Skip to main content

Pahari Schools of Painting | Art in Himachal Pradesh | Kangra School, Basholi School, Arki School, Chamba School

Painting Styles of Himachal Pradesh

Pahari Schools of Painting:


Local schools of painting existed in Himachal Pradesh long before the intrusion of Mughal style. It is believed that 35 old styles flourished in Himachal Pradesh. These include Mandi Kalam, Kangra Kalam, Bilaspur Kalam, Arki Kalam, etc


Himachali paintings can be classified into three broad categories:

1.Miniature paintings drawn on stiff handmade paper.

2.Wall paintings from Chamba and Sultanpur Palace as well as National Museum in Delhi.

3.Manuscript paintings which flourished during the 18th and 19th centuries.



The Schools of Painting:



 1.Basohli School


  • This school is the oldest known school of painting in the hill area.
  • It  rose to its status Under Raja Kripal Pal (1678-94)  of Basohli.
  • The Basohli School used colours symbolically: red for love, yellow for spring and blue for the fertile rains and clouds.
  • It spread to other hill states of Mankot, Nurpur, Kullu, Mandi, Suket, Bilaspur, Nalagarh, Chamba and Kangra.
  • The Archaeological Survey of India report states that this school cant possibly be of Mughal origin and the so-called Tibeti pictures are nothing but late productions of the school.
Ganesha (ca 1730)



 2.Kangra School


  • This is referred to as the second phase of Pahari School of painting.
  • It started in Guler during the reign of Raja Govardhan Chand (1745-73).
  • Kangra took over Guler and Raja Sansar Chand of Kangra patronised Kangra Kalam.
  • The complete development of this school is said to have taken place at Sujanpur Tira.
  • The central theme of Kangra paintings was Lord Krishna and his loved Radha.
  • Focal theme is usually Shringhar or erotic sentiment.
  • Despite having such religious representations, Kangra school was influenced by Mughal style.
  • Kangra paintings have received geographical indicator which gives them a Unique Identity in the world market.
Krishna Playing a Flute
Krishna playing a flute, ca. 1790–1800 Rajput period.



3.Arki School 


  • Basohli school of painting exercise influence over Arki School but later on Kangra style was adopted.
  • During the rule of Raja Mehar Chand, Rana Boop Chand it was Basohli Kalam but under Raja Jagat Singh and Raja Shiv Sharan Singh Kangra Kalam flourished.
  • The Arki school of painting was founded by Raja Subha Chand.
Rana Mehar Chand of Baghal seated with Jai Singh of Kulu.
Rana Mehar Chand of Baghal seated with Jai Singh of Kulu.



4.Chamba School


  • Similar to the Arki school, the early Chamba paintings were influenced by Basholi School whereas later on Kangra School became prominent.
  • Raja Udai Singh was the first one to give patronage to paintings.
  • This school is famous for its miniature paintings.
  • Usually Chamba paintings depict religious themes from the lives of Lord Rama and Lord Krishna.
  • The most famous painters of Chamba paintings were Nikka and Ranjha.
  • The Chamba paintings are known for their mastery in naturalism detailed artwork. 
An Instance of Chamba Style
An Instance of Chamba Style


Read More:
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular

TEMPLE ARCHITECTURE IN HIMACHAL PRADESH

Himachal Pradesh, amid the Himalayan mountain range, is a land of Gods. The temple is where the past intersects with the present through belief. Various cultural streams hsve enriched the art forms of Himaachal Pradesh in the wake of numerous migrations. Thousands of temples and religious places are there in Himachal, some of which have been built time immemorial. The prominent types of temple architecture based on roof styles are: (1) The ‘Pent’ roof and veranda The pent-roofed temples are indigenously styled circular or rectangular structures with slanting roofs made of rows and rows of slates, designed, in keeping with the climatic conditions of the region, to keep heavy rainfall and snowfall from covering these structures for more than short intervals. The roof extends over the covered ‘ veranda ’ which serves the purpose of ‘Pradakshina’ round the shrine. An interesting feature very specific to these hill temples is the peculiar arrangement of wood and stone in
4 comments
Read more

RIVERS AND DRAINAGE SYSTEM IN HIMACHAL PRADESH

             RIVER SYSTEM IN HIMACHAL PRADESH The Himalaya houses a vast reservoir of moisture both in the form of ice, fresh water, and underground water. The rivers draining Himalayas sustain life in the Northern part of Indian sub-continent. There are five main rivers which flow through Himachal Pradesh.  Four out of these five rivers found mention in the Rig Veda, viz, Asikni (Chenab), Purushani (Ravi), Arjikiya (Beas) and Shatudru (Satluj) . The fifth river Yamuna has mythical relation to the Sun. The flow of water through a definite channel is drainage . The network of several such channels is called drainage system. Another term related to rivers is drainage pattern.  Drainage pattern is referred to the geometrical form of the rivers of a particular area and their spatial arrangement, e.g., radial pattern, dendritic pattern etc. On the basis of origin, the Indian river drainage system can be divided into two parts: ·          The Himalayan drain
3 comments
Read more

FROM THE PAGES OF HISTORY

British Architecture In Shimla Britishers build many marvelous structures some of which are Christ Church, Regal Lodge, Railway building, Ellirsle and others.   But in order to understand how different this architecture is from the indigenous architecture in Himachal Pradesh we must first observe the ancient Himacha l architecture. Ancient Himachal Architecture Himachal’s ancient architecture use d building materials such as: Wood (mainly deodar) Stones Mud The architecture style in Himachal changes with altitude. The low lying hills or the Shivalik hills have Shikhara style, doomed and flat roofed temples. The mid and higher hills have pent roofed and tiered roofed( P agoda style) temples. British Architecture Styles in Shimla British architecture was very different than the traditional styles.They used more stones and usually had fancy carvings. British structures in Shimla were constructed mainly using two styles. T
5 comments
Read more