The Pahari Schools of Painting
Favourite Pahari themes
Read the story inside a painting.
The Kangra Bhagavata Purana series is famous for its natural figures in unusual poses. Its master was probably a descendant of Nainsukh.
In a painting from the Rasa Panchadhyayi, the gopis, missing Krishna, act out his deeds: killing Putana, being tied to the mortar, lifting Govardhan (with an odhni for the mountain), playing the flute, and dancing on a blue cloth as the serpent Kaliya.
'Nanda, Yashoda and Krishna' shows the family moving from Gokul to Vrindavan on bullock carts, with tired, talking figures, and a composition cut off at the edge like a photograph.
The Ashta Nayikas are eight heroines in different moods: Utka, waiting for her lover; Vasaksajja, decorating the bed; Kalahantarita, repenting a quarrel; and others. The Abhisarika, who goes out on a dark, stormy night, with lightning and snakes, to meet her beloved, is painted with the most flair.
Baramasa sets of 12 pages show love in each month, as in Keshav Das's Kavipriya: for example, a couple in the heat of Jyeshtha (May-June).
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