Chitrashala – Miniature Paintings, Bundi School of Art
Chitrashala – Miniature Paintings, Bundi School of Art
The first sight of Bundi town was breath taking – a sea of blue houses surrounding a lake in front of a hill, with a fort on top and a bunch of palaces hanging from a cliff like formation. We went around the town to reach the entrance of the palaces and through a series of gates that were both carved and painted, we reached the upper palaces, some of which were painted. As we kept going up the walls kept getting richer with the vibrant paintings that combined the mythological scenes from the epics and the daily life of the palaces.
The pinnacle of this series came at Ummed Bhavan when we reached the blue green room called Chitrashala. All of us were mesmerized. For someone like me this was paradise of its kind but even those who are not history or art enthusiasts keenly listened to the stories and admired the profusely painted walls. Let me walk you through some of these stories on the walls.
When you enter this palace all you see is green and blue color – a soothing but unusual combination for wall paintings. When you start looking at the paintings, you have to zoom in to see the fine details painted. You admire the skills of the painters when you can distinctly see the multiple layers of fine fabric on a human figure or when you see the optical illusion where a single piece acts as heads of two different animals like elephant and a bull in a scene depicting their fight. The body rhythms and expressions of the Gopis as they beg the Krishna to return their cloths are just brilliant. Every strand of hair flows with the wind. Landscapes and animals are limited to their need for the scenes though.
This palace was built by Rao Ummed Singh and hence gets his name, but paintings are attributed to both Rao Ummed Singh and Rao Bishen Singh and were done between 1773 -1821 CE. Paintings are a curious mix of Mughal style of miniature painting and Rajput style of miniatures. Green color has been used as backdrop and white color to create human figurines. Red, blue, black and yellow have been used to depict the dresses worn by the people. A red and white panel at bottom depicts the animals, primarily elephants in action – fighting, playing. All the scenes are well defined by a floral border around it that makes each scene an independent painting even when it is a part of the series of a story on a wall.
Scenes at Chitrashala include the story of Krishna and his various Leelas. If you begin from the left side of the hall, you first encounter three large panels depicting Krishna Leela – Krishna lifting Govardhan Parvat, Raas Leela of Radha Krishna and Krishna steeling clothes of Gopis on the banks of Yamuna.
Then there are lots of scenes of daily life and I was pleasantly surprised to see many scenes of women’s lives – you can see them playing board games like chausar, you can see them dancing along with the birds and you can see them enjoying the palace lives. They are on the swings during the day and they are on the boats at night. A long panel with three scenes shows women hinting tigers, boars and deers.
Contemporary court scenes are depicted in some panels and here you see the influence of Mughal school of Art more clearly.
There are panels depicting the marriage scene of Ram and Sita from Ramayana – right from baraat or the marriage procession to the Vivah Mandap or the marriage ceremony. You identify the scene with the presence of Shiva, and three brothers. In fact my guide threw me a challenge and said can you identify this scene and thankfully I could.
It is at Chitrashala that I found a complete map of Nathdwara temple with Shrinathji in the centre. When I was in Nathdwara, I was lost in the multi-dimensional labyrinth of temple – going up and down to see it’s various parts. At Chitrashala a neat map depicts the layout of this temple with Shrinathji standing in the middle with his left hand holding the Govardhan temple. In fact you see various avatars of Vishnu painted on the walls – probably the depiction of various temples and they typically have kings and courtiers standing with folded hands.
I quite liked the panels depicting the Ganesha, Shiva-Parvati, Saraswati and Gaja Lakshmi. It felt almost like a pantheon of Indian deities in a temple.
Ceiling has bright floral patterns in again blue and green. Sun is painted right in the middle of the ceiling – like it is shining bright in the sky. Sun is the symbol of royal dynasty of Bundi and many other dynasties that ruled from Mewar. They claim their lineage from Lord Ram of Ramayana who was also a Suryavanshi.
Doors leading inside from this Chitrashala have intricate inlay work with ivory. The wood is wearing out, ivory pieces are falling apart, but the doors still look graceful in the remains of their erstwhile glory.
It is wonderful to see that hospitality brands like Justa Hotels have decided to keep this legacy of Bundi alive by starting an annual artist residency program named after Chitrashala. Will write in details on this wonderful initiative in another blogpost. Here is a video of an artist in Udaipur explaining the making of a Miniature painting .
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5-2Tb9dSpU?feature=oembed&w=640&h=360]
We all came out feeling enriched from Chitrashala. We were transported to the world of scenes that the paintings depicted. The work was so good that all our senses were engaged in admiring and appreciating the work. The works at Chitrashala are reasonably well maintained, though the vagaries of time do have its impact. There are many parts of the other palaces that show signs of vandalism, but thankfully Chitrashala has escaped that more or less.
Do you know of any other similar painted walls that can enthrall you?
Recommend you to read following Places to visit in Rajasthan.
- Nathdwara – a town that revolves around Shrinathji .
- Temples of Chittorgarh Fort .
- Chittorgarh Fort – Stories of Courage, Devotion & Sacrifice .
- Bharatpur Bird Sanctuary .
- Royal Cenotaphs @ Bada Bagh, Jaisalmer .
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