The Spirit of Indian Painting by B N Goswamy

Author:B N Goswamy
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9789351188629
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
Published: 2014-10-28T16:00:00+00:00

The Devi Diagram

Isolated folio

Thinly laid opaque watercolour on paper

Pahari, from the family workshop of Nainsukh of Guler; c. 1780

51.5 cm × 60 mm

Present whereabouts unknown

On an uncommonly large sheet of uncoloured paper stands a Devi, unusual of form but with a riveting presence. Naked but for the brief loincloth around her middle; all weight resting on her lone leg; fifteen spindly arms, unevenly spread out—nine at left and six at right; hair matted and dishevelled; hypnotic look in the eyes; teeth partially bared and clenched; a frenetically energetic (ugra) expression on her face—an image of sheer power. No inscription identifies her; no one knows her name for she does not fall into any iconographic scheme. But the family of painters—descendants of Nainsukh in the branch of one of his sons, Nikka, in whose collection this unique object was first seen—certainly knew her and her power: she was the one who moved them to paint, who looked after their well-being, nurtured their talent, and kept them utterly focused. She was the anima of their work; possibly, the siddhi that must have been, in days gone by, the personal deity of members of the family.

The fifteen arms that she is shown with—weaving a spidery web?—all have their meaning, for where most of them end are inscribed, close to her open hands, some names enclosed within roughly drawn circles. Nearly all the names are those of hill states, some of them very small principalities: thus, Chamba, Qila Kangra, Mandi, Suket, Kahlur, Kangra Nadaun, Jaswan, Siba, Datarpur, Sujanpur, Mankot, Jammu, Shahpur, Nurpur, Jasrota and Basohli. At the same time, however, there are names of three persons as well, all Sikh chieftains: Shri Jai Singh, Shri Gurbakhsh Singh (his son) and Ramgarhia Jassa Singh. These were men who were heads of Sikh misls, who had carved out by force small domains for themselves, when this part of the Punjab—in the plains but very close to the hills—was almost up for the taking, the binding authority of the Mughals having declined by then, and a state of chaos generally prevailed.

What could have brought the names of the Pahari states and these three Sikh chieftains together in this ‘diagram’? The family did not offer any insight. One is speculating here, but there is every likelihood that they are all there, together, because members of this painter family had worked in, or for, them. Interestingly, names within some circles seem to have been effaced with white pigment, and some added, beyond the reach of the arms. In any case, it is a record of sorts: a mapping as it were of the spread of the painter family throughout this region.

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