u
and Ihe goddess.
Pa inti ngs fro l11 Bilaspur, b)' cont rast, consist
pri mari ly of romantic and VnisJ/I/tll'n subjects (those
relat ing to the god Vis hnu ). Co mpared to the raw
power of Ma ndi pa in tings, images from Bilaspur
tend to be prettier [lnd mo re delicate in both composition and fin ish. The most com lllo n genre in
Bilaspur paint ing is the mgmlln ln; several similar
se ries were created, apparently over the course of a
few ciecacies.C1 A depict ion of Devt/gi r; Hagil l ; ( ph't~
lUI ) represents th is trad ition , \vith relatively gra ceful
figures set in an d around i.1 di st incti ve type of whi te
b UI'11( 'mg that appea rs in everyone 0 t' tl1e Bih' spur
.
rogal/ltl/as. Th ese buildings arc alwa ys topped \vlt h
tin}' towe rs, roo fed with brief caves (s uch that th e
bUildin g ret;.l in s a v("' r), fla t, rect<l ngu lar
and
fe~1)
· t e dW'I t I1
d ,,.... u)ra
I . I I II
, ,' -I,-'s Bdas pu
lllU lip e S 1<1 OW I L ....
r
fi gures o fit' 11 have I OIl~ f<lces o n ovoid hei.l ds.
\IVe haw airt..'adv :ee n a represe nt ,llio n of
/J{, I'(I~~iri U(/~illi
lll'lclL' ill Bahu lJa lllmu (plate t)t),
~'
. . ·J"ll m ent
p. l iM). I.ike thaI vers io n, tht' BIi;1Splll tI t:<.
. ,
'1
.
.
.' . \ . f wo rshiP \\dlllt:
S lOWS a wu maJl pertornllng Iltt!.1 :-, II
. .,
.
_
'itin ns of th t
•lll a llt:nda llt st.llld s Iw, but th e LOm pos
.
t\ , . . .
. ..
' . II . . do th e form s of
\0 I{/~ III/S differ dralllaIIL-"I Y· .1:-'
.. '
., .
.
. . TI . . dlf"kre llL ls
wo rshIp th . lt O (dlp y the herolnc's. It..::-.l:
.
,' tt en t)], 01',11
j
!'o Uggl's t th . 11 the two SIi.ltl'S Shi.lrt'l a " I I
1
I
I"
I '
l!""l nlW (sud
r "llt l O Il of )..!,cilc r;.ll nII.!L/Il/II (/ ]L"Onog ' t '
..
..
~
, \\Itl rshl pl ng ).
.
t l.1t but h k n ew to d e pIct twO wo ]l1111
II
TI , Bihsp llr "erlU
II
. I 110 spccili ( Vi:-. ll i. d prot ot ype.
.
,h(e" .fragr<.lllt
"'O il ... how!'> ih hero ine p rcpaflng \0 ~ ,
>
I
camphor leaves on a st;:lI1d in the shnpe of Vish nu's
m. ln-Ci.lgle, Garudi.l. The small, ro und object on top
of th e stand is a slttlligrt1I1Ul, or nonfigufi.ll emblem
of Vishnu . The interpretatio n of the mgilli as wo rshipi ng Vishnu (instead of Shi va, as show n in the
Bi.lh u ve rsion) is appropr iate ill the predominatel y
VoishI/LIl'(/ Bilnsp ur tradition .
This painting dates from the mid -eightee nth
ct'ntllr y. II re fl ects a wides pread trend awa y from Ihl'
decorative and expressive styl izatio n fou nd in the
ca rl i!..'r tr<ld itions of the nort h, and toward 1110 re
\1a lu r. llistic representa ti on. Some or Bihlspur's tenlic'ncy 'IWi.l )' from bold abstr;.lCtion might be trilLed
PLA TE 10 1
/)"nr~iri U,r~i'"
Fn~m
.111
illustr:iI..:d nr.",ulllrl"
Nnnlwril ludi.r 11'1I1lj.LI> I·tills.
Hil.r~l'\l rl
.rho\IL 1;;0
.md .!!uld
t )I'all\l~" w,II,'r,'olor
!'>XI,).(>(\l1 l ", ' , '1: ;-
\{< .ss-C<". 111.1 r.I~\\" ,11lI~'
l :•• ll,·.... i<'" L; ..,!III
in. )
,HI
The .7I rtisls J\'fanakll and 'Na illsllk"
Up to this point. wc' have adhered to the old-fash-
II
ioned m eth o d of ca tego ri zi ng Pahari painting styles
I
by region, even where that method has proven
problematic, beca use th ere is so little information
. tbollt Pahari artists o r patronage pri o r to th e second quarter of th e eighteenth centur y. As we turn
our focu s towa rd tht' mid-eighteenth century. we
find a sig nifi cant increase in the amount of ex lant
doculllelltatioll ha ving to do with artist families and
their activities. This documentation indicates that
painte rs in this period worked for morc than ant.:'
court, and that as OJ result , st yles c ro ssed regio nal
boundaries. By 1800. art ists in far-tlung loca tions
throu ghout th e Punjab Hi lls were working in such
simi lar id io ms that it is now extrem e ly difficult . if
not in1possible. to ass ign their exti.\Ilt paintings to ;l
distinct regio n.
We are beginning to understand how this latcr.
"pa n- Pahari." st},le ca me to be thanks to recent work
to un cove r the artis ts' biographies. For now, our best
documentation of this so rt relates to th e ac ti vit it'S
of a famil y of artists based in Gu ier. a sta te jllst
so uth of Nurpur in the central regi o n of the Punjab
Hills. Scholars too k inte rest in this partic ular bmil)'
because ('wo m embe rs left behind a small numbe r
of inscribed paintings and manusc ript s th i.lt bon..'
witness to their mak e rs' nam es-Ma naku and
Nainsukh . Suc h insc ription s are so rare amon g
Pahari paintings th at th ey tend to attra ct considerabl e attention. Eventuall y, addi ti onal paintings wert.:'
attribu ted to the two artists on the basis of stylistic
similnrity. until sizeable personal oeu vres had bet-'n
identifi ed for ench man .
the co urt 's exposure to Mughal -style painting in
its ea rli er history. Bilasp ur and Mandi appear to
have developed painting idioms that were quite separate from those of Basn hli and its neighbors.
1'0
Howe ve r, thi s di fference in style might be due to the
t ime period in whi ch the pai nt ings we re produced i.1S
much as the region: wc will see that a ti.l ste for great e r naturalism beca me preva lent throu ghout the
Punjah Hills in the l<J tter half of the eighteenth
ce ntur y.
It \Vas not until sc holars began to look outside
th e realm of painting. however, that the y found
impo rt ant biographical information that linkt.:'d Ih L'
two artis ts to Olle another and to a large network of
painte rs who wo rked hefo re and afte r th e m . iVlu ch
of th a t information came from record s a t m~ljor
Hindu pil g rima ge sit es. Te mpk complexes l11 i.l in tain ed logs that recorded tht' nam es of visitin ~ \\'01'.
shipers. The logs also occasionally lis ted the visito rs'
lin eages, th e approx im <ltL' date of t hei r ilrr iva l. thL'
nalll es of Ihos L' w ith whom Ih t'Y Irilve!t'd, il nd the
purpose of thL'ir visi ts. B)' co mbing through tht'SL'
~ecords, scholars have pieced together historical
Information about individuals-such as artistswhose social status was too humble to be mentioned
in the scant dynastic chronicles of the Punjab Hills.
~ small group of inscribed portrait drawings depictmg members of an artist family has also proven
useful in determining Manaku and Nainsukh's
family tree.
The documentation revealed that Manaku and
Nainsukh were brothers, sons of an artist named
Seu, who was often referred to by the honorific
"Pandit." Pandit Seu was based in GuIer. We know
little of his painting activity, although a large body
of work has been attributed to his hand on the basis
o~ stylistic affinities with paintings known to be by
hIS sons.~~ The sons painted in surprisingly different
styles. Manaku is associated with a colorful, graphically bold style that is dearly rooted in earlier Pahari
traditions. If we look over the course of his career,
however, changes in figuration and composition
offer hints at future trends in Punjab Hills painting.
Nainsukh, on the other hand, practiced an innovative and individual style from the very beginning.
That new style provided a source of inspiration
for subsequent generations of painters throughout
the region.
Manaku is associated with four major manuscript projects and a handful of stand-alone paintings. The earliest of his projects is a monument,al
s '
f hlch
enes known as the Siege of Lanka, pages 0 w
We saw in Chapter Four's discussion of the
Ramaymw (plates 61, 62, and 63; pp. 114- 16 ). The,
R maS
s '
enes, which illustrates the battle between a
1110 k
' d mon army
n ey and bear troops and Ravana s e
'
' d sheets of
(det.al'I , p, 182), was pamted
on oversize
,
paper, too large to be held comfortablY by the vleWe 2,
• '
g pages
v1vtn
r, It was never finished and the sur
includ f
'' ,
t'· lly colored
e ully colored pamt1l1gs, par la
paintings, and uncolored drawings,
, 1's ingenu Pages from the series reveal the arUS ent h
ity' _
.,
d
I pm ; t e
In lomposltlOn and character eve 0
dr"
, ,
draftsman,
,
awmgs mdlCate that he was a master
Wo k'
,
-d
h' nd EarlIer
r mg With a loose but conh ent . 1 '
, .
Pah.'
,
R
),tlllil serIes,
MJ artists made several other tl/1ll'
but th"
.
'nnovative tear Siege of I.clIlka boasts many 1
'f
tur.... d"
. I'
'ternretattOn 0
..
s
an
IS possibly the hve lest 111
t
'
th
1 ,ultl serIes
e group,' All of the other early Utll1ll ) {
•
are composed of much smaller pages with a more
pronounced horizontality. In keeping with the conventions of early Pahari painting, these manuscript
illustrations tend to show small numbers of figures,
usually standing on a ground line at the base of the
painting. Like many early Rajput paintings, these
early Ramayal1as appear to be acted out on rudimentary stage sets, with a minimum of props added
to establish a sense of setting.
Because the pages of the Siege of Lanka are so
large (almost three feet across), and because they are
proportionally taller than earlier manuscript pages,
the artist could depict multiple figures, sometimes
within broad and elaborate settings. By tilting up
the ground plane in a manner not unlike that of
Mughal paintings, the artist created the means for
us to see many different figures and vignettes simultaneously, and acquire a sense of spatial depth with
a foreground, middle ground, and background. This
technique also offers more "elbow room" for the figures, who, in many cases, move with a dynamism
and grace not found in earlier paintings. Hence,
although the figures are mostly flat and even cartoonish in their features, and although the palette
consists of the usual Pahari array of saturated primary colors juxtaposed with muted earth tones, the
series reveals an urge toward naturalism not found
in its predecessors.
The Siege of La11ka is attributed to Manaku
on the basis of its similarity to two different manuscripts, an earlier unfinished Ramayana possibly
made by his father in Guler,111 and a later Gita
Govillda bearing Manaku's name. In both subject
matter and style, the Siege of Lanka appears to pick
u where the earlier Ramayana left off. Similarities
b~tWeen the two indicate that they were made in, or
by members of, the same workshop, probably work, 'the state of GuIer and/or for patrons in the
tng lfl
Guier court,
,
.' .
Manaku's Gita GOl'lIlda bears an Inscnptlon
. 't wIno. Although scholars argued for
dattng .I ver the
,
' 0 f t h'IS dedappropnate
trans Iatton
d
deca
es ' 0 s -ription, it is noW generally accepted that
,
lCawry
111. c
'
,
Mnaku painted the manuscnpt
for a female
It says a med Malini. The MFA does not have a
patron'. na this manuscnpt.,
Desplte
'd'f'C
'
1 lerences 111
~')'lge
" hom
d b)'ed matter, the Siege of Llwka and Gita
Size an SU
'oJ
PI. ATE ]02
,\Ilrihul\'d Ip ;" 1.1Il.1ku I .h:t iw
,1hPlH
l i~o - l i tlO )
['ril/w Ulll5" ~ llit' [ml/l Godd,'H
I·rpll).m iIlu\tr,l1nl lll.lllu., aipI
uf til\' HlliISOI ·, I/'1 /' un/ll,1
.'\prlhall lrllli.l
IPuniab 11ill~ .
pr"b .dll~· t ;u!t:r l, ,lh'\UI Ii-II '
t
lp.llJlll' \\,.lll'r.:ol" r, ~"Id , ;lnd
!~, \~. (,,1ll ( /I
,I! , in . l
I•• hn t ;.ln l l l ~'r ( .• " .Iid!!<· l .t.IIl'( lion
"'I . I ·I ~
Govinda share figure types with relatively square
heads and lively postures . In the Gita Govi",ia,
Ma nak u moved towa rd a more refin ed pa inting
technique in whi ch clea ner outl ines create smoo th
forms, and some of th e more jarring juxtapositi ons
of bright and muddy colors found throughout the
Siege of Lal/kn are rejected in favor of a more harmonious palette.
Manaku continued th ese refi neme nt s in his
third major projec t, a length y ill ustrated ve rsion of
the /31l(1gm 1ata Pllrm/(/, a multi vol um e tex t ded icat ed
to the Hindu god Vishn u. Although it was a popular
subj ec t for Rajput artists a nd pa tron s, most Rajput
ve rsions depict on ly th ose sections reco untin g th e
life of Krishna . In fa ct, only two of the Blwgavntfl
PIlf(lIla 'S twe lve chapters relat e to Krishna, Toward
the midd le of his career, ivIanaku embarked on the
monumental task of illustratin g that
[,111'(11/(/
in
fu ll. As with the Siege oj' Lallka, he never tini shcd
this se ri es, but th e su rvivi n g pages indicate that it
wou ld ha ve bee n m ass ive. ",
Manaku's BIUlglll'tltll PllffllICI contains subjccts
no t illustrated an ywh ere elsc. but th ey <Ire t'i.lsil y
ide ntiiled beca use each fini shed page has th e (0 1' responding ve rse w rit ten ne"t ly on the reve rse.
Pla te 102 de picts o ne such subject , frol11 an earl y
section of th e text that td ls the sto ry o f Ki n g
Prithu , an ea rl y rul e r wh o is somet im es con sidered
an avata r of Vishnu. In thi s image, Pr ilhu attempt s
to sh oot th e earth godd ess, Bhumi , who has ta ke n
1
,
ble
d m ol. ,ow.
., c
" TI,e k' 'In g was angry o ver a te rn.thdor
II' ro u g ht that had s t r icke n hi s kingdom. He
'c
thr
. . ea rth godd ess and c ha sed after h e r,
) M'll. Cci II
o t n PUllIS
l e I' f
or Ci.1USll1
In)
eatC I1111P
. I1 I
' g.
' u r y to Il .iS
,. . . I n sub
people
. seque nt pages, we see the coW co n 0
lit
1I t lat h e sh oi
uld n o t h<u01
her an
\ II1 CIIl 11 P ," h
d
I() f ferin g' to nurture all th e populations
of
th e ear th
.
as
well
"
.
.
'
I '
,IS V,IfI OUS h eave nl y It gu res) In eXchan ge'f0 1.
I .' elf re'. pc ,.
.t 1'1, e m y t I, IS
. on C () ( seve ra I II",t ca n b'c
(lied when ex plai ni ng th e sa n ctil Y of coWS in India.
The image is s impl e a nd direct, ca pturin g th e
l'S:-'l'I1(C of th e sto rY w ith an economy of ti gures in a
, IZ"
ltln g. Howeve r. .It bears tra Ces
gl'.J) L' r'lr
· • I oUldoor
' se
.
..
III Ih l ' .
'
.
I
S'
inn ovations rvlan a ku introduced I n t 1e lege
"r Glllk,l. Althou gh the li gures m ove p a rall el 10 Ihe
attened
picture p la ne <1I1e1 therefore fee l so me",I,at fl
paClo1l5
·
'
th e background suggests a deeper, m o re s
se ttin g through its d epi ction of a se ries of h ill ocks
ieaciJl1g to a 111gh
h~nzon
on forms observed
111
lin e. The trees are based
<
nature', their fo li 'lge
Ilas not
b ee n. tidi ed
. into the
. ' flat patte rn s found ii' .s0 many
ea rli er
RaJPut . painti n. gs. Also ' the fi gures (a re more
..
<
ll1g an d
conv inCingly In 1110 tl o n , th eir bodies le'lt"
.
0
tur n in g in a way th at su ogests th at the)' b ea r we loht
.
<Ind are exert m g them selves.
n
pa intin g style ha s chan
' -d so m ewhat
. Manaku's
.'
' go
Sin ce th.e SIege oj Ulllka. He no lo nge r reI·l es
- ..<\ S- flill y
' emp Ioys
on ou thn e .10 d efine forms.
a nd instead
some, shad
. ing,
" itS we .see on' th e cow's neck an d back.
T he h gUl e 01 Pn thu IS t}' pICal of the I'" ,\Illl Sc n. pt; h e
I
the fo rm of a cow. 'I The kin g \\fas angry over a terrible d rough t that ha d s tri cken h is kingdo m " He
blamed th e eart h goddess a nd c hased after her,
threa ten ing to puni sh her fo r causin g injur y to his
peop le, I n sub seq ue nt pages, vve sec th e cow co n-
vinci ng Pr ithu th at he sho uld not harm her and
offering to nurture all the populations of the earth
(as well as variolls heavenly fi gures) in exc hange for
1hal
th e ir res pect. The myth is one of several
call be
ci ted w hen explaining the sanctity of cows in Ind ia.
The im age is simple and direct. captu ring th e
essence of the storv wit h all econo m y of ti gures in a
gt'nera lizcd ol1l do~r sett ing. However, it bears traces
of Ihe innovation s Ma naku introd uced in the Siege
el
of 1.(I/lkll. Althou gh th e figures m ove p<lrall to the
b
pic tu re pla ne and therefore feel so mewha~ t fl attened
the .backgrou nd suggests a deeper' m o re spac "Ious '
settin g through its depictio n of a se ries of hillocks
lea dlll g to <l lugh honzon lin e. The trees. are b ased
on for ms o bser ved in nature', their ~O II""l' ge I1<1S not
bee n. tidied
. into th
. e' fl at pattern s found "II1 so many
ea rh er
IbJ
put
pallltlllgs"
Also , th e IIC'gl'l"eS"die
" mo re
.'
.
.
co nVln
. ClJ1
. gJy 111 mOtion , their bodies leall"
-, II1g and
turn ll1 g 111 a way
th at sugges ts that they be",11" welg
" I11
.
are exe rtll1g themselves.
pa inting style has ch"
lllged
"
I1.11
Ma naku's
.
.'
{
s olllew
sll1ce th,e SIege oj Lal1ka, He no longe r reli es as full y
' ( e Ill p IDyS
on o utlll1 e .to define for llls , a nd I"nstead
so me shadll1g, as we see o n the cow's neck a nd back
1('
T he fi gure of Prithu is typica l of the 111 ,"11111 SLll
""" pl ; I"
i.1I1d
I'LATE 103
:\ttrihu l ... d 10
l\ I,maku
(;Kli\' ...
,lh.. ul 17!I)-(,O )
I.:r;;/III<I \,lIlish,'j [mill H;s
I'm',)r;'"
F~(lill Olll illuSlra l ... d ll1il UUs(fipl
01 Ill<" lill"sun"" I'lImlJrl
Nonll<"rIl India (PUlljab l ' l ill~,
I'r.. hahly t~ul ... r ), ;lhoul 17(io
Opaque' \'";ll<'fllllor ,HId guld
on P"I'<"r
JO X 40.4011 ( 11 ,
(~in
xl; ·~ ill. f
uf l\lr. ,111,11IIf", lohn [)
]\1.1( 1)011:1[,1
(i l ..ll'l.!
.
,, rI
I
I,
ii
,
I
, I
I'
II
III:
:
i
I
I
Ii
k
11
I
i
has a rounded nose, an impassive expression, and
a spiked crown, a costume feature often signifying
ancient royalty (whereas kings of Manaku's own
period wore bejeweled turbans). Dramatic and
expressive coloration has given way to a more subdued, natural palette. The overall effect is very different from that of paintings from Basohli, Mankot,
or Jammu.
A final painting associated with Manaku comes
from another Bhagavata Puralla series that can be
attributed either to the master or to his heirs (plate
103). This series is larger and more square in format
than the earlier Bhagavata Purana, and like most
other treatments of the puralla, it focuses on the
later chapters dedicated to Krishna. As such, it
serves as a continuation of the initial series, which
was apparently disrupted while Manaku was still
working on the first sections of the text.
The painting illustrates one of the earliest literary references to Radha, who is mentioned but not
named in the Bhagavata Purana. ! This text notes
that one gopi received more attention from the god
than others. Reveling in the perception that Krishna
favored her, the gopi playfully demanded that he
carry her on his back. Feeling that her behavior
reflected a fundamental lack of respect for his
divinity, Krishna promptly disappeared, leaving her
stunned and alone. The verse warns against being
overconfident in Krishna's affections. In this illustration, the story is told in continuous narration showing the gopi twice, first reaching for Krishna on the
right then touching a void on the left. Her situation
is mimicked by plants at either end of the painting:
on the right, a delicate, flowering creeper embraces
a hearty, thick-trunked tree, while on the left, the
flowering plant has been replaced by a weeping willow which stands next to (but does not embrace)
the larger tree. We have already seen the embracing
tree motif in an illustration of Abhis(lrik£l NCl)'ika
painted probably twenty years later (plate 53, p. 102).
For the next forty years, Pahari paintings featured numerous elements first introduced or popularized by Manaku. These new motifs and stylistic
characteristics were initially transmitted to younger
members of Manaku's own workshop when they
were employed as colorists on the master's later
manuscript illustrations. VVe know the names of
l
Manaku's sons, and that they continued to work
as artists, but we cannot identify their individual
oeuvres. It is likely, however, that they initially
learned to paint by serving as their father's extra sets
of hands, bringing his visions to fruition. Later, they
would have developed individual styles, some of
which would continue the evolution from flat, lively
narration to more naturalistic, subtle expression.
Before understanding the origins and progressions of the next generation, however, we must
examine the work of Ivlanaku's younger brother,
Nainsukh, who was perhaps Pahari painting's most
original artist. With the elder brother, we know relatively little about biography or patronage, beyond
the brief and enigmatic mention of Malini, the
woman who commissioned his Gita Govillda. VVe do
not know if Manaku remained in his home state of
GuIer throughout his career, or if his manuscripts
were made for more than one royal family. With
Nainsukh, we know quite a bit more.
After a training period during which we
assume he worked under his father and older brother,
possibly in GuIer, Nainsukh took a long-term position as the primary court artist to Balwant Singh,
the ruler of Jasrota, a small state located near Mankot
in the northern part of the Punjab Hills. Balwant
Singh died in 1763, and strangely enough, his succesSor does not seem to have offered further patronage
to Nainsukh. Instead, the artist found new work in
Basohli, from Raja Amrit Pal (reigned 1757-76 ). We
can assume that he stayed there for the rest of his
career. Like the 1690 RaSamalljari inscription naming
Devidasa, a Nurpur artist, as the maker of a manuscript for the Basohli ruler Kripal Pal, the biography
of Nainsukh indicates that some Punjab Hills artists
left their home states (presumably the sites of their
artistic training) to find work elsewhere.
\I
Nainsukh worked for Balwant Singh in Jasrota
for about twenty years, and the paintings he created
during that time suggest an unusually intimate
relationship between artist and patron. Some of
Nainsukh's Jasrota paintings depict Balwant Singh
in remarkably informal situations: getting his beard
trimmed by a barber, reading in bed at night, or
viewed from a distance as he stood, very much
alone, at the top of his palace. These ima~es reveal
a hUlllan aspect of the king unlike almost any other
sd
l'I
royal portraits made in India, and they stand at the
opposite end of the spectrum from the four-armed
portrait of Sidh Sen illustrated in plate 100.
Although Indian painting largely comprises
depictions of humans and anthropomorphic deities,
the tradition can rarely be called humanist. The goal
of most Indian painting is to reveal and celebrate a
world that is better than the one we know, and in
doing so, the art form calls on its audience to turn
away from the concerns and achievements of mere
mortals. Even Mughal history paintings and portraits, despite their claims to record details observed
firsthand, aim to celebrate the nearly mythic beauty
and power of the empire. Nainsukh's portraits, by
contrast, emphasize the humanity of their subjects.
An image of a Brahmin priest, probably painted
by Nainsukh relatively early in his career, depicts the
solemn observation of three types of worship in an
entirely straightforward, nonromanticizing manner
(plate 104). The painting is typical of Nainsukh'S
style because it offers what must be an honest,
unpretentious likeness of the priest, down to the
tufts of hair growing from his ears, and because it .
maintains a sense of quiet isolation and even emptIness. The priest appears three times. At the top, he
swings a bundle of flaming sticks around him; the
sticks are probably made of a fragrant material and
their circulating smoke would serve to purify and
sanctify the priest and his surroundings. Beneath this
scene, he holds a gourd and some leaves above his
head, as he prepares to smash or shake the
over a ceramic water pot. Numerous ancient Hmdu
, I
I
. to which one
fltua s use vessels as temporary a tars, m
places offerings of various sacred elements. In other
't I
.
'
. ' 19 pots and
n ua s, water IS showered tnto the air usn
lad I
d
.
.
'
-I' which of these
es an leatv sprigs. It IS not lear
,
" ,
'
h' l' re head and
fltuals the prtest IS conductlllg, but Is)a
I
-h
f
d white clot 1
c est and his simple garment 0 wrappe
.
i d'
.
At the nght, the
n Kate that it is a solemn occasion.
,
"
..'
d' ' water from
,
pnest SitS 111 front ot a butldtng, nppmg
. 'II' lPS flICker
'
t h 111 sticks into a dish while trays ot 01 an '
b
' deco rat efofe him. Tht' ground under the lamps IS
ed "
' d ' an elaborate,
111 white paint or nce power In
. , ' ,
'
/" Throughout
auspluous pattern known as a wllgo I.
I d'
:l
:l )rste nS and
n la, such designs arc create<. on <.O( • t
f
. h
e h lid in order
ront yards by the women ot a ous (
to bring good luck and to ward off evil.
bun~le
The back of the painting has an inscription
describing the sanctity of the situation in general
terms, but it does not explain the nature or final
goal of the priest's work. Scholars have suggested
that the priest is celebrating the New Year or that he
is honoring deceased ancestors, but all that we know
for certain is that the rituals are broadly related to
purification. In any case, Nainsukh has taken considerable pains to indicate that the rites are being
performed at night, and that the priest is alone in
his work.
The three vignettes could easily serve as separate paintings. With the exception of a faint wisp of
smoke crossing the wall of the building, they do not
overlap and there is little to indicate that they are
taking place in a single space. There is no horizon
line, and the figures are silhouetted against flattened
planes, even where an architectural setting is indicated. Despite this strangely obscure and abstracted
sense of space, the painting has a degree of naturalism that we have not seen in any Punjab Hills image
up to this point. The somber colors are all entirely
plausible, and the face and postures of the priest
seem to capture the man's true appearance as he
conducts worship. Nainsukh's lines are very fine,
approaching those of imperial Mughal painting, and
he uses them to similar purpose, documenting the
distinctive face and costumes of his subject.
This similarity to Mughal painting has led
most scholars to assume that Nainsukh was exposed
to the work of Mughal-trained artists at some point
early in his career. We do not know where or how
this would have happened. Did he travel south to
the court of Muhammad Shah to study with the
painters who had made such late Mughal masterpieces as plates 37 and 38 (pp. 76 and 78)? Or did
artists who had worked at Delhi and Agra travel to
the hills in search of work when imperial commissions were no longer plentiful? Or did Nainsukh
have access to a collection of imperial or subimper'. I aintings that he could study and copy on his
la p
-I bl q
? The answer is not yet aVal a e_
own. The discovery that Manaku and Nainsukh were
hers came as a surprise to scholars, who had
' Ie t:laml-I y, with
.
b rot
at members 0 f a S111g
th
d
assume
. .
shared training, would pamt 111 m,ore clo~ely related
styles. Although both brothers pa111ted With great
Plllljlll, Hills
Pllilltill~ I. IX;-
•
l'tATE 104
A nribllll'llto i"\,li lh llkh t ,I( . il'l'
,lh"Ul
I,
l~ - l ,i K 1
1'11 1'1/)'111,": Ui/ll,II.•
Ntlrtill'rll Indi,l IPuniah Hill.-,
l'r<,I),lhll· 1,I~n't ,l ) . ,lh"lllli ,\~ - -I( 1
t lp,lqUl' ,,',lIl'r(olur "ll l',ll'l'r
~ fl. :;
'I:
~ ;-. ! ( Ill ( /I
.\ III
I( . "~_( .1I.n l.lr,h W,1Il11·
IXX ,.
in.1
1,.,lkdi,l1l
1' 1' 1 ,\ ' 1' ·\1'11' "
d
~l--~~=========----
refi
nement, their person,ll
. styles bea r relati vely li ttle
in co
mmon.
O
ne
the'
. IaInS
. th e d ifference
.
. 01 Yexp
thro h i
ug 5 a lypotll etl.Gl I biography
.
Palld't
of their father
(
1
CU'
Se
.
d
'
)
ner d . . u pa ll1le 111 a traditional Pahari man. rler phases of his career, while he
was t urIng
.. the ear
, nak
ra lIlIIlg
Ma
h Man <'1klI . TIl en, Iatef in his ca reer, after
, u ad left to p UfSlIC h'IS ow n commissions
5eu
." andlor Il 'iS G1I Ier patro ns di scovered Mughal '
p,lIntlng.
For t I1('.' I·,H lci
,. part of hiS
. CD ree r, Seu '
\\'.
thorked
. to emuht
,e tl le d e·1'Icacy and naturalism of
tr e. Imperial
. ' s·t yIe, and so .It was in this style that he
r alned
' hiS '\lo unge'I son,
amsukh . .- The ex plana.
N'
'd IS plausibl e, I)ut not yet supported b)1 concrete
IOn
<
eV I enee.
tl Anot her exp
. l',matlon
. Clor the difference between
le brothers'
. 'In the types of paintin'
. WO I·k S mi.ght he
gs each o ne. ma d e: t I1rOtl g hOlIt his career, Manaku
.
(e-d on myt hiC
concentrat
. nar rat ives, usuall y in large
t
amsukh concentrated on portraisenes,
wheredS
' N'
· ure and st·dn d -,lo
· I ne Images,
.
rarely depICting
. . subT • o utsid e
Jects
· t I1(' k 11 0w n world or presen t tense.
IN
Benh er artist
. ve ntured far into the other's domain. "
h('ca lise p ortralts
. requi. re the artist to reco rd what
.
,a
n
e observes
d b eca use myt hic themes require the
ukh
what he ca n on ly imagine, Na ins
arti st to pamt
.
d' d JVh,a
an
n ku may well have been led in to diffe rent
Ire( tio ns bY tIl e1f
. subject m . ltter. O n th e o lher
hand , th ey may have chose n their subjects (Of found
g
pa tro ns it
. th em ) based on preex lstll1
. .
n el·estc d 111
personal
. strengths.
~ ill.'
tlstlC
Tire
er'
d la tgeneratIons:
'l(al1gra, yar I/lila,I
an yuleI'
I n subs, equ ent
_ gcnc r. ltions th e natu ralistIC
. . style
N
.
'
" f alnsuk h and th e epi c and poetic subjects of
11
,
I l11erged, and in the mid _e ight eent I1 century.
lan.tkl
the re IV 'ds. .,I dra mati. c tri.1I1S ltlo
. . n from the bo Id .
graph"
.
.
. . to
·
IC lO IllpoSI llons of ea rl y Pahan. painting
softer, mOle:.• IYfl.cal .llll age r)', \"-If: find no pai.ntings
.
ll1ad
. th e earlier style.. fro Ill the lasl quart er of the
. e III
eigh teent h centur y. Bv th at lim e, mosl narratives
res
\Ve re set
' III
. spac ioll s I.'lndsca pes. with tl- gu
tI1;11
lllnre l'1_
, resl'mhll' hUllla n bein
.
. t-.,1I11 T
nsel),
gs. Othel
I leS
of 'lrrIsts and /o r patrons ma V we ll hiwe (o nll"l'b ut ed
tn th is. L'1",ngc,
.
. tn
. the reg .ion cal
. lle 10
·
as Illo re people
l
<ld lll ire .<1I1lI em ulatl' iISI)l'c ts of. ivtugh<1I p a 'll t'Inr:>'
" but
sli lates the trans ition in taste and prac tice, the
twO brot hers have been treated by scholars as the
primarr catalrsts. The innovations introduced by
Manakll and Na insukh were disseminated prim ari ly
by their sons, who must have taken commissions in
their ancestral state of Guier and abroad. '-
The landscape illustrated in plate 105 embodies
the neW era in Pahari painting and has been attributed to Na insukh, but seems more likel y to be the
work of the follow ing generation. '~ The image is
pop ulated by elephants, with those in th e background appea ring to be wild. They bathe in a herd ,
their large heads rising above the water in low peaks
that echo the hills in the distance. The elepha nts in
the foreg rou nd belong to the domain of man: three
of them stomp and tussle as diminut ive trainers
~lttempl to control them w' ith rope harnesses and
tethers. A more fully ta med elephant appears just
I
<
over the nex t hillock.
The elephants occup)' a relatively sIllall part of
the composition , and their trai ners are even smaller.
The la ndscape is as much a focus of the pa inting as
the figu res th"1t OCCUP)' it-il rarity among Indian
111ini;;tUre pilintings. And, the landscape is unusua ll y
V..1SI. with hills stretching far in to the distan ce. The
artisl ,1(hieves this effect b}' mak ing the fi gures so
snwll. \\'it h even further diminution of those th"l t
appear in the disto nce. The perspecti ve is not enti re-
I)el<l
' USe th l' work of i\ li1l1Jkll and Ni-tinsukh {'ncilPPrll/jt/I, /-lill... Hr illllll<'
.
,~ ••
l/{,)
PLATE 10 5
'/;/111111"': H·i/.I F/"rh'IIIH
);.'rl lwrn Indi.1 rl'uni.lh
l/ i " ~I.
,I[I"UI I;:;"
O".lq u,: \\',II,:r.:%r on P.II'l'r
l<J.S x ll.r..:m ( II' , x :;', in .)
It. \~:.,l : . ,,\nl,lr,I'\\',IIII~· C.,lk':li.1Il
I ; .lt>lt-
1'),1 ,. 1'1'1\ '
1'\1'11'"
I~ convincing: parts of the painting suggest that the
VIewer is looking down at the scene from an elevated
vantage point, but the figures and trees in the foreground are depicted as if viewed straight on.
If the painting is not naturalistic in its spatial
o rgamzatlOn,
. .
it is full of faithfully rendered trees
and hillsides. Indeed, much of the land in the Punjab
~iIIs looks a great deal like this landscape. Elephants
d.ld not run wild in the Punjab Hills in the late
eighteenth century, so the painting might depict an
episode from the distant past. The painting does not
seem to belong to a series and it is not inscribed, so
We may never know its subject or context.
We have seen a preview of this type of spacious
setting in Manaku's Blwgal'ata Purmra illustration
(.pl~te 102) with its overlapping hillsides and naturalIstic foliage. There is relatively little in Nainsukh's
oeuvre that qualifies as landscape, but beginning in
the fourth quarter of the eighteenth century, many
Pahari narrative subjects were depicted in open
Spaces with more or less recognizable landscape elements. Plate 54 (p. 104), the depiction of The Holtr
of Cowdllst discussed in Chapter Four, is composed
with a strong sense of foreground, middle ground,
and diminutive background, and other later Pahari
paintings, such as plate 112 (p. 200), depict even
more vast landscapes, albeit in more abstracted
form.
Despite the introduction of deep landscapes,
some paintings made in this period would continue
elike
to Use the horizontal format and shalloW stag
settings depicted in RaJ'nut paintings since the .
b .
t
II . ka
egll1ning. Plate 53 (p. 102), the image of A 1 llSclr~
N 'k
I h oine sllny' 'CI, belongs to this group, with t le er
houetted against a storm), night sky and tlanked by
trees. . Un I
' scenes 111
. t I'
such as
t 'e k
earher
liS c10 rnl'lt
" •
plate 92 or 9 8 (pp. 170, 177), the trees in this late
eight eent h -centurY pall1t1l1g
' . lJoast gn,·trled trunks
and'
'
I 'h nlicate
Irregular clumps of foliage, w liC ret,
h( )t-<lIllLal
.
II 'ee 111 nature
elements one I11lght i.H.:tU,l YS
(all .
lJI"ICing male
)elt here transformed to suggest em '
0
'
0
-
and female forms).
_.
. _ 'figures among
Another pamt1l1g th.H sttu,ltes Its
.
rei .
.
.
oh-lHoW setting
Cltlvely naturalisti( plant forms 111 as'
. d
is I' .. ,
.
..
,I ws tWO Hill u
pate 106. I hiS 1I1l1lkntlhed Stell t S 10
a", .. ,
.
, J The older l11iln
converslIlg lw. a lotus pOilU., f 1erhaps h"IS
"Slt:tllS
,
sits undl'r a rtldimcnt<ll'Y thatched 100 , I
.0
hermitage, while the younger man makes anjali
mudra, the hand gesture of reverence. This image is
likely to have been the first page of a puranic (Hindu
scriptural) manuscript/,J since the puranas generally
begin with a novice asking the advice of a great sage
and then continue in the form of a didactic conversation. Whatever the subject of the manuscript, we
know that it was left unfinished because the border
on this page was not painted.
Although this page has no background, it
breaks from the earlier stage-set format because it
places the figures higher on the page, with landscape
elements in the foreground and some sense of recession into space established by trees that grow from
different levels. As in a Manaku painting, one senses
that the figures have plenty of room to move freely.
Nainsukh's influence can be seen in the delicate
touch and somewhat subdued palette with which
most elements are rendered. The two sages could
easily be portraits, with the artist having used local
holy men as models. The older man's body and
movements are angular and spry, while the younger
man is weightier. That sense of individuality in both
physiognomy and characterization has its roots in
Nainsukh's paintings.
Tile HOllr of COWdllst, AbTtisarika Nayika, and
the hermitage scene are all in a style that scholars
have traditionally associated with the large state of
Kang ra , in the central area of the Punjab Hills,
Although frequently under the shadow of outside
forces, the Kangra court was the site of considerable
painting activity. Maharaja Sansar Chand (reigned
1775) was the state's mos~ active patron, and
1823
during his reign a large and dIVerse body of work
was completed, consisting of portraits, court scenes,
elaborate narratives, and single-image romantic
subjects. Few of these paintings ca~ be traced with
absolute certainty to Sansar Chand s patronage, but
1110st share stylistic traits that we have come to associate with Kangra.
The Kangra style is characterized by graceful
figures and attractive settings, all drawn in thin, fluid
lines for an effect that is far quieter and more subtle
than those practiced earlier in ~he hills, Although the
. t (Jt'the Kang ra style contmued to use bright
artiS 5
, I . they often rejected the acidic tones of earlier
to 015.
. t' gs ill favor of pastels. As a result, we find
patll til
PI/ujab Hills Pailllillg
la, 1l)1
' I'
I'
I' •. ,\T£ 106
/1.' (1/ 111<1 \:4''';''' '''' '
:-;,,)" Ihl'r;, Ind i.1 I l'u llj,\h Il ilk
p rnh'lhly t\,L1l ~r,l l . ,Iboll t 1;''141
IIp.lqlll' \\'.Ha~ o h 'r Oil 1',11'cT
! \ . \ , "", \ .; 111 t y
I~( :~ , . t
\ 11
.l,o(1l.11". ,."',II1l \ '
111 . ) .
( :,.lkctl!lIl
fewe r dramati c juxtaposi ti ons of hu t' .mel a gene ral
tendency toward mimil:king tht' colors found in
nature. The uninterrupted . monochromat ic backgro und plan e of mall )' carlier paintings essentially
d isa ppea rs. Scenes arc far more likely to be set Ollt of-door s, an d open windows and low h . llustr •.lcics
offering distant views rephlce the high wa lls of ea rli er paintings. Elements of hlllcisca pe and sett ing continue to refl ect or undersco re Ih e eJllotion al co nt ent
of the pai ntin g's SUhj L'( t , hut thill cont ent is no w
<.ll so e xp ressed t h ro ugh the postur es ,\ nd gestur es
of figures.
If we look at the most extensive su rvey of
Punjab Hills painting, '!ll. G. Archer's lllllilll/ P(lilll;Ilg.fi·o/Il tl/(, PlIlljn/1 Hills puhlished in 19i3, w('
can see that almost eve ry, state in th e re)!,ion col lected Kan gra-sl yle paintings, and that many lat(,.'
eighteenth -ce ntur y rul ers were portr<.\yed in the
Ka ngra style. Archer asso ciates these paintings with
th e states in which th ey wen.' found, <. \ss uming th ,\1
portraits of late r C h<.\ Jnha rul e rs we re mad e in
ChiJl11ba , later Kulu ru lers in Ku lu, etc, hut in truth
\\Il' will probahl y never know ",hert' mo st eX<.l lllpk's
we re made. Among th e later paintings of each statl"
~
it is extremely difficult to distinguish regional styles,
far more so than it is for earlier paintings. Recent
cataloguers of these paintings generally tend to associate all but a few, distinctive later styles with Kangra,
since that state appears to have been the most active
region of patronage in the late eighteenth and early
nineteenth centuries. We will follow that practice to
some extent, using the term "Kangra" to refer to a
broad style category, with the caveat that the style
was almost certainly practiced far beyond the borders of Kangra state.
Within the so-called Kangra style we find
numerous substyles that probably represent the
hands of individual artists or workshops. Many of
these substyles were most likely practiced by artists
who were based outside of Kangra and working for
other Pahari maharajas. The number and variety of
paintings attributed to Sansar Chand's patronage
begs reconsideration: it is difficult to believe that all
of these paintings were made at his request, even if
he did have numerous artists in his employ. However, reattributing the paintings and developing a
new chronology or regional categorizations for th~
substyles has proven difficult because the vast maJority of the paintings were never inscribed with dates
or dedicatory information.
The Kangra attribution is beginning to fall out
of fashion as more people embrace the notion that
.
.
I
tter of family
PunJab HIlls styles were frequent Y a ma
affiliation rather than regional tradition. Many of the
. .
'b t d to Kangra are
anonymous pamtmgs once attn u e
now being attributed to the descendants of Man~ku
.
. that it is easier
an d. Namsukh, with the assumptIOn
..IS
.,
. 'ng than It
to Identify the source of an artist s traml . .
to identify the court for which any given pal~tIng
·d not sign
Was made. Because the descen d ants d I
.
d
"a master
.
their work, attributions must be ma e to
.
kh " or sometimes,
of the first generation after Namsu k , "One of the
more specifically, to "a son of Mana u.
. '
t Ie paintings, an
)
MF As most celehrated Kang ra - s Y
.
. ' rtist (plate 107 '
Image of a woman speak1l1g
to
an
a
·
,
.
f Manaku s sons,
h as recently been attrtbuted to one 0
I.
•
f h
figures to those
oased on the similanty 0 t e twO
.
~tI
C
- • t illustratIOns.
lOund in Manaku's later manus<.:np
"
I woman s romanThe painting's theme, a Ione Y
.
ularity among
tiC longing, gained even greater pop
. h d "oyed among
Iater Pahari patrons than It a en,
Rajputs of other regions and generations. The
woman is weakened by need; her hair is somewhat
disheveled, and she supports herself against a doorjamb. She addresses an artist who sits on a platform,
painting a scene on a section of wall framed by a
niche. The tools of his trade-small dishes (possibly
clam shells) filled with color and a bowl with several
brushes resting in it, and a long object that may be a
pen and brush case-are spread around and below
him.
On a flysheet once attached to the painting, the
following verse appears, beginning with the voice of
the woman:
From evening to morning and morning to
evening,
The days are passing and months go by.
What do YOll know of the woes of others?
None but the wise understands!
I gave you freely clean paper,
Fresh and shining like glass.
Oil painter! How many days have passed,
And YOll have not drawn the pictllre of my
friend!
[The painter answers]
I shall so prepare the portrait of yourself and
YOllr friend that instantly in the picture tlte
41
divided lovers shall meet.
Indian literature tells of the belief that imagemakers had the magical power to cause certain scenarios to come true by depicting them. In hopes of
a reunion in life, the romantic heroine wants the
artist to paint a picture of her with her lover.
We can see a few innovations in the painting.
The artist sits with his back to us, a pose we have
not seen before. Clearly this was a challenge for the
draftsman of the painting, because the figure's arms
are awkward. However, the very fact that he attempted to show a figure from behind suggests an urge
toward naturalism that was previously unknown.
Also reflecting that urge is the woman's pose, in
which her raised arm supports her weight as she
leans into the room.
The overall effect of the painting is much
lighter and airier than we have seen in any Rajput
miniature. Lines are finer and colors are applied in
thinner layers. Instead of approaching the painting
as a collection of outlines to be filled in like a color-
ing book, or as a mosaic of colored planes, the artist
varied his approach to the application of color
according to the object being depicted. Thin washes
of paint on areas of costume suggest the textures and
topography of folded fabric, while the architecture
seems harder and smoother because it is rendered
with a flatter, more uniform surface of thick paint.
Although the outlines are thinner than in earlier
styles of Pahari painting, the artist relies more heavilyon these lines because planes of color and pattern
are no longer his primary building blocks. Not only
does this lighter touch lead to a more naturalistic
effect, but it softens the overall tone of the image as
well. The jittery vibrations caused by contrasts of
saturated color in Basohli paintings have disappeared, and with them have gone a level of intensity
or passion. Kangra-style paintings tend to depict an
idyllic world in which no emotion is allowed to
disturb the overall beauty of a scene or its heroine."!
As an aside, we should note that this painting
offers interesting evidence for female patronage of
both wall and miniature paintings. Not only does it
show that a woman could request paintings of specific subjects from an artist, but it suggests that a
woman could speak directly with the artist about
her wishes. We noted earlier that the inscription on
Manaku's 1730 Gita Govinda manuscript names his
patron as a woman named Malini. From various
other dedicatory inscriptions on manuscripts from
pre-Mughal, Mughal, and Rajput sources, we know
that women were the patrons for pantings,"'\ but we
assume that they delivered their instructions to the
artists through messengers. The woman in this
image is clearly comfortable expressing her feelings
directly to a male artist. Like the few women who
appeared in portrait likenesses, this woman may be a
courtesan or some other more public beauty. More
likely the painting depicts a time before the introduction of purdah (the practice of hiding women
from sight). The epics, myths, and poetry of Hinduism indicate that in more ancient periods, Indian
women of every class walked among men and interacted with them freely.
A variant of the Kangra style practiced in the
late eighteenth and early nineteenth century appears
to have had its home in the state of Garhwal (also
known as Tehri Garhwal), which lies far to the
southeast of all other major painting centers in the
I:
194 10.
I=--IJIA~
I'AI~
IIN<,
Punjab Hills. Although Mughal-trained artists are
said to have settled in Garhwal in the late seventeenth century, we cannot point to any paintings
definitely made in that state before the 1760s. After
that time, the Garhwal court apparently amassed
an important collection of paintings in the Kangra
style, including some that were probably made by
local artists.
The style most often associated with Garhwal
is that of Mola Ram, an artist-poet whose name
appears on numerous rough, mannered paintings
featuring thick outlines and the abundant use of
black and red paint. In fact, most of the extant
paintings associated with Garhwal were once owned
by Mola Ram's family. However, because the family
collection included examples in a number of different styles, it is difficult to pinpoint a Garhwal type
based on provenance alone.
Both of the MFA's Garhwal pages (plates 108
10
and 9) were attributed to Mola Ram by their previous owner, Balak Ram Sah of Garhwal, the artist's
great grandson."" More recent scholarship has suggested that neither painting is likely to be by Mola
Ram because both are substantially more graceful
and refined than most of that artist's signed work.";
Nevertheless, they both contain stylistic traits that
connect them to other paintings found, and perhaps made, in Garhwal.
The earlier of the MFA's two Garhwal paintings could easily be attributed to Kangra or GuIer
were it not for its origin in a Garhwal collection. It
depicts the god Shiva watching over his wife, Parvati,
as she sleeps (plate 108). Shiva is dressed in his usual
manner, his skin whitened by ashes, his hair matted
with the crescent moon on his forehead, and his
arm encircled by a snake. All of these features
emphasize the god's association with death and
destruction. Shiva and his family live as wandering
ascetics: their meager belongings hang from the
god's trident and they sleep on animal skins in the
open air. Despite the macabre and untamed character of the god, this painting emphasizes his role as
loving husband. Pairs of animals and entwined
trees appear at the left, underscoring the romantic
nature of the scene. Shiva's faithful bull, Nandi. rests
in the f~reground. Like the god, he is placid now.
but he ~s full of potential energy and capable of
expressmg great rage.
~
if:.
:2
~
'-
'"a
< ~
~ 5~
~
~.
.
~
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~
1
~
.S
'"
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~
-,
~ ~
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0
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, ~ :;c g
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,.• = '" 5 , , "or "' ~
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'i3 -3
•• z '- 0 § ~: '"
Vve have seen that later Pahari paintings frequently feature idyllic landscape settin gs, an d this
image is no exception. \"' hereas Shi va's famil y is
o ften d epicted camping in crematio n gro unds, surround ed by skeleto ns and angry imps, in this image
they live like Krishna, lounging on rolling fi elds
of gree n grass amidst th e fragrance of bloo ming
shrubs. The perpetually beauteous landscape and
the sweet, eve n effeminat e d epiction o f Shiva are
both typ ica l of Kangra-styl e paintings.
Miniatures with similar styles and subj ec ts
came out of the same fami ly holdings, whi ch are
th o ught to have bee n salvaged from th e Ga rhwal
royal collection. 4~ The prevalence of o ne or two
styles w ithin this di ve rse collection indicates that
Garhwal's roya l patro ns preferred certain masters,
whose work th ey so ught repea tedl y. \'Ve do not
knoll' if th e various art ists working fo r th e Ga rhwal
rulers were itinerant or based in that state. The
stron g resemblance of so m e Ga rhwal paintings to
exa mples known to be from Kangra probably indi cates that artists working for both patron groups
had been trained in the sam e workshops.
PLATE 10 8
"11/\'11 \\;/1.-1,,''< Hm'"I; Slap
~"rtlwrn
Indi;t ( Pull;ab Hilb,
;'n,h,Lhl\' (;,\rh\\'al l. ,\I l('ILI \ /~l)-<)' I
l )I'aqll~'
\\';lll'r(ololr IlLl 1":Ill'r
l» "~ Xll. "\(1l1 1 \\ '"X " ·" 1Il " 1 .
I~,''' . ( : ,lI'1l1M,hl,",\1l11" ( :o l!l"dLU\1
1')6 '.
1"\ 111 /\"\ 1' ,\ \ ~ I I "< , ,
Another painting from the sa m e Garhwal collec ti o n differs more dramatically from its Kangra
contemporar ies. It represents Abhisnrika Na)'ikn, th e
heroin e who ru shes through the dangerous, storl11swe pt forest in o rd er to m eet her love r at ni ght
(plate 109). To assess this paintin g's style, it is probably bes t to compare it to the Abhisnrikn Nn)'ikll of
plate 53 (p. 102), whi ch d ates to approximately the
sa me period but is in a style more typi call y associated with Kangra. Both paintings d epict th e heroin e
looking behind her, possibl y in res pon se to th e
so und of her falling anklet, which is visibl e on th e
g ro und. Bo th co mpos itio ns have li ghtnin g bolt s
above, rain streakin g the bac kgro und , and snakes
in th e foreground, and in both t he heroin e glo ws
against th e darkness, wearing a translu cen t veil that
offers little protec ti o n from the elem ents.
The two paintings are quit e different in their
presentation of these details. The hori zo ntal ve rsio n
perh aps offers mOre of a se nse of journ ey, while the
ve rti ca l vers io n foc lises o n th e female fi gure herself.
~entered and ti ghtly fram ed by trees like ,I sc ulptural
ICO n in <l ni che, The Garhwa l painting is much dark -
•
- ----------------~======~----------
iT
er, employing an ab undance of black pigment.
We rarely find mu ch black in late Pahari painting
except in the work of Mala Ram (the Gar hwal artist
in whose collectio n th is page was found ), Its presence here, along with the red of the heroine's d ress,
suggests some styl isti c co nnectio n ",ith the artist,
alt hough th e painting bears li ttle other resemblance
to his signed work, It co uld be that a Garhwal patron
had a taste for black and red to whic h both Mala
Ram and th e unnamed artist of this page responded,
If we return to Oll r co mpariso n. we see that the
black of the Garhwa l painting contrasts more harshl y
wit h the hero ine's colorful garb, leading to a starker,
drier effec t. However, th e d epiction of the trees and
the light ning strea ks against the night sky are both
remarkably naturali stic, in part beca use the artist has
softened his o utlin es. If we compare th ese elements
of setting to any in ea rl ie r paintings. we see that the
artist is no lo nger trea ting them as flat stage propS.
Instead , the painting is treated much mo re holisti:
call )', with eve ry element enveloped by atm osphen c
co nditi ons. Every element, that is, excep t the heroine,
who is radiant and clear.
Another va riant of the so-called Kangra style
Was practiced at Guier. the home sta te of Na insukh
and Mana ku. It is pro bably unfair Lhat we have ~o me
to associate the later Pahari style with Kang ra • since
Guier is more likel y its tru e birthplace, but Guier
patrons do not see m to have been as active as their
Kangra counterparts. Gu ier princes commissioned
'"
. an d several
manu·
,a n um ber 0 fdlstl11Ctlve
portraits.
<
.
scripts and sta nd-alo ne paintings have been att ,:,bUt d
' 'I 'ties Wit h
e to Guier-based artists due to Sim i an
tho se portrait s,
' f G Il er prince,
TIle MI~A has . l portr . 1l1 0 a l
0
p1,1
" kas h Chand. who reigned
' frolll.1' bOlII 1771. to 179
(,,1'
d 1 'I summ er
t dIe 11 0 ). II shows the ruler sea te 01 ,
("lr
.
I 'I ' servan t waves
< pet and sm oking a /W(/lJ{I w 11 e .1
. .
a ('/IO Ilr!' ( 11 )' wh ,isk)' above I'
T I compOSItiOn
11111, 1e
,
in ,'
,
' f B-lsohlt ruler
\ lies (O m1'''1I"1 50 11 to th e portr . llt 0 <l <
"
tl1,11 d ales trom
'
' I ldred v<a
"
ap1'roxll11<lte ly onc lUi
'
t.- '1'
' 'I " . "s hel \Vee n th e
tI) ler (plate Y4, p. 171). The 511111 ,Hint:.
.
f
1\
d [on gev1t}' 0
\0 IIllages allest In th e prev . 1lence . In
, I
P'I I '
.
Il c i(o no g l ,lpl}
, lan portraiture (0 l1 vC' Ilt1 0 Il S1
.
'I '
,
"
jlttt!e, l H
<Inet ~h:t'O lil re Jll L'IlI " of kingshiP chil ngt:l
d'ff
.
..
,. , .• fa lhc'l" th i.l ll
I e rell(l:'S il rt:' primarily o nt's 0 1 st ), c <
I
•
I
I' LATE 109
,-\ IIhi$llrik" Nm'ik,! ( Th~· t'k n ) i ll ~·
WIll' RtlSh ~'S 'li1 ,\ k~' 1 '-kr Lllwr)
Nun t1l'rn In.li,1 ("lIll i.l1> Hills.
pwl>;lhl r G.l r hw;It1 . •11>"111 ,I\un
01'.1<ltI<' w.U<'l ..-,.I"r ,md 1',, 1.1 011
!.j .(> x tli . .... ( m l '.l
, \ Ii'~ ill .1
Ih .~~ , ( :'h'tI1.lr.I ~ \\",1I111·
1 - . ~6' .1
( :,,11,'<'1it"~l
right arm is full ), visible. Al though this makes for a
mo re comfo rtable and convincing portrayal of the
lIIolwrnjo, th e fores ho rtenin g of his chest and shoulders makes him look less substantial than his co unterpart in the ea rli er portrait. The palett e has also
changed substantially, with a move away from hot
and brilliant, and toward cool and subtle. tones.
Perhaps the most dramatic difference between
the two paintings lies in the depiction of the servants. In the later portrait, the servant is almost the
sa me size as th e king; his slightl), smaller scale might
be ex plained by th e fact that he stands at a greater
distance from the viewer. And , whereas the earlier
se rvant looks like a stock cha racter, with little or no
indication of indi viduality, the later servant could
easil y be a portrait. His face is rendered with
extreme delicacy and ca re: it shows a sli ght growth
o f beard where he has shaved, and a furrowed brow
to suggest that he is concentrating on his dut y. His
twisting, vo lumetric body contrasts sharply with the
fl atness of th e arch itectural setting.
Although Prakash C hand 's face is also carefu ll),
delineated, he looks like a caricature compared to
the se rvant. It co uld be that this depictio n of th e
king was based o n other images, while th e artist had
access to th e serva nt fo r first-hand observatio n of
his features. Prakash C hand 's fa ce, with its pa llo r
and upward -sloping eye, resembles man)' found in
later Gui er pai ntin gs. but the face of th e servant
recalls the individualistic representatio ns drawn by
Nainsukh in paintings such as the MFA's im ~l ge of
nighttime rituals. There is a good chance that this
painting \vas made b), someone who had trained
with Na insukh.
L
['I . ATE liD
)lor! r;li l of I{;lj:! Prak:l.,h C hl1 nd of
( ;u!cr
,\ Ion han Ind i,] (Pun iah Hills.
(~ukr L ,lholll 17 <,10
(lp.HIU\' ,\':lI cr':lllllT
p:lpa
I <,IS1+lon I7 11~ 'i
and gol<1 on
.
. 111 .1
I{ , " ~ _ ( J'IlIll.IT,\,WOI IlH' ( :' I I1 I.'( l ion
content. The later paintin g is vertical in format, with
several levels of spatial depth sugges ted b), architectural elements. The framin g arch provides ;J sort of
foreground, th e midd le gro und whe re th e rul er sits
ends in a low railing. and the servan t stands behind
the rai ling. suggesting;:l still deeper space. Fashions
have changed, a fa ct made visible pr im ar ily in th e
fac ial hair, the unornamcnted, top -knotted turhans,
and the thick sashes of the Il ew cr.\. Although hoth
portrait s show th e rul ers sca led w it h knee s and
face in pro fil e, th e lal LT po rtrait do e~ no t tw ist th e
prince's ches t to ward th e viewn. Inste<ld , onl y hi s
Prakash C hand 's so n, Bhup Singh ( reigned
had 11"'I<1n)' paintings made of his own
1790 - IH26 )
courtl), life and fami l)" as we ll as of literal')' subj ects.
It can be diffi cult to differentiate th ese lat er Gui er
paintings frOI11 those in the Kangra st),le, but fa cial
feat ures me often the best indicators of origin. An
image of a prince huntin g from a chario t ca n probabl ), be associa ted with G ui er (plate 111 ). '- The
prin(("s face has the same pa llor and urnvard-slo ping eye as in the po rtra it of Prakash Chand and
im <:lgcs mack, fo r sUhsequent ge nerat io ns of Cuk'f'
I'ul t'rs. Th e vast land scape and tin y figurt's ill th e
distance arc hoth l.'k'11lent s of the later p.lIl - p.lh.lri
style,o ltholl g l1 tl1C set lJn
" g IS even mo re spac IO
' US
th an in III os!' exam ples. ' rhe centra l trian
'gle
f
0 Ian d
of wa lls in th e upper left co rn er
and th e recession
'
s~ggest a rudim entar y form of o ne-point perspec-
B
t ive' it IS
. pe rhaps a reference to Euro pean imagery,
y IRoo, Wes tern a rt wou ld hiIVt.~ been far more
princes
readil v, <'I CL'C" S5,'I] )Ie all(j ,'ami'I'lilr to RJJpUI
'
'
than
,
it" 11 'I db ee n dunng
" th e re ig n of Akbar, VI'I11'Ie
,'L '
'
P"ha rr c opa's
" () european lJ11iJges <IfC pnlC tKCl II Y
unkn()w 11 , we <..I 0 find
_
'
'gf
the ucca sl(lIlal
bo rnwl1n
()
hlrtJ
I1l"<1n
•
. . ilnd tcc hnH.lues
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Alt ho ugh we m ight expec t European tastes to
overwhelm regiona l tradition s as th e Britl'sh ga in
' ed
powe~ a l1~ il~f1u ence in the nin eteenth ce ntur y,
Pah<1f1 palllt Jll g seems to have revert ed to ,a more
ab stra ct style in this late period, O ne of the las t
g reat narrative manusc ripts mad e in th e Pun 'a b
Hills is a se ri es of illustrations fo r th e Kednm in' n
a n obscure text describing the length y pitgrimag:of
fi ve devotees of Sh lva In th e Hllllalayas, The manu ·
script is llsuall y <1 ttr ibuted to Guier. <1gain o n the
bas is o f figure types. Eac h page of the Kednm Knl n
is o vers ized, with elabora te d epi cti ons of the pit - P
PL ATE II I
P,'illCt' I-Iml/illg Allidopi.' I/mi /lo/lf
~ (Jr~hern Il1llia I PUll;:lb Hills,
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~pa<Jul' \\"l1crcolor. golt!' MId
sllwr on paper
2.0'.(> x l j.(> ( 111 ( II ~ X 10"11 in.)
l\el1h t-.kLl'od Fund l 'illq. ~lll
paintings .
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.
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of tll\' /..',·,{lIrll /..',111"/
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prohably (;ll ll'r L ,1holll 11\1f(l- ~~
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grims in a wide variety of mountainous landscapes.
Although the landscapes are broad and open, they
are dramatically different from that of the hunt scene.
The MFXs Kedara Kalpa page shows the pilgrims in an early phase of their journey, before they
have shaved their heads (plate 112). They make a visit
to an ashram populated in large part by yogis and
sadhus, although there are other holy men, royal figures, and a large group of women there as well. The
quintet of pilgrims appears three times: once in the
foreground and twice greeting two separate groupS
within the walls of the ashram, which is situated in
a region characterized by multicolored, jutting rock
formations studded with boulders. These formations
are rendered in a highly abstract manner that suggests that the artist followed a verbal description
rather than portraying any landscape he had ever
seen. Stylized landscapes are typical of the manuscript, and they change dramatically from page to
page as the pilgrims gain elevation and, presumably,
enlightenment.
There is a great deal to see in this busy and
entertaining image. The portrayal of the ashram,
with its elaborate architectural enclosure, invites
~omparison with the image of another ashram made
In Mewar almost one hundred years earlier (plate 73,
p. 135). Indeed the two artists use some of the same
creating a space in which
techniques
the many activities of the religiOUS commumues.
Although we have not seen examples here, elaborate
narrative imagery was fairly common in Pahar,i
,
h 'II t aUons
painting around 1800 , and many suc I usnsr These
seem to have been made for Kangra patro .
,
f
pie moVpaintings often feature large groupS 0 peo
wh~n
t~ ~epict
ing through various enclosed spaces. Like other late
narrative imagery, this page is crowded with figures
and full of anecdotal details. However, the Kedara
Kalpa series differs from most other manuscripts of
the period in its wide variety of unusual landscapes.
We can see that by this later period, landscape
was far more stylized. If we compare the trees in
the Kedara Kalpa painting to those in the image of
two sages made approximately forty years earlier
(plate 106), we see the progression away from naturalism dearly. The treatment of figures in the Kedara
Kalpa also reveals a tendency away from individualization, as groupS of heads are lined up to create
patterns, and as the illusion of volume and motion
gives way to flat forms that can be read like glyphs.
Pahari patronage for painting continued
through the first quarter of the nineteenth century,
making the "Kangra" style the last of the great
Rajput painting traditions. The late eighteenth century saW dramatic political change in the region,
as the Rajputs lost much of their political clout to
new powers, both local and foreign. Adherents of
the Sikh religion banded together to create military
and political forces that overtook most of the Rajput
states. Meanwhile, the British gradually made headway in the region by establishing trade alliances,
which forecasted colonization. After about 1820,
most punjab Hills rulers turned their attentions and
resources to new pursuits, and demand for paintings
diminished rapidly. Sikh rulers commissioned portraits and some narrative imagery in a late Kangra
Ie but their patronage was neither extensive nor
sty ,
'd' , 1 '
innovative. As in other regIOns, tra Iuona pamter
families were forced to find new types of work,
Prlll;al l Hills Ptlillfillg
10
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