Wall Paintings from Rajasthan- A Legendary Culture

The present publication has two parts Part-I is dedicated to the life-story of Dr. RA Agarwal, under the title "Dr. R.A. Agarwal: A Journey Within' contributed by renowned sculptor Ram V. Sutar Ji. Dr. Agarwal is relly a reputed scholar and has got published several outstanding works on Rajasthani and Central Indian Wall Paintings. Also, he, as being a well- known artist, has showcased his works in reputed galleries of the country. His reputation among art-hisorians, artists and university acholars has always been very high. Thus, his all painstaking works have made him a Magnum-opus.

Later, on bing known that Dr. Agarwal is in the close contact of world-renowned Sculptor. Shri Ram V. Sutar Ji an Awardee of Padma Bhusan by the President of India, so as publishers we got interested to approach Shri Sutar Ji to get written the Life-Journey of Dr. Agarwal by him. On our insistence, Shri Sutarji very generously agreed to pen down his life story courteously, for which we are beholden to him very much. This benign contribution by him has been added in this book as Part-I.

Part-II contains a unique story of the Legendary Culture of Wall Paintings from Rajasthan. Dr. R.A. Agarwal, the author of part-II of this book, has observed the painted walls very cautiously during his long and tiring sojourns in the past several decades across the whole of Rajasthan. The walls of magnificent palaces, havelis, temples and cenotaphs (chhatris) in its different principalities are embellished with a variety of themes done mostly between carly 17th and late 19th centuries..

Dr. Agarwal has studied very keenly the technique of their execution and the style as well. These phases of wall paintings have seldom been examined together in such a comprehensive way. Dr. Agarwal did it through the present work entitled WALL PAINTINGS FROM RAJASTHAN: A LEGENDARY CULTURE.

Dr. Agarwal, further, has enhanced the value of this monograph by adding some appropriate illustrations to give the reader a fascinating insight into the respective periods of their execution.

A Sculptor of International Fame: 2016 Awarded PADMA BHUSHAN by the President of India.

President: All India Fine Arts and Crafts Society, New Delhi.

Earned diploma in Sculpture with Gold Medal from Sir J.J. School of Art, Bombay in 1952. Did restoration work at Ellora. Executed more than 300 Monumental Sculptures of National Heroes installed in India and foreign countries. His most notable works are: One symbolic 45 feet high Sculpture of Chambal River as Mother-Goddess with M.P. & Rajasthan states depicted as Her sons at Gandhi Sagar Dam in M.P. A 35 feet high bronze statue of Krishna and Arjuna on a Chariot in Kurukshetra War installed on the central platform in Brahma Sarovar, Kurukshetra, (Haryana) and World's tallest statue (597 feet high) of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel (Statue of Unity) in Narmada Valley facing Sardar Sarovar Dam in Gujarat. Presently in Hand: One more tallest statue of Shri Rama to be installed in Ayodhya.

An Art Historian and Artist. M.A. (Painting), M.A. (Anc. Ind. Hist. and Cul.) Ph.D., D. Litt., SCC (Sir J.J. School of Art, Bombay) Former Head of Fine Art Dept., Meerut College, Meerut & Founder Head of the Institute of Fine Art,

CCS University Campus, Meerut. Besides his research-papers in Indian and foreign Journals, he has contributed a number of books i.c., Marwar Murals, Art and Architecture of Jaisalmer; Wall Paintings of Central India; Bundi-The City of Painted Walls; and Splendour of Indian Paintings. As an Artist showcased his works in renowned galleries of the country: Bombay (Sir J.J. School of Art); Shimla (Gaiety); Delhi (AIFACS); Amritsar (IAFA) and Chandigarh (LKA)

A man's fortune is destined by the Almighty with the dawn of his birth in this mortal world. It so happened with me as by sheer luck that my Viva Voce Examination on my Ph.D. thesis entitled Material Culture in Rajasthani and Himachal Paintings done under the supervision of Dr. VS. Agrawala and Dr. Anand Krishna of B.HU Varanasi, was taken by an eminent art historian Dr. M.S. Randhawa, in 1968. A personality in himself, he, as an examiner, not only eulogized my efforts for this work but, also, provided me a vision then and there to continue the study on Rajasthani paintings and culture. I was so much encouraged by his words that immediately after the Viva Examination, I along with my supervisor Dr. Anand Krishna ji, son of Rai Krishnadasa ji, rushed to his B.H.U. residence to get the blessings of Rai Sahib. He put his hand on my head and very gently exhorted me, "Your endeavour must be now to bring before the scholary world the rich treasure of Rajasthani Wall Paintings which are gradually getting blurred." Having been inspired so much by Rai Sahib, then Director of Bharat Kala Bhavan Museum, B.HU., Varanasi, I decided to work in accordance to his suggestions on this unexplored field of Rajasthani Wall Paintings.

To intensify my efforts, I started visiting the wall paintings sites of Rajasthan from 1968 onwards particularly at Jaipur, Jodhpur, Udaipur, Jaisalmer, Bundi and also centres of Orchha and Datia in Central India. As a result I was captivated on having seen a wide spectrum of wall painting tradition in the colossal palaces, lofty havelis, elegent temples and cenotaphs. My fortune favoured me so much that I could not only get the permission to see these wall paintings mostly bearing subjects of (damsels, hunting, court scenes and of Radha and Krishna in these resplendent palatial apartments but was also allowed to take their photographs too.

Now for a comprehensive study, I had to brave long and tiring drive across the vast sandly- land of Rajasthan A number of times I went on foot or on bicycle and sometimes in a village-tonga in heat-splashing summers but remained always in my elements and as such could collect ample material from 1970 till date. Thus, I could unravel much of the glory of wall paintings through some of my already published monographs entitled as, Marwar Murals (1977), History, Art and Architecture of Jaisalmer (1979), Wall Paintings from Central India (1986), Bundi - The City of Painted Walls (1996), and Splendour of Indian Paintings (2018).

Book's Contents and Sample Pages