Allah Baksh Unveils Mahabharata: Mewari Miniature Paintings
The Mahabharata: Mewari Miniature Paintings (1680–1698) by Allah Baksh put together by Alok Bhalla & Chandra Prakash Deval was released at Kamaladevi Complex, India International Centre, New Delhi.
The volumes were launched in the presence of Prof. Naman P. Ahuja, Academic, Art Historian & General Editor, Marg and Shyam Saran, President, India International Centre along with the authors Bhalla and Deval.
Speaking at the event, Trisha De Niyogi said “The uniqueness of this work is that it presents the Mahabharata in paintings.”
Deval remarked, “The Mahabharata was translated from Sanskrit to Mewari in order to make it more accessible both to Maharana Jai Singh and his subjects. The translation to concise form in Mewari is truly commendable. This is a Rajasthan Mahabharata painted in the Mewari style; a true reflection of Mewari style. A culture that could produce the Mahabharata cannot be a backward culture. The epic also conveys the message of Ahimsa, of co-existence with nature and all its creations."
Bhalla said, “These paintings deserve an honoured place in the history of Indian paintings.” Quoting William Blake, he noted that the worship of God is honoring his gifts in other men. Bhalla pointed out the difference between “The Gita paintings that are vertical, reaching upwards, while the Mahabharata paintings are horizontal depicting the forward movement of human life." He ended by requesting the Government to preserve these paintings.
Ahuja spoke about painters in Mewar such as Sahibdin who painted the Ramayana. He noted that he was, “flabbergasted by the scale of the enterprise” in painting the entire Mahabharata and suggested that the Govt. of Rajasthan could build an online resource of all 4000 texts to enable scholars to study them. Prof. Ahuja also spoke about the specific style of Mewari painting and the training that Allah Baksh and his fellow painters must have received.
Saran described Baksh, "as the gift of God” due to his paintings' sensitivity and spiritual quality. He also spoke about the Indonesian Ramayana performance where Hanuman is the most important character and how a performer meditates to inhabit the spirit of the deity before performing. He ended by thanking Niyogi Books for their contribution to preserving Indian art and culture.
