Speaking Archaeologically™

Mayank Singh is an Intern at Speaking Archaeologically "At a numaish (exhibition) hosted by the King of Chamba", she begins, "When all the artists were boasting about their skills,one of my family's ancestors painted 100 elephants on a single thread of Dhake ke malmal (fine cotton muslin from Dhaka)." Mrs Nisha Raina tells me this and many tales in the hour-long conversation I had with her. In this article, I have tried to include and summarise all that I could learn about Kangra paintings from the interview. Mrs Raina was born into the family of Raina Brahmins, who migrated from Kashmir and settled in Mangloti village of Kangra around the same time the Mughal Empire collapsed. This spree of migration induced a new blend of the M ughlai miniature paintings and the theme of lustrous green landscapes of the hill states, whose Rajput rulers offered patronage to these migrants. Thus was born-what is now known in history as- the Kangra paintings. Mrs Nis...

Let the rooms be filled with shared beliefs and the walls speak of a cultural blend Let the doors open to rediscover and preserve a forgotten heritage. Indo Saracenic or a blend of Indian and Persian art has left its permanence in the history of India. Be it during the period of the greatest dynasty, that is, the Mughals or after its decline, this style continued to flourish in the schools of Deccan, Rajasthan and Punjab Hills even under the British Raj. With the popularity of Miniature paintings and the European influence during the end of Akbar's reign, the detailing, realistic appearance, use of soft or bright colours and embellishments made this form of Art and Architecture stand out. With an aim of reviving the Indo Saracenic art form and letting it highlight one's own culture and heritage, the last Workshop of Speaking Archaeologically proved to be an opportunity for the young artists to showcase their talent. The Government Degree College at Kandaghat, distr...

Or shall we call it, The Second Half of the Workshop on Coinage ? I am very Shakespearean about names. What's in a  name after all?  I am sure the whole thing would still be a workshop on Medieval Painting even if it happened right after we finished working with those gorgeous coins.  So, there we were, still at The Rumour Mill , fed and watered and finally ready to start working on the gorgeous Basholi and Kangra Paintings, Speaking Archaeologically had been lucky enough to procure from private collections. Now to say that those paintings were a work of art is an understatement! The phrase"work of art" doesn't even begin to describe the intricate brushwork and the gorgeously innovative use of molten gold and silver for painting, that these paintings employed so heavily. Humayun, in the court of Shah Tahmasp I I suppose, I cannot  leave a bit of the history of these paintings out , if I have to do justice to what we did on the workshop. So, basica...