Chronology of Mewar Paintings

It was Ananda Coomaraswami who discussed the origin and development of Rajasthani paintings for the first time. scholars also took keen interest in this Later, Western subject and contributed to our knowledge in this field, though in a limited way. Khandala wala's "Leaves from Rajasthan" in the Marg was an eye opener. His critical examination of the paintings from Malwa, Central India. etc. lucidly established that Rajasthani paintings knew no geographical boundaries. There seems to some unifying force among the several schools, particularly in the theme such as Bhakti cult. The discovery of the Malwa Rasikapriya (A.D. 1634) established the Sultanate influence in the Rajasthani paintings of Mewar, Central India, etc. thereby establishing the existence of minia ture paintings even before Akbar's time..

The Chawandi Ragamala (A.D. 1605) disco vered in the fifties brought to light the Mewari School, which appears to be the synthesis of Western Indian, Sultanate and Mughul Schools of paintings.

The present book exclusively devoted to the Mewari paintings, besides postulating a firm chronological base discusses many aspects not dealt with in any of the book on paintings by any author, The author fully discusses the existence of workshops (Chitaron ka Khar khand), the themes, change in contemporary tastes, etc.

The book embodies important events and dates in Mewar names of hitherto unknown artists, their inter-relationship, their itenary. which helps in establishing the influences of the Mewar paintings on other schools and vice versa. A unique feature is the interview with the surviving members of the family of the artists who had worked in the State." their genealogy. migration problems, the remuneration received by the artist, etc. The book also brings out the relationship betwee chitaras. Gajadharas (mextrys) etc.

The book in divided into six Chapters, the important ones being: Mewar paintings in AD. 1592-1700, Mughul influence on the Mewari paintings in the 18th century and the most informative chapter, artist, their status, genealogy etc. A Glossary of Rajas thani (Mewari) terms is an useful addition,

Dr Shridhar Andhare (b. 1933) a graduate of the Nagpur University qualified for the G.D. Fine Arts from Sir JJ. School of Art, Bombay in 1960. In 1964-65 he went to the United Kingdom on a British Council Scholarship to study restoration of European paintings at the National Gallery, London. During his stay there he was made a Fellow of the Museums: Association in recognition of his research and experience. In 1981 the Bombay University conferred upon him the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy for his Thesis "Chronological Development of the Mewar School".

Dr Andhare began his career in a humble way in the Prince of Wales Museum, Bombay. His untiring work & skill helped him in his professional advancement and he rose to the position of a Curator in the Institution. He had set up new galleries and organised special exhibitions there. At present he heads the Lalbhai Dalpatbhai Museum, Ahmedabad. In a short time he had set up a modern Museum.

Dr Andhare has travelled widely through the USA and the continent, thanks to travel grant by the JDR III Fund. He participated in the ICOM Seminar (1971) at Paris and Grenoble as also in the 'Festival of India' 82. London where he read a paper at the Victoria and Albert Museum on the 'Facets of Indian Art'

Dr Andhare is on the Board of Examiners of Ancient Indian History and Culture and Fine Arts of several Indian Universities. Dr Andhare has attended many seminars both national and international. He is a prolific writer. He has authored half a dozen books on art, particularly painting both in English and his native tongue Marathi besides publi shing numerous research papers in Indian and Foreign journals.

He has been a UGC visiting Fellow at Khairagarh (1982) and Nagpur University (1985), besides being a visiting faculty member NID and Kanoria Centre of Art and Sir J.J. School of Art, Bombay.

The study of Indian miniature painting taken up by earlier scholars was confined mainly to the broad classification of the subject namely, Mughal, Rajasthani, Pahari and Deccani. Volumes were written and are being written not only by Indians but also by foreign writers.

The present day scholarship however envisages and added emphasis on proper research methodology, practical research as well as an inter disciplinary co-ordination of contemporary and historical sources which bring out the objective of the research more prominently. In short we have to leave the main roads of research and enter the bylanes to explore through personal interviews and inscriptional material as regards the paintings are concerned.

Having been initiated by the late Dr. Moti Chandra, the then Director of the Prince of Wales Muscum, who encouraged me after my first paper on Deogarh painting. I decided to go deeper in the subject and found out that its parent school of Mewar painting had immense potentialities to be revealed. 1, therefore, thought it proper to select the subject of 'Chronolo gical Development of the Mewar School', a subject not studied in depth so far.

Within a short span of about four years and with the availability of inscribed paintings and other lognate material, I have been successful to trace the development of this school almost till the end of the nineteenth century. New names of painters, their status, genealogies, migration problems and their approximate periods have been presented for the first time here.

The problem of origin and development of Rajasthani painting was tackled for the first time by Coomaraswamy about fifty years ago. His findings, based on the material then available to him substantially hold good even today. Researches by a few European scholars during the post-war period were also limited to a large extent in as much as in first place these scholars hardly had much material to work upon and secondly their conclusions often reflected inadequate evaluation of inscribed material. In contrast, to-day not only more material is available for study but also comprehensive study based on inscriptional material has also become possible.

The second important impetus was given to this problem by a pionee ring article of Khandalavala entitled "Leaves from Rajasthan" (Marg, Vol. IV, No. 3, 1952) which focussed the attention of scholars on the newly dis covered Western Indian or Gujarati Manuscripts illustrations and their synthesis with the Mughal Painting. The critical evaluation of the material from all the States including Malwa and Central India which he attempted lent a broad base to the problem of the origin of Rajasthani Painting, which always had a tendency to cross its local frontiers.

In recent years the term "Rajasthani" was used in a much wider sense by Moti Chandra who did not want to confine Rajasthani Painting to Rajasthan alone but preferred to enlarge its scope to encompass the States of Malwa and Central India on the evidence of certain important sets of paintings from that region. In addition to this evaluation some important sets of painting from these regions, he emphasised the unifying force provided by the Vaishnava themes which became popular with the increasing involvement in the Bhakti Cult.

Book's Contents and Sample Pages