The late Nanalal C. Mehta was one of the pioneers in the field of Indian Miniature Painting. Heir to a long tradition of scholarship in Indological studies maintained by several members of the Indian Civil Service, Nanalal had the eye of an aesthete, the perception of an antiquarian and a sound background of Sanskrit and Hindi literature. Not only did he build up a valuable collection but also published his researches. He brought to light the now famous Vasant Vilas manuscript of the Gujarati School as also the Guler Gita Govinda series of the Tehri-Garhwal Darbar. Moreover, he established that the colophon of the Lahore Museum's Basohli Gita Govinda set was the original one dated 1730 and that the colophon on the Guler series was a copy. His Studies in Indian Painting, Bombay, 1926, brought to the notice of scholars a wealth of material, hitherto unknown, particularly the splendid miniatures in the collection of the late Sitaram Sah of Varanasi. But his most exciting discovery was the Chaurapanchasika miniatures now published in a handsome volume by his talented daughter Leela Shiveshwarkar. When he died in May 1958, his collection passed into the hands of his wife, the late Mrs. Shanta Mehta, who generously decided to donate the most important part of it to the Gujarat Museum Society, Ahmedabad, so that it should remain a fitting tribute to her husband's work of a lifetime. This collection has recently been added to by his daughter Leela Shiveshwarkar from paintings belonging to her father thus further enhancing its importance.
Nanalal was a close friend of the author and when Leela Shiveshwarkar suggested that I should write the text of a publication on his Pahari Collection I readily accepted the assignment so that I could pay my tribute to his work and express my gratitude for the many happy hours we spent together in the study of what we both loved.
In a field of research beset with many difficulties it is not surprising that several earlier conclusions of pioneer writers, including those of the present author, should have had to be altered, readings of inscriptions corrected, provenance reconsidered and dates revised. This is inevitable if research is to be a continuous process and not only an obstinate re-statement of former viewpoints no matter how firmly expressed. Though subsequent evidence has confirmed many of my earlier conclusions it has also corrected several of them. Accordingly, the viewpoints expressed herein are not in a spirit of confrontation nor as a declaration of finality. New evidence particularly in the form of reliable dated material can overturn the most carefully formulated theories with inescapable sureness and I am acutely conscious of this fact.
The present volume is not intended to be a history of Pahari Painting. Its primary purpose is to catalogue all the important Pahari miniatures in the N.C. Mehta Collection. However, several sets and individual paintings of significance outside the collection which have a bearing directly or indirectly on the material herein have been discussed. In doing so I have proceeded on the assumption that the reader has a basic knowledge of the subject. The conclusions expressed herein are to be found not only in the several sections which form part of the text but also in the "Comments" relating to individual paintings. It is accordingly necessary to read them in conjunction with each other.
I wish to express my gratitude to Shri Sadashiv Gorakshkar, Director of the Prince of Wales Museum, for the invaluable help he has given me coming twice with me to Ahmedabad for cataloguing and discussions and also taking upon himself a large share of the burden of the production of this volume. I also wish to thank Dr. V. C. Ohri for translating all the inscriptions and Dr. B. N. Goswamy for elucidating several matters in connection therewith. Dr. Usha Bhatia assisted me very ably in extensive documentation and Mrs. Radhika Lalbhai listed all the relevant material from the collection while both helped in various other ways for which I am thankful to them as also to Shri T. Ravindran for his patience in the typing of the text. The colour blocks are themselves their own high tribute to the skill of Mr. Burjor Poonawala and Mr. Dadi Poonawala of the Commercial Art Engravers, the block-makers, while Mr. G. U. Mehta and Miss Katey Cooper of Vakil & Sons, the printers, have spared no pains to maintain their standard of book production for which they are widely known. I thank all of them for their personal interest as friends in all the publication work which they have carried out for me over many years.
The present monograph is not intended to be a complete catalogue of all the Pahari paintings and drawings in the N. C. Mehta Collection. However, it deals with all the important Pahari paintings and coloured sketches therein. Two uncoloured line drawings are also included as in-sets.
I desire to take this opportunity to express my admiration for the magnificent work done by my friend the late William Archer whose Indian Paintings from the Punjab Hills (1973) is indispensable for the study of the miniature art of the Hill States and also for the work done by my friend M.S. Randhawa in discovering and publishing many princely collections and also acquiring them for the Chandigarh Museum for otherwise they would have been lost for the study of Pahari Painting.
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