The Pahari Schools of Painting
Other hill centres
Map the spread of Pahari styles.
Offshoots of Basohli continued at Chamba, Kullu, Nurpur, Mankot, Jasrota, Mandi, Bilaspur and Jammu. In Kashmir (1846-1885), the Kangra style began a school of Hindu book illumination, and the Sikhs also employed Kangra painters.
Scholars group the hills into three broad styles: Basohli, Guler and Kangra, centres from which styles travelled. Jasrota, for example, counts under Guler.
Kullu paintings have figures with prominent chins and wide eyes, on grey and terracotta red backgrounds. The Shangri Ramayana (late seventeenth century) was painted by several groups of artists.
Nurpur kept Basohli's vivid colours, with Kangra's dainty figures. Mankot developed a Basohli-like school through royal marriages. Mandi painted Shaivite themes as well as Krishna themes.
Molaram, known from his signed works, belongs to the Garhwal School, which was influenced by Sansar Chand's Kangra style.
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