Previous imperfect recognition of the school
It seems almost an irony that what appears to be the first mention of the Basohli School of Indian Painting Should occur in a report of the Archaeological Survey of India. In the report for 1918-19, in referring to the latest additions to the archaeological section of the Central Museum, Lahore, it was stated that a few old paintings of the Basohli school were acquired, and from his study of them the curator came to the conclusion that (a) the Basohli school is possibly of pre-Mughal origin, and (b) the so-called “Tibeti” pictures are nothing but late productions of this school. [1] These statements were repeated in a paper by S.N. Gupta on “The Making of the Moghul School of Painting” [2] After referring to Jaina painting, he wrote: “Another type of paintings, both esoteric and secular, which clearly demonstrates a pre-Moghul existence, may be found chiefly in Basohli in the Punjab. The peculiar interest attached to these paintings is that they relate very closely to the Nepalese school, and indirectly suggests its descent from the art of Ajanta. The Basohli paintings are very curiously called Tibeti by the curio dealers in Punjab and elsewhere, but they have no direct connection with Tibetan or Nepalese paintings beyond the fact that the peculiar colour schemes in both the types is very much the same.” The statement that Basohli is in the Punjab is incorrect as we shall see. It is also unfortunate that the passage quoted is not clear. What the writer meant may be stated as: (1) a type of paintings, both esoteric and secular, may be found chiefly in Basohli; (2) this Basohli type had a pre-Moghul existence; (3) these paintings are closely related to the Nepalese school; (4) the last fact indirectly suggests their descent from the art of Ajanta; (5) the Basohli paintings are called “Tibeti” by dealers, but they have no direct connection [3] with Tibetan or Nepalese painting; and (6) the peculiar colour scheme in all three types- the Basohli, the Tibetan and the Nepalese- is very much the same. Gupta adduces no evidence at all to support his assertions (2), (3), (4), (5) and (6). Reference to the Catalogue of the Paintings in Lahore Museum, compiled by Gupta does not disclose any early Basohli paintings. The only note in the catalogue on the Basohli school occurs in connection with K. 39-44: six paintings from Basohli. “These represent different Tantric manifestations of the Goddess Durga. It is interesting to note that the colour scheme of the paintings, resembles to a certain extent the colouring of Nepalese paintings. It is difficult to ascertain with accuracy the date of these pictures. They are of post-Moghul date, but they do not show any traces of Moghul influence either in drawing or in colouring. The use of well-cut pieces of green beetles’ wings for jewels in ornaments (sic) is a peculiar feature in these paintings.[4]
More than a decade before the earliest reference to the Basohli school the present writer had commenced to form his collection, and had acquired from time to time specimens of the Basohli school the present writer had commenced to form his collection, and had acquired from time to time specimens of the Basohli school including examples of what may be termed the primitives of the school. His views on the school, formed quite independently, were noticed in a brief account of his collection by Rames Basu. “After carefully going through the Rajput section of the collection, we do feel with Mr. Ghose that the old classification of Indian schools of painting requires revision. There are styles of paintings belonging to distinct schools which merit separate recognition, but have hitherto been grouped together under the generic name of Pahari. One such school which produced a great many fine works in quite a distinctive style, and is of great importance in the history of the Pahari schools, may be called the Basohli school from the centre where it flourished. Mr. Ghose is the possessor of several extraordinary primitives of this school, which strongly suggest its origin from fresco painting. He has also a remarkable series of illustrations of the Gita Govinda with the slokas on the back; these paintings are the products of the school in its maturity.” [5] Closely following on this, [5a] we find the Basohli school classified as a separate school of Rajput painting in Gangoly’s “Masterpieces of Rajput Painting.” Gangoly gives four examples which will be considered in detail. His remarks on the school are of considerable interest. “The pictures which are associated with the Hill state of Basohli [6] (near Kangra, at one time the seat of the Balauria Rajas) easily distinguish themselves from those of Kangra, by the types of their figures, as also by a vigorous masculine style which almost borders on a coarseness of treatment as contrasted with the charming refinement of the Kangra pictures. If they are less attractive in colour as well as in conception from (sic) the Kangra miniatures, the Basohli pictures are marked by a (sic) more depth in (sic) conviction and vigour in execution. They are also characterized by more unconventionality and originality of design. It is easy to relate them to the “primitives” of Rajputana rather than to the pictures of the Kangra, or even of the Jammu school. The school of Basohli, hitherto not recognised as a separate phase of the hill schools, occupies by reason of its unique features a special niche in the gallery of Rajput painting.” [7]
Coomaraswamy’s classification of the Pahari Schools
Coomaraswamy, to whom the world of art is indebted for the designation “Rajput Painting” and for pioneer researches on the subject, originally divided Pahari paintings into two groups: “‘A Northern Series’, the school of Jammu, which may also be called Dogra; and ‘A Southern series’, called the school of Kangra, but extending to Garhwal.” [8] Basohli is mentioned only incidentally as one of the Rajput principalities in early times to the east of Jammu. A more satisfactory division of Pahari painting is made by Coomaraswamy in his “History of Indian and Indonesian Art.” “The latter group (Pahari) is again divisible into a school of Jammu, with reference to all the Hill States west of the Sutlej, and a school of Kangra, with reference to all the Hill States of the Jalandhar group, east of the same river.” [9] He describes the school of Jammu in these words: “A group of paintings in a somewhat different style (from the Rajasthani miniatures) emanating from the Punjab Himalayas, and especially from the Dogra Hill States, of which Jammu was the wealthiest and most powerful, dates mainly from the earlier part of the seventeenth century. Apart from their style, many of these paintings (which are generally known to Amritsar dealers as ‘Tibeti’ pictures) are recognisable by their inscriptions in Takri character………” [10]
In the “Catalogue of Rajput Paintings in theBostonMuseum,” Coomaraswamy writes: “The paintings of the Panjab Himalayas fall into two groups, which up to now have been designated as Jammu and Kangra. These designations, accurate as far as they go, are retained in the present volume, but it may be possible with more exact knowledge to classify some at least of the Pahari paintings” [11] in accordance with a scheme of territorial subdivisions. Referring to the passage about the Basohli school quoted above from a report of the Archaeological Survey, he says: “It has been stated that the so-called ‘Tibati” pictures (the Amritsar dealers’ name for the pictures here classified as Jamwal, on which inscriptions in Takri characters are commonly found) should be described as Balauria (Basohli) rather than Jamwali (Jammu). In any case these represent Pahari art, and the continuation of some older tradition.” [12] He remarks in a footnote: “It is more likely that Jammu is the main source.” [13] Goetz, who has done valuable work in connection with the Moghul and the Rajput schools, has not so far recognised the Basohli School. I have given extensive quotations in the preceding paragraphs because my views differ materially from, or go beyond, those expressed in them. The painters of all the pictures which have hitherto been ascribed to Jammu, have treated in an exactly same manner, and unlike the painters of Kangra and Garhwal, the questions of composition, colour and technique. The problems of space division, of lime and of colour have been viewed from a common standpoint. Should these similarities be put down as mere coincidences? Do they not rather point to a kinship which can be satisfactorily explained only by ascribing them to the same school? What is this school? I suggest that the painting of the group of Hill States west of the Sutlej, and not merely the so-called Tibati pictures, should be named after Basohli and not after Jammu. Most of the paintings, which Coomaraswamy, and others following him, have ascribed to Jammu, I would identify as Basohli work. I agree with him that “these represent the continuation of some older tradition.” It will, however be at once evident from the examination of the primitives of the Basohli school reproduced here, that they represent much more than any of the works which Coomaraswamy has reproduced as belonging to Jammu, “the oldest and most peculiar type of Pahari art,” and there can be no question that these primitives are of Basohli and not of Jammu origin.
Historical importance of Basohli
Basohli was the capital of the independent western Himalayan Hill State of the same name till about the middle of the last century. “The Balor of Basohli State, as it existed down to the early part of the nineteenth century, corresponded to the Basohli Tahsil of the Jasrota District in Jammu territory if Bhadu and Mankot be excluded. The original capital was at Balor (Vallapura), twelve miles west of Basohli, which is situated on a plateau overlooking the Bhini river, a tributary of the Ujh. The State was bounded on the north by Bhadrawah, on the east by Chamba and Nurpur, on the south by Lakhanpur and Jasrota, and on the west by Bhadu and Mankot.” [14] The Balauria Rajas claimed descent from the Pandavas. They bore the surname Pal and are said to have originally come from near Prayag or Allahabad. Balor, the capital, appears to have been founded in the eighth century. “From copperplate inscriptions in Chamba, it appears that Balor was in existence as an independent State, ruled by its own Raja, in the middle of the eleventh century, and probably as early as the middle of the tenth century.” [15] Balor or Vallapura is first mentioned in the Rajatarangini in connection with an expedition of Anantadeva of Kashmir (AD 1028-63) [16] Branches of the reigning Rajput family at Balor are said to have founded principalities in Kullu, Bhadu and Bhadrawah. The transfer of the capital from Balor to Basohli on the Ravi was probably made in the sixteenth century, though, according to the Vansavali of the State, the change was made several generations before the first historical notice in the eleventh century. The Balauria Rajas of Basohli were long the rivals of the rulers of Jammu till the State was annexed by the Maharaja of Jammu in 1846. Basohli State is now a tehsil in Kathua District of Jammu, and the capital is a straggling village shorn of its former splendour, but the magnificence that once was Basohli’s is borne witness to by the crumbling ruins of the palace of its rulers, once the glory of the hills.
Early Basohli School and late Jammu School
Pahari is generally spoken in the Basohli Tahsil while Dogri, which “forms a connecting link between standard Punjabi and Pahari, is the predominant language of Jammu” [17] The script in which the inscriptions on the pictures we are concerned with are written is Takri, but this affords no clue as to their place of origin, for western Pahari is written in the Takri alphabet which is used also for the Dogri dialect [18]. Thus, Takri is used in Jammu as well as in Basohli. My experience is that a large number of pictures which I here designate as Basohli have come from Basohli or from Nurpur, which is to the south-east of Basohli. In the latter case, the inspiration was derived from Basohli. The earliest if these pictures, barring the “primitives”, go back to the seventeenth century. None of these pictures is described locally as coming from Jammu as “the wealthiest and most powerful” of the Hill States, led Coomaraswamy to style the school the “Jammu School”. My personal investigations showed that a school of painting did exist in Jammu, but only in the nineteenth century. When Jammu became the most powerful of the Hill States and swallowed up the small principalities like Basohli, large number of artists from Kangra migrated to Jammu. They found employment in the court, and the descendants of these artists from kangra migrated to Jammu. They found employment in the court, and the descendants of these artists received considerable patronage and flourished in the state till about half a century ago when they fell on evil times, and many had to return to Kangra. I have also ascertained that there is no tradition of any earlier school of Hindu painting having flourished in Jammu. On the other hand, an unbroken and almost universal tradition exists in the Hill States, including Jammu itself, of there having been three great centres of art, namely, Basohli, Kangra and Garhwal. There is no reason why this classification of the main schools of Pahari painting should not be accepted, or at any rate why the claim of Basohli as against Jammu should not be admitted. The earlier paintings which have hitherto been ascribed to Jammu are really the work either of Kangra or of Basohli artists. Coomaraswamy has said: “There can be very little doubt that the large Ramayana pictures………..are due to the court artists of Jammu. [19] Examples of these large Ramayanapaintings,generally known as the “Siege of Lanka” series, are in the Boston Museum and in the Ghose Collection. They were actually obtained from Guler. I have also secured a large number of drawings identical in treatment from Guler. The provenance in these cases cannot be lightly brushed aside as affording no reliable evidence of the place of origin, for the tradition is still strong that Guler or Haripur was a most important centre of Kangra art almost down to the time of the late Raja Raghunath Singh. The Takri inscriptions on some of these pictures are not more conclusive than the provenance as to their place of origin. An inscription in Takri, mentioned by Cunningham, exists in the Kangra State. It is possible, and not improbable, that painters did exist in the richest and wealthiest of the Dogra Hill States in an earlier age, but they never attained the fame of the Basohli or the Kangra artists, and their very existence has been forgotten in the Jammu of today. Undoubtedly, there was a school of provincial and decadent Moghul art in Kashmir, which was responsible for a huge outturn of eighteenth, and even early nineteenth century illustrated Shahnama manuscripts, but these painters had nothing in common with Pahari painting. Some miniature paintings of Hindu subjects, chiefly illustrations of the great epics, written in minute characters on marvellously thin paper role exist, which are stated to have been executed in Kashmir but the style of these miniatures bears little resemblance to the Pahari paintings.
The Basohli Primitives
The earliest folk-art stage of the Basohli school is represented by some examples in my collection, from which five typical specimens have been reproduced in Plate I. These primitives represent the oldest style of the purely Hindu painting of the western Himalayas, and are certainly the least conventionalized. They combine an unexpectedly spirited delineation with a bold and even daring composition. These Basohli primitives look even more primitive, and are probably earlier than the earliest Rajasthani series of Ragmala paintings, which are ascribed to the latter part of the sixteenth century. The words in which Coomaraswamy has recently most happily described the latter are applicable with almost equal truth to the Basohli primitives. “ Their most obvious features are the great vitality of the drawing and colour; the former analytic, or abstract, not so much representing forms as designating them with a maximum economy of means, the latter glowing like enamel, and used with organised skill to establish the planes. The painter is not concerned to create picturesque effects, but to state all the facts clearly, leaving these to evoke their appropriate and inevitable emotional reactions; he knows his audience and does not need to cross his t’s and dot his I’s and so proceeds in the boldest and broadest manner. The style itself is passionate rather than sentimental.” [20] The miracle of the descent of Ganga, illustrated in plate I 9Fig.1), has the outstanding qualities of imagination and expressiveness. It is a real tour de force. The tremendous rush of the mighty, whirling torrent and the rolling, shimmering foam, have been painted with wonderful success. Behind the figures of Siva and Parvati, on the left, slanting into depth away from the spectator is Mount Kailas, most curiously depicted, and the abode of the God strangely suggested by a doorway. This man, in spite of all the crudity of his mode of expression, is a true artist. The same vigorous draughtsmanship and power of expression characterize the picture of Durga slaying Mahisasura (Plate I, Fig.2), Visnu on Garuda (Plate I, Fig. 3) and the Flute of Krishna (Plate I, Fig. 4). Rama and Sita (Plate I, Fig.5) is a striking composition and is a more accomplished drawing. It is, possibly, of later date. All these pictures succeed remarkably in reproducing life and motion, in fact their vitality is their most striking merit. An examination of these paintings shows that in their large effects and strong colouring, their bold drawing and sweeping backgrounds, usually of an uniform deep red, they are directly descended from mural painting. In these primitives, we trace the first attempts at a facial type which, later, became distinctive of Basohli. There is a remarkable continuity of style from these primitives up to the latest Basohli paintings.
The archaism of Basohli art
The facial type in Basohli paintings - the receding forehead of which the nose seems to be an unbroken continuation downwards, the exceedingly large eyes, the small mouth and receding chin and the full cheeks of more especially women - closely resembles the type of face of the earliest Rajasthani Ragmala paintings. This archaism id peculiar to Basohli and is not to be found in Kangra or Garhwal, though both of these latter schools evolved a type of female beauty of their own, a highly refined and charming type. Apart from the resemblance in features between the Basohli and the earliest Rajasthani Ragmala paintings, resemblances in the style of dress are noticeable; the same short choli, skirt and transparent scarf appear in both. The ornaments, too, are nearly the same, and nowhere else do we find the same lavish use of pearl ornaments, or an exactly similar method of representing strings of pearls by rows of pearly white dots as in the earliest Rajasthani Ragmala paintings and in Basohli pictures. Take for instance the figure of the attendant on the right in the Malkaus Raga [21] and the figure on the left in the Basohli Ragini painting reproduced on Plate III, Fig.8, and mark these points of resemblance. The stylized trees are characteristic of both these paintings, and these stylizations offer close parallels.
Themes of Basohli Paintings
The subject which was most favoured by the Basohli painters was the representation of the Ragmalas. Similarly, the Rajasthani artists loved to depict Ragmala scenes. Such paintings, however, appear to have been almost unknown in the Pahari schools of the Kangra group. Sveral series of Basohli Ragmalas are known. A typical example from one which is distinctively Basohli in my collection is reproduced on Plate III (No. 9). To the same series apparently belongs the Ahiri Ragini [22] in the Boston Museum, a lady offering a cup of milk to four cobras, which are emerging from two earthen ware vessels; the painting is dated by Coomaraswamy in the seventeenth century, and this date is probably correct. One of the Gujari [23] Raginis in the Boston Museum seems to belong to this series; the other Gujari Ragini [24] in the same collection is a very charming representation of a lady sitting cross-legged, fondling a pair of antelopes, while her companion plays on a Vina and the trees sway in the wind in response to music. The face of the principal figure is typical of Basohli, though Coomaraswamy has identified the picture as Jammu, as also all other here identified asBasohli. Likethe preceding, Ramkali, [25] Devagandhari [62] and Devagiri Raginis [27], and gambhira [28] and Bhamaranda [29] Ragas, reproduced by Coomaraswamy, also portrays ladies whose features are unmistakably of Basohli type. The Basohli pictures of Raginis show considerable originality. They are quite unlike the Rajasthani Ragmalas in their treatment of the same themes. They are nearly always full of grace and charm. The scenes represented, picture contemporary life and manners. They bear strong testimony to the artist’s gift of imagination. The primitives are concerned with Gods and Goddesses of the Hindu pantheon. Such subjects are to be found in later [30, 31] Basohli art as well, but these representations have not the strength and freshness of treatment of the primitives. Other subjects beloved of the Basohli painters were the Krishna-lila and the Ramayana. The illustration from the Ramayana in my collection, reproduced on Plate III (Fig.10) is a noble picture…Jasoda with the infant Krishna and Balarama, also from my collection (Plate III, No. 9), is a charming composition from the Krishna legend. Jasoda is turning the churning rod on which a peacock is balancing himself and. While her attention is diverted to the bird, Krishna dips one hand in the churning barrel and hold the other full of butter; Balarama with a lotus in his hand stands behind Jasoda. The figure of Jasoda may almost be the last female figure in ‘Sri Krishna rises to welcome Sudama,’ [32] another Basohli picture, so closely does it resemble it in features, dress and ornaments, though Jasoda’s face is more refined. The picture probably belongs to the seventeenth century. The scene is framed within a doorway. An almost parallel setting occurs in an illustration of the Rasikapriya MS. A striking picture if Krishna and Radha [34] where the features of both bear the stamp of Basohli is in the Boston collection. In the most accomplished period of Basohli art we have remarkable series of illustrations of the Gita Govinda. A typical example from this beautiful series in my collection is reproduced in one of the colour plates.
The principal subjects of the so-called “Tibet” paintings are Nayakas and Tantric Godesses.
“Tibeti Paintings”
A later development of the old Basohli tradition are the so-called “Tibeti” paintings, in which beetles’ wings, cut into small pieces of various shapes, are used as decorative adjunct, probably to suggest that the jewels on which they are fixed, are set with emeralds. It is to be noted that it is this class of pictures only that are called “Tibeti” by the Punjab dealers. The only purely Basohli type of paintings of importance in which beetles’ wings are used to heighten the decorative effect of the pictures are the Gita Govinda illustrations. In early Basohli paintings, the use of beetles’ wings finds no place and this fact and the greater conventionality of the “Tibeti” paintings, leads me to the conclusion that the latter are of later date. Typical examples of the “Tibeti” pictures are the Tantric representations of Durga in the Central Museum, Lahore, and they have been correctly catalogued as Basohli work. These are the pictures referred to in in the Archaeological Survey Report cited above. A Tantric Goddess, belonging probably to the same series in my collection, is reproduced by Coomaraswamy, [35] are likewise “Tibeti” paintings. They are described as “evidently from an extensive series illustrating some treatise on Nayaka-bheda… The series is characterized by strong colour, with red borders on to which the picture intrudes, by the use of fragments of beetles’ wings to represent jewellery, and by the peculiar character of the architecture, with turrets, panelled doors, latticed windows and plinths ending in grotesque heads.” [36] He thinks the style as a whole must be older in origin than Moghul painting. I have shown above that the style has ricocheted off from the true Basohli style. In these pictures of Nayakas and in the Tantric representations of Durga, there is no softness in the features, no sinuous rhythm in the figures, but an austere form and hardset features in which the eyes alone keep true to the older tradition. Coomaraswamy considers the well-known picture of a Virahini [37] as probably by the same hand and series as the Nayakas referred to above. I am of opinion that the “Virahini” is more akin to the typically Basohli pictures than to the Tibeti type of the Nayakas; to the latter belongs the other Virahini [38] reproduced by him. Abhisarika Nayika, [39] reproduced on Plate XCVI, can scarcely be considered to be akin to any of the other pictures described as belonging to the “Jammu” school by Coomaraswamy. The Vaidusaka Sakha reproduced by Goetz [40] is a “Tibeti” painting, which I would assign to the same series as Nos. CCC-CCVII in the Boston Museum. The stylistic resemblance is so strong that they may be safely assumed to be the work of one and the same master. The Vasakasayya (No.5 on the same Plate) and the Vasakasayya, reproduced by Gangoly, [41] I would also assign to Basohli. The charmingly decorative composition of Krishna playing on the flute [42] on the bank of the Jamuna on which lotuses are blooming, with cowboys an kine on either side of him, the dumb animals exhibiting strange emotion at the unwonted melody, I would also designate as Basohli. Here the features of Krishna closely approaches the facial type of the so-called “Tibeti” pictures. The features of the cowboys as also those of the God in this and in one or two other compositions remind us of the Kashmiri settlers of Nurpur and Tilokanath who are “remarkable for high foreheads and Jewish features,”[43] As I have said above, many of the Basohli paintings have come from Nurpur. Of the toilet scenes reproduced by Coomaraswamy two [44-45], are primitive in treatment while the third, [46] which is more than usually conventionalized, is similar to some of the Ragmala illustrations; all of them are probably anterior to the “Tibeti” phase of Basohli art.
A Basohli Drawing
Outline drawings by Basohli artists are rare; no examples apparently exist in the Boston Museum nor in the Lahore Museum. An outline drawing in my collection which shows clearly constructed composition, continuity of line and vigorous draughtsmanship is reproduced on plate II (Fig.6). The joyous movements of dance and music are well-interpreted in the figures of the two celestial musicians. Apart from its artistic value, the drawing is of importance as it shows that the Tantric Goddesses represented in the so-called “Tibeti” pictures, are derived directly from typical Basohli prototypes. This drawing and the representation of a Tantric Goddess, also from my collection, reproduced on Pate II (Fig. 7), gives us an idea of the weird world of mythology, which fascinated the imagination of the later Basohli artists.
I have shown that a large number of paintings in the Boston Museum which have hithertobeen classifiedas belonging to the Jammu school ought properly to be designated as Basohli paintings. I have also referred to two pictures reproduced by Goetz and one in Rupam, which must be assigned to the Basohli school. Some other specimens of Basohli kalam, and very fine examples they are, demand consideration. A typical Basohli masterpiece is the picture in the Metropolitan Museum of Arts, reproduced by Gangoly [47] and described by him as “Shaviri”. It is, however, identical in subject and offers a close parallel in treatment to a Basohli painting in the Boston Museum. [48] The latter bears an inscription in Takri characters on its red border which describes the subject of the painting as “Ramkali Ragini, wife of Sri Raga”. Both pictures represent a girl with a cup of milk (in each hand in the Boston picture) which she offers to cobras, coiled on trees on either side and darting towards her. The pose of the girl in the specimen in the Metropolitan Museum is more natural as the extended left hand partly raised and the slight inclination of the figure backwards shows her natural apprehension of the cobras which her duty impels her to feed. It must belong to a series of Ragmala pictures like the Boston picture, and the one from my collection reproduced on Plate III (Fig.8).
A Basohli painting in the Central Museum, Lahore, Vipralabhdha Nayika, is reproduced in colours by Gangoly. [49] The Indian artist knew par excellence the symbolism of colour. In this picture, the trunks of five trees from behind which the God of Love shoots his flowery shaft at the heroine are all painted in different in different colours and Gangoly considers that they “represent perhaps the five flowers of Cupid (Pancha-Sayaka).”
Alluding apparently to the decorative treatment of the trees, he says: “There is a daring modernity in the composition.”
“Flower Gathering,” another picture in the Central Museum, Lahore, has been ascribed to Basohli by both Gupta [50] and Gangoly [51]. The correctness of the ascription is not free from doubt. The features of the two girls, though archaic in form, particularly that of the girl on the left, are unlike the usual Basohli types. The plants from which they are plucking blossoms, and particularly the shapes of the flowers, remind one forcibly of the stylized plant motifs which Moghul artists of a later period imitated from the naturalistic floral motifs of the Jahangir and Shah Jehan schools. The sunflowers in full bloom are again unknown in other Basohli paintings. The full length bodice (choli) coming up almost up to the skirt is another un-Basohli feature of this work. The baskets are unlike the basket which one of the ladies carries in the Devagiri Ragini in the Boston Museum, which I have identified as a Basohli painting. The shapes of the clouds finally militate against the ascription of this picture to a Basohli artist. On the other hand, it is undeniable that the picture shows strongly the influence of the Basohli school in composition, in the treatment of the swaying branches of the weeping willow on the right and in at least one other trait, namely, the drawing of the eye resembling a lotus-petal of the figure on the left.
Constructive deliberation in Basohli paintings is akin to that in architectural design. Symmetry and balance are marked characteristics in the composition, in the treatment of the swaying branches of the weeping willow on the right and in at least one other trait, namely, the drawing of the eye resembling a lotus-petal of the figure on the left.
Constructive deliberation in Basohli paintings is akin to that in architectural design. Symmetry and balance are marked characteristics. Instead of counterparts, groups and masses balance each other. The Gita Govinda illustration from the series in my collection, which is reproduced in the colour plate, can be divided into two equal halves - on one side the group of trees presenting an appearance of mass and, on the other, the Dutika and Krishna completing the symmetry of the composition. This symmetry appealed to the aesthetic sense of the Basohli artist and is characteristic of all his best efforts from the primitives to the finished products of the school. The trees on either side are not counterparts, for no true artist would have depicted exact counterparts but balance each other perfectly in such pictures as the Krishna and Gopis and Ragini Shaviri described above. The first of these two pictures was originally published in Rupam [52] and then in Examples of Indian Art at the British Empire Exhibition, 1924. [53] A finer reproduction has since appeared. [54] Here not only the two trees with their conventionalized foliage, but the figures of Krishna and the Gopis are so balanced that the result is a harmonious composition. The two Gopis on the left are in perfectly natural and unconventional poses, while the rather stiff pose of the third Gopi, who has thrown herself slightly backwards, may be explained by the fact that “the faces of the three Gopis are almost identical, they are representatives of types rather than individuals.” This is true of almost all Basohli paintings and, to some extent, of all Pahari painting, and may be considered to be a serious drawback for sameness is unsatisfying and monotonous. It cannot be excused on the on the ground that a religious theme is being on the part of the artist. Apart from this defect, the picture is a perfectly sincere representation of the devotion of the Gopis. The colour scheme of this remark able composition is stated to be “rich golden yellow and rose against a background of sober green.” [55] The painting is correctly identified as belonging to the school of Basohli by Gangoly, and vaguely described as “Rajpu or Rajasthani” in the India Society’s publication, where it is dated as early seventeenth century.
In such masterpieces as the Rasamanjari illustration and the illustration from the Gita Govinda, both reproduced in colour here, Basohli painting attains a distinction of style and a delicacy of execution in no way inferior to the best work of Kangra and Garhwal artist. The group illustrating a verse from the Rasamanjari if Bhanudatta belongs to the seventeenth century, and is a compact composition which fills the space admirably. How eloquently expressive are the yearning faces of the two young girls and the pale lover. Even the arms extended on the picture surface have an expressional value. Similar erotic representations in Moghul art can scarcely approach the perfect balance and rhythm of this chief d’oeuvre of Rajput art. The subtle alluring colour scheme is eminently successful and heightens the effect of the masterly draughtsmanship. Such is the technical skill of the Basohli artist that in this, and in any other paintings as well, he has successfully indicated differences in tissues in his use of an opaque drapery which adapts itself to the form it covers, and a transparent drapery over theopaque one whichadds elegance and grace to his figures. The impulse to unveil the beauty of the human form, to which, owing to an easy mastery of the technique of transparent drapery, the Rajasthani, Kangra and Garhwal artists succumbed in various alluring scenes of the toilet, never manifested itself in the Basohli painter. The filmy scarf floats in the air or plays in fine rippling fold on the ladies’ garments in the picture. This love for diaphanous draperies is a characteristic of the Basohli art. The artist consciously uses drapery as a means to an end, the realization of beauty. And the women are beautiful. The eye rests with pleasure on their exquisite elegance and delicate grace, the perfect naturalness of their postures, and the harmony of their forms and draperies.
Such is the perfect precision of brush of the Basohli artist that he invariably paints, and with complete success, single straggling strands of floating hair on his heroines face. This excessive love for detail is the outcome of the decorative instinct of the artist for the Basohli painter is first and foremost a decorative artist, though he is not a mere decorative artist for he has an inner ideal to express. In spite of his meticulous attention to details, the artist’s mind fully comprehends the ensemble. In spite, too, of the over-refinement of his technique, there is considerable simplicity and strength in his picture. He is quite alive to the unity and beauty of his work. The result is the marvellous rhythm of his composition, the harmony of figure and of drapery, of beauty of pose and of gesture, the perfect relation of each individual unit to the whole composition in which consists artistic grouping, and, above all, the exquisite harmony of the glowing colours. It is certainly not claimed for all Basohli work that they attain the rare excellence of the Rasamanjari illustration. This picture, however, is typical of the best qualities and the defects of these paintings.
That the Basohli painter has produced aesthetic effects unknown to all the other Pahari artists is admirably shown in the Gita Govinda illustrations, from which one example has been reproduced here in colours.
Basohli art, like all Pahari painting, is a lyric art, and it is in such scenes as this, that this art of charming delicacy and richness is seen at its best. The painter has re-created the spiritual dreamland of the poet. The day is advancing-it is the most dazzling part of the evening before the shadows gather. The messenger (Dutika) has come to take Krishna’s message to Radha. The atmosphere is still, the leaves of the trees are still and lifeless-not a breath of wind disturbs them. This is the scene which the artist has chosen to illustrate.
The artist shows considerable power in drawing his figures which proves that he is a careful observer and has a retentive memory. The poses of the figures and their movements are rendered truthfully-they are natural and easy, not stiff and formal. The brightly coloured silken garments of the ladies in these pictures are ornamented with embroidery and they themselves are adorned in all the luxury of necklace, ear-rings, bracelets and large black silken pompoms the size of which-decreasing and finally vanishing in later times- furnishes an index of the date of these pictures. Social differences are indicated less in the features than in complexion and dress. Mobile feeling is expressed on each countenance. These painters delight in delicate sentiments; they do not express strong emotions. The landscape is treated as decoration. The drawing of the trees is distinctive. The forms of the foliage, the play of light through them and their colour, produce a subtle decorative effect. The artist does not fill his back ground with the least unwanted detail. He understands the value of space. He relies on large effects. The bright sunlight is conjured up by a sweeping wash of deep yellow which fills the entire background, leaving only a fringe of white frilled cloud shapes in deep blue strip of the evening horizon which appears above. The very high horizon in these pictures is a convention of the painter and intended to give an idea of space and depth. The purity and harmony of the colour and the expressive flowing brush line are unsurpassed in other paintings. The appeal of the picture to our imagination is not less than its appeal to our aesthetic sense. Who would quarrel with such precious gems because they lack the strength, the restraint, and the stately dignity of Moghul art, or be cause to sophisticated eyes their atmosphere is unreal and unconvincing?
Basohli distinct from Kangra
While it is not possible to differentiate the individual details which separate such purely local schools such as Nurpur, Kangra and Guler, it is impossible to confound kangra painting with Basohli painting. Even Garhwal art was an offshoot of Kangra art, and, in the early nineteenth century, the differences between these two schools were all but blotted out. Basohli art, however, appears to be distinctive. It’s ideal was very different from the ideal of the Kangra and Garhwal schools. It is more closely related in spirit to the pure Rajasthani art then to Kangra art which we know.
Having regard to this great antiquity, famed wealth and culture of Kangra, it seems probable that a school of painting, of which all early specimens have perished by the destruction wrought by foreign invaders, existed in Kangra in a period anterior to the Mohammedan conquest. It would not surprise me if further research enables us to prove that the earliest series of Ragmalas known to us, and to which the primitives of Basohli bear so close a resemblance, come not from Jaipur or Orchha, but from Kangra. Coomaraswamy is f opinion that the verses on the back of these pictures point to a Bundelkhund origin, but the verses were probably written at a later date.
One remarkable features of Basohli art, judging from the specimens so far available, is that each Basohli painting seems to be more or less an original invention, evidencing a refined taste and a charming conceit.
The distinctions between this traditionally antecedent art of Basohli, and the highly refined and polished art of Kangra, are not very subtle. They differ in composition, technique and colour. The same motifs take different forms, their arrangements are different, the design and pattern are different, the drawings take different outlines, and not only the colour schemes differ but the colour tones. But there are points of resemblance amidst all this diversity. The same tender or romantic feelings actuate both schools, the same simplicity, the same love of light and of beautiful colours. Kangra art has, however, a larger intellectual outlook than Basohli art. Kangra art in its maturity achieved hitherto unattained richness and brilliancy of expression in compositions which are a pure delight for perfection of lines, for the charming graceand lovelyprofiles of feminine beauties and the splendour of burnished gold and vivid colours. Basohli art has the qualities of mural paintings, Kangra art of the miniature. Vigour of treatment in the one gives place to refinement in the other. There is a softness in Kangra art which we do not find in the strong, firm and, at times, even hard lines of Basohli art in spite of the sinuous rhythm of the figures. The sensuous profile of Basohli does not please as the chiselled clear cut features of the Kangra ideal of feminine beauty does. It is difficult to understand Basohli art which is a strange traditional art, easy to appreciate the productions of Kangra because they approximate more closely to our modern ideas. In their love for beautiful scenery, Kangra and, especially, Garhwal art make an appeal which is absent in Basohli art. Many influences have moulded the art of Kangra but Basohli is a distinctive school - a great virile exponent of traditional art. India painting would have been poorer if this art of Basohli had not existed. [56]
Notes:
[1] Report of the Archaeological Survey of India, 1918-19, Pt. 1, p. 31.
[2] Modern Review, 1921, Oct., p. 475, at p. 478.
[3] This seems to contradict what he has just said about their being “closely related” to the Nepalese school, neither to the miniature in Nepalese manuscripts nor to the Nepalese banners.
[4] Catalogue of the Paintings in the Central Museum, Lahore, p. 133.
[5] Rames Basu, “Mr. Ajit Ghose’s Collection of Old Indian Paintings,” Modern Review, 1926, Jan., pp. 43-48, at p.45.
[5a] The MSS. Of “Masterpieces of Rajput Painting” was in the Press in December 1925. Editor, Rupam.
[6] The correct spelling is “Basohli” or “Basaoli”.
[7] Gangoly, O.C., “Masterpieces of Rajput Painting,” N.D. (1927), re. Plate XIX.
[8[ Coomaraswamy, A.K.,”Rajput Painting,” 1911, Vol. I, p.17.
[9] Coomaraswamy, A.K. “Rajput Painting”, 1911, Vol. I, p.17.
[10] Coomaraswamy, A.K., “History of Indian and Indonesian Art, “1927, p. 130.
[11] Coomaraswamy, A.K., Catalogue of the Indian Collections in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Part V, “Rajput Painting”, 1926. P. 6.
[12] Ibid., p.7.
[13] Ibid., p.7, footnote 2.
[14] Hutchinson, J and Vogel, J. Ph., “History of Basohli State” in Journal of the Punjab Historical Society, Vol. IV, p. 77.
[15] Ibid., p. 79.
[16] Hutchinson, J. and Vogel, J. PH., “History of Basohli State” in Journal of the Punjab Historical Society, Vol. IV, p. 78.
[17] “Census of India”, 1921, Vol. XXII, Kashmir, Pt. I, pp. 128-129.
[18] “Linguistic Survey of India”, Vol. I, p. 184.
[19] Coomaraswamy, A.K., “Rajput painting,” Vol. I. p.17.
[20] Coomaraswamy A.K., “History of Indian and Indonesian Art,” p. 129.
[21] Coomaraswamy, A.K., “Rajput painting,” 1911, Vol. II, PI. IIIA.
[22] Coomaraswamy, A.K., Catalogue of the Indian Collections in the Boston Museum, Part V, “Rajput Painting”, LXXVI, 17, 3219, PI. XXXIV, p.99.
[23] Ibid., LXXIV, 17, 3200, PI. XXXIII, p.98.
[24] Ibid., LXXI, 17, 3199, PI. XXXIII, p.97.
[25] Ibid., LXX, 17, 2791, PI. XXXII, p.97.
[26] Ibid., LXVIII, 17, 3116, PI. XXXII, p.98.
[28] Ibid., LXIX, 17, 2788, PI. XXXII, p.97.
[29] Ibid., LXXIII, 17, 2790, PI. XXXIII, p. 98.
[30] Ibid., XXXVIII, 17, 2769, PI. XVII, p. 85.
[31] Ibid., CLXII, 17, 2794, PI. XVII, p. 121.
[32] Coomarswamy, A.K., Rajput Painting.” Vol. II, PI. XXIX.
[33] Gangoly, O.C., “Masterpieces of Rajput Painting,” PI. L.B.
[34] Boston, CCXXV, 17, 3201, PI. LXV, p.146.
[35] Coomaraswamy, A.K., Catalogue of the Indian Collections in the Boston Museum, Part V, “Rajput Painting”, Nos. CCC-CCCVII.
[36] Ibid., p.170
[37] Ibid. CCCVIII, 17, 3113, PI. . XCVI, p. 174; “Rajput Painting”, PI. XXVIIA; Gangoly, O.C., “Masterpieces of Rajput Painting.” PI.
[38] Ibid., CCCX, 17, 3203, PI. XCVII, p.15
[39] Ibid. CCCIX, 17, 3115, PI.XCVI, p. 174; “Rajput Painting”, PI.XXVIIB.
[40] Goetz: Die Indischen Miniaturen der Sammlung William Rothenstein in Jahrbuch der Asiatischen Kusnt, 1935, Tafel. 54, No. 4; Rupam, 1924, opp. P. 137.
[41] Rupam, 1924, facing p.138
[42] Coomaraswamy, A.K., Rajput Painting”, Vol.II, PI. XXXI; Catalogue of the Indian Collections in the Boston Museum, PI. LXX.
[43] Kangra District Gazetter, p.82
[44] Coomaraswamy, A.K., Cat., etc., CCCCI. 17, 2800, Pl. CVII, p.2013; Gangoly, O.C., “Masterpieces of Rajput Painting,” PL.XIII
[45] Coomaraswamy, A.K., Cat., etc.., CCCXCIX: 17, 2798, PL.CVII, p.282
[46] Coomaraswamy, A.K., “Rajput Painting”, 1911, PL.XXXII; Cat., etc., CCXXIV. 17, 2804, PI. LXX, p.146
[47] Gangoly, O.C., “Masterpieces of Rajput Painting”, PI.XXI
[48] Coomaraswamy, A.K., Catalogue of the Indian Collections in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, “Rajput Painting.”
[49] Gangoly, O.C., “Masterpieces of Rajput Painting,” PI.XXII; Gupta, S.N., Catalogue of Indian Paintings, Lahore, p. 132, K35.
[50] Gupta, S.N., Catalogue of the Indian Paintings, Lahore, p.132
[51] Gangoly, O.C., “Masterpieces of Rajput Painting,” PL.XIX
[52] Rupam, 1925, p.10
[53] Examples of Indian Art at the British Empire Exhibition, 1924, PI. VIII
[54] Gangoly, O.C., “Masterpieces of Rajput Painting”, PI.XX
[55] Examples of Indian Art at the British Empire Exhibition, 1924, opp. PI. VIII
[56] While this paper was in the press, I received unexpected confirmation of my views at the Fifth All-India Oriental Conference where my attention was drawn by Mr. Hirananda Sastri to a painting belonging to his son on the back of which there is an inscription stating that the particular “Chita-Rasamanjuri” illustration was painted at Basohli; the date, corresponding to 1675 A.D., and the name of the painter are also given. Needless to say that the picture is in the typical Basohli style and is probably another leaf of the Rasamanjuri pictures in the Lahore Museum and in my own collection.
Published in Rupam, No. 37, January 1929.
© Rupam