SA Interviews: The miniature wonders of Kangra by Mayank Singh

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 Mughlai 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 Nisha's family, locally known as Chitrarere (Chitra - painting), had been into this art since its inception and has some notable people to grace the lineage. Her father, Sharandas Raina was behind the interiors of the Queen's residential Palace at Mandi and her uncle painted a Lord Vishnu temple near the village. "Our family was known for the precision that could be seen in the paintings. Around 40 years ago, when I was unmarried one British gentleman  offered 40 to 50 thousand for a portrait of Dhruvbhakt in which each and every hair on his shaved head was visible."

The painting equipment was still the same that had been used when the Kangra paintings were first made. The squirrel hair for the brush and a handle made of bird feather quills. The colours to be used for the landscapes are extracted from nature itself.

"The fine details are not possible with any other brush other than squirrel's hair. You see here every eyelash is separate." The lady now in her 60s, with a weak eyesight, describes the paintings on the walls that she made when she was still young. "Yeh mehnat ka kam ha, sirf ek bal se kam karna asan nahi hota.(It requires a lot of hard work, working, with a single strand of hair isn't easy.)"

Radha and her friend waiting for Krishna

From the personal collection of Nisha Raina

The colour preparation is also done all by hand and naturally. The black colour was made from the lamp soot, the flowers from Dhaman tree are crushed and used to make red colour which when mixed with white colour(prepared from a particular stone that was kept in ground form) it gave different shades of pink and red. There were seven colours prepared naturally and then mixed to create 42 shades from it.

The main theme evolved from the Bhakti movement and was the 'Raslila of Lord Krishna'. One of the first published work Geet Govinda depicted the Radha and Krishna in 20 different poses. This combined with the landscapes of Himachal would be seen in almost every Kangra painting.
What distinguishes Kangra paintings? You ask," The neatly drawn eyelashes of each human figurine and the depiction of a river and lush fields with its vibrant colours is how you can identify a Kangra painting."

Painting depicting Radha and Krishna meeting in a garden by the riverside
From the personal collection of Nisha Raina 

Sadly, none of her family is interested in taking up the art and the students she taught at her painting school once have shifted to other painting styles. " People don't value these paintings, pehle to raja maharaja ya angrej kadar krte the yaha local logo ko kuch pehchan nahi."

Kangra paintings involves dastakari
(handwork) which the today's fast moving generation finds too slow to work upon and the evolution of the cameras have depleted the few takers that were left. There are few organisations like the Kangra arts promotions society but without the public taking notice this vivid art would only deteriorate.