Indian Musical Modes in Rajasthani Miniature Painting
This book is a combination of both the theory of classical Indian music and its representation in visual arts in the form of ragachitras or raga paintings. It includes a textual, aesthetic and iconographic analysis of two significant sets of ragachitra folios from the Gem Palace Collection of the National Museum (New Delhi) and Bharat Kala Bhavan (Varanasi) through a comprehensive survey of primary sources in the form of musicological and iconographical treatises. In order to establish text-image coordination, verses of the ragachitras taken up in this book have been translated by the author from Sanskrit to English for the first time. The author's proficiency in Sanskrit, classical Indian music and Art History has been instrumental in making this book a scholarly publication.
She has delivered lectures in museums and universities in India and abroad. She has coordinated several international seminars, workshops and exhibitions. Currently she is coordinating an international project on the art of Champa. She represents India at Comite International d'Histoire de l'Art (CIHA) as its titular member. She is a representative member (NMI) of Council of the Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute (SICI) and has been a member of prestigious national bodies such as Central Advisory Board of Archaeology (CABA). She has also been a member of the Board of Directors of the renowned International Association of Buddhist Studies (IABS).
This book presents an extensive art historical, art critical and aesthetic discourse on ragachitras of the Mewar School which ranks as one of the most prominent sub-styles of the Rajasthani miniature painting tradition. The Mewar School rose to prominence in the Mewar region of Rajasthan, with Udaipur as its main centre. The ragachitra folios taken up for analysis in this book have been culled from the National Museum and form a part of the prestigious Gem Palace Collection, dated approximately to 1640-50 CE. In tracing the historicity of Mewar ragachitras, the earliest folios, dated to about 1575 CE, and presently housed at the Bharat Kala Bhavan, Varanasi have been discussed. The next set of ragachitra folios is ascribable to an artist named Nisardi. They were executed in 1605 CE at Chawand, which was the capital of Mewar under Maharana Pratap. These folios are dispersed in museum collections all over the world. It is quite apparent that the painting of ragachitras gained great currency in Mewar since they were executed throughout the 17th century with tremendous zeal. Another set of ragachitra folios which precedes the Gem Palace folios is held by the National Museum. These are conjectured to have been executed in 1627-28 CE by an artist named Sahibdin. In this book, all the aforementioned ragachitra folios have been investigated with regard to their visual and textual content alongside the Gem Palace folios for the purpose of comparative analysis as also to gain a holistic understanding of the style and content exemplified in the Gem Palace set.
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